Sasion and Brett question

Ok, One quick question. New to using Brett and bugs so please be gentle, lol. I have a Saison that has been in secondary for about a month now, FG of 1.009 and I really want to add some Brett to it. Specifically, I want to rack half to a few old style glass 1 gallon Pepsi containers that fit an airlock and add half of a vial of WL Brett B to each. This is a 5 gallon batch, and I want to bottle the rest to have as a "control" sample to see how the Brett acts. Is there enough goodies for the Brett to work on at 1.009? If not, is there something I can add, maltodextrin, glucose, etc., to let the Brett do it's thing? Any pointers would be appreciated, thanks for the patience and advice for a newbie!

Maltodextrin would help. If you add Brett, give it time to do it's thing.

I'm not an expert but I'm making Brett only saison right now so I did some reading and listening and It depends on your recipe process and primary yeast in general ur fg should be fine to get some Brett characteristic but I like an idea of saison with sugar in rec but sugar is added in 2ndary together with Brett, if ur primary was 3711 would add sugar or maltdex

So how do I add the malto or glucose and how much, anyone?

no expert here either. my first sour is 8 months old and still in the fermenter...unsampled. a saison with 3711 and dregs added at the same time in primary.

from what i have read if you add sugar the saison yeast will eat it up before the brett has a chance to do its thing.

if you do malto dextrin i think you could safely do half a pound and give the brett a few months to go to town.

Since your FG is on the lower side, there is less for the Brett to get at, but it will still work. It's going to take a couple of months before you get much flavor, and maybe 6+ months to be complete.

Give it a shot. If you're patient and you've got the room, then there's nothing stopping you

If you decide to add the maltodextrin make sure it's only added to the Brett portion and not the clean portion you don't want to make that Saison any sweeter than it is now.

However at 1.009 there is enough sugar for the Brett to feed on that I don't think the maltodextrin is necessary, Brett should also feed on the Belgian esters and give you a funkier beer with time.

IMO, split the batch up, pitch your Brett and wait. If after this batch you wished the beer was funkier then do it next time. It's better to under do it than over do it for your first time.

Don't mess with it. 1.009 is OK. Just add the brett and let it go for a year.

Can I add the brett and leave that half in a 6 gallon carboy,or is that to much head space?

That is a lot of head space. Maybe purge the carboy with co2 first and rack under it.

ChadChaney said:

Can I add the brett and leave that half in a 6 gallon carboy,or is that to much head space?

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That's a lot of head-space. Eventually Oxygen will find its way into the carboy. I try to minimize head-space for anything I leave for an extended time.

The fermentation will eventually fill it up, but if you plan on sampling it then you'll have potential oxidation problems once fermentation is over

what Calder said. pitch brett and you'll be fine... I just cracked a brett (secondary) triple and it was pitched we'll after it was done (1.010) and while it only moved .001, it had an incredible influence that comes across balanced and beautiful.

Calder said:

Don't mess with it. 1.009 is OK. Just add the brett and let it go for a year.

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That.

Brett doesn't need a grav change to give you barnyard, and 1.009 to 1.005 or so will be *more* than enough. Don't much around with maltodextrine or whatever.

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it! I think I am going to bottle half and pitch a vial of WL Brett B into the remaining in the carboy and see what happens. Really wish I had a smaller vessel to do the Brett portion in, but all I have is growlers and I do not think I want to try and rack to 4 growlers and split the Brett... Any better ideas? How would I purge the headspace w CO2, I have a typical corney keg setup..

Just insert the c02 hose in the carboy and hit the c02 for a sec, wait a sec and repeat.

There's no need to let it sit a year. My brett saisons are bottled in 4-5 months at the latest. I just bottle with less priming sugar depending on the gravity at bottling. Then I just let it build carb in the bottle for up to six months. I like this method much more than tying up a carboy for months on end.

I am also thinking of adding brett to a saison I have brewed. Any thoughts on using this container to secondary for a year?

http://www.noblemro.com/anchor-hocking-barrel-jar.html?CAWELAID=1293169564

There's no need to secondary for a year. Once the beer is attenuated to a point you feel safe bottling you can do that. I have said this somewhere around here, maybe in this thread. I let my brett saisons attenuate to about 1.003-1.006. Then I bottle and I calculate the beer to dry out completely basically and prime with that additional bottle attenuation into my carbonation levels. So I tend to aim for 3 volumes with priming sugar and then the brett takes up the rear to bring it between 3.5 and 4 volumes. Secondary for a year is a waste of time/space on a saison.