Brett temperature ranges..

Just recently brewed up my first attempt at an all brett beer. O.G.=1.066, mostly pilsner malt, with a little wheat thrown in, bitttered to about 12 ibus. used a vial of brett c. and a vial of brett B. from white labs in a half gallon starter. pitched at 60 degrees. after three days with no activity in my 58 degree fermentation room, (under the house) I wrapped it in an electric blanket and within 12 hours had signs of fermentation.

the thing is, its getting pretty warm, and was wondering what effect high fermentation temps will have on an all brett fermentation.

i don't think the temp will effect fermentation much for the beer if all you are using is bret(remember it will be a slow fermentation) the colder temps will slow it down. and oxygen will speed it up and reduce the bret character. how hot are you talking ? above 80 i might wonder about anything below that i don't think will hurt it bret will not get esters like yeasts at higher temps and teh first uses of bret used ambient temps.

its sitting pretty at around 80 degrees. I turned the electric heating blanket down, so hopefully it will get down into the 70's after tonight. I will keep everyone posted.

So far, I am amazed at how "beer like" the airlock smells. Some funk, but not nearly as weird as I qwas expecting

ok, smelled it this morning, and it kinda stinks. smells like plastic and doody. never had a fermentation smell like this. should be interesting.

the plastic smell is certainly how I would describe a beer I put Lacto debrukii in. I am wondering if it is the way bacteria smells before it turns all sexy and good.

makes smelly cheese too

I hate to hijack a thread, but does an all brett beer have a lot of krausen? Next time I brew I'm thinking about trying an all brett variation of it in a 3 gal carboy, just not sure how much I should put in the carboy

Bokonon said:

I hate to hijack a thread, but does an all brett beer have a lot of krausen? Next time I brew I'm thinking about trying an all brett variation of it in a 3 gal carboy, just not sure how much I should put in the carboy

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I've brewed quite a bit with Brett. Lambicus and I usually get a krausen. I never gotten an excessively large krausen but YMMV.

well, things got a little stranger. went to check on the beer this morning, and the krausen had dropped and it appears all fermentation activity has ceased. took a refract reading, and it has only gone from 16 to 14. very strange. the temp is at 77 degrees. I have never seen a beer go from fermentation with krausen and airlock bubbling to absolutely nothing in a matter of 12 hours.