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TalkingGoats

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First batch with this...

Starter:
1060 Gravity 500ML from LME, starter took off quick but nothing out of the ordinary was happening with it.

Grain Bill:
8lbs Pearl
1/2lb Cara-Pils
1lb Clear Candi Sugar
1lb Dark Candi Sugar
6oz Flaked Oats

Mashed 155* 75 min (New kettle, was shooting for 150*)

1/2 Oz Mag @ 60
1oz Strissel Spalt @ 15

60 min boil

Ambient room temp is 70-74 depending on time of day.

Yeast pitched at 72, rose to 75 and chugged along happily for a week, the brett took over and did its little dance at the top for a week. Gravity was at 1.010, (Tasted absolutely amazing) moved the beer on to 5lbs of quartered peaches.

-------------

Second batch with this...

Starter:
1060 Gravity, 500ML from DME, Starter took off in 20 minutes and was boiling over in an hour and that lasted 24 hours until I pitched.

Grain Bill:
8lbs Pearl
1lb Oats
1lb Cara-Munich 45
1lb Clear Candi Sugar
3lbs Peach Puree during whirlpool

Mashed at 150* for 90min

Hops are all Mozaic @ 12.7 AA

1oz in the Mash
1oz FWH
2oz Whirlpool
2oz Dry hop after terminal for one week
(Also thinking of 1oz dry hop, 1oz in the keg)

Pitched at 72, very active in a couple hours, the next morning I had 4 inches of super hot krausen, the center was 85* and the edges near the glass was between 79 and 81. The following day (yesterday) the beer was 80*F from top to bottom and the brett was dancing on the top again.



I know these bugs like to be hot, but what is the deal? The yeast of the second batch had just arrived at the home brew store, and I am not too sure on the first one. Is this just incredibly healthy yeast?

The activity of the starters directly reflected their performance on the batches (duh), but the first batch seemed like a normal ale fermentation and the second was a monster.

What say ye?
 
Bump. I am not worried about it, I just want to know if this is what people mean when they say Brett can be unpredictable.

Everything was aerated by vigorous shaking.. left that out of the initial post.
 
I've used this yeast on 3 beers now and have not experienced any "explosive" fermentation. I would guess that the amount of sugar/fruit in your beer is what caused the yeast to really go at it. If I understood above correctly you have peaches in the primary vs the secondary in the previous beer.

I wouldn't worry about the temp too much. I had my saison I made last year past 90 degrees in my garage (though it was a week into fermentation) and it turned out great.
 
The strange activity was present in the starter and carried over. The more aggressive starter was made from DME & was hopped, as opposed to LME and unhopped.

Thanks for your response. It got the first dry hop yesterday and immediately started activity. Its being really weird lol.

The respone from White Labs on the issue was "Next time use DME for both.".
 
Yeast pitched at 72, rose to 75 and chugged along happily for a week, the brett took over and did its little dance at the top for a week.

Second batch with this...

Pitched at 72, very active in a couple hours, the next morning I had 4 inches of super hot krausen, the center was 85* and the edges near the glass was between 79 and 81. The following day (yesterday) the beer was 80*F from top to bottom and the brett was dancing on the top again.

What do you mean by the brett was dancing on the top again? Unless the brett made a pellicle (which it shouldn't have that early), you wouldn't be able to discern the brett from the sacch activty at all at the beginning. it definitely wasn't the bretts doing for the explosive ferment
 
After the initial high krausen the beer "clears" for several hours and then there was a tan colored cloud and a tiny krausen moving around. I'll take a picture next time I brew with this yeast blend, its pretty cool to watch.

On dry hopping starting some activity. I was listening to the Sunday Session and had heard that an increase / change in pressure will make Brett more active. Makes sense that a solid cap of hops would stir things up a bit.
 
adding the hops wouldnt have changed the pressure. any activity from that was just CO2 escaping from all the nucleation sites hops provide.

i'm not sure what you were seeing, but the brett shouldn't have made a second krausen afterwards
 
Kegged and carbed now. The beer that got the peaches in secondary lost most of its funk. Kind of a peach cider/beer thing going on. Its good. The IPA has funk hidden behind a huge cantaloupe nose. Flavors are slightly peachy and big cantaloupe with a slightly malty back bone. Tasty so far.
 
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