Brett B IPA

I've been pondering a Brett B IPA for some time now. Originally I was planning to use English hops. But now, in my head, it's tasting more American. And now I'm having a brain cramp on hop choices.

Right now I'm leaning towards a Calypso - Williamette. I'm also considering Citra (because you can never get enough dead hooker's ass).

Simcoe is out because I'm not a fan. Mosaic, I'm still on the fence about. It has good flavor but is more resiny and catty than I like.

Any thoughts?

Well I just had my first all breet beer recently, Victorys Hellios.

It was STRONG in the brett so if the same thing happens when you make yours I would think you would need to take care as you could end up with a lot of conflicting flavors...

Strong American Grapefruit or Friut flavors might not fly, I mean i like complex but it just may be to much going on...

If it were me I would stick with your original plan and find out...

I am planning of brewing a English IPA soon using normal English Yeast and prior to kegging add the BRETT... I want to see if it will dry in out and carbonate it with a very low level of priming sugar... An idea I came up with when reading

http://www.brewerspublications.com/...-recipes-and-the-evolution-of-india-pale-ale/

DPB

Started the Brett B starter yesterday. Man that thing is slow getting going. Here's the recipe so far:

10lb Marris otter
2lb Wheat
1lb 20L Cryatal
8oz Carapils
4oz Light Munich
4oz Victory

0.33oz Calypso at 90min, 60min, 45min, 30min, 15min, and flameout
0.5oz Williamette at 90min, 60min, 45min, 30min, 15min, and flameout

Dry Hop 1oz each Calypso & Williamette for 14 days

Mash at 150F
OG ~ 1.077
FG ~ 1.008 (maybe optimistic, but it's what the calcs say)
IBU ~ 88
ABV ~ 9.0%

I haven't used Brett B yet, but I have a starter going as well. I'm going to add some slurry from Brett Trois to that and use both, with a much larger amount of Trois. Using it in a Zero IBU Brett Imperial IPA. No hops until after the flame is off, then 300 grams of hops for a 20 liter batch. Right now, looking at Chinook, Citra and Nelson Sauvin. Swiped the idea from Chad Yacobson.

I did a Brett Trois IPA a couple of months ago and served it at a homebrew competition, on draft and it was hugely popular. Blew the keg in about 20 minutes. I was pouring it literally nonstop until it blew. Brett Trois, though, shows no funkiness at all when used for 100% of the fermentation, at least not in my beer which was just 7 weeks old when served. Instead, it makes this amazing fruity character, mango/apricot/tropical fruit, and that marries with the hops so you can't tell which is which. Amazing and totally recommended. That one was all Chinook, Citra and Galaxy in equal amounts and dry hopped with all three as well.

Anyway, I decided to throw some Brett Brux into the mix to try to get a touch of funk, but not sure if it'll throw much funk in primary.

Let us know how yours goes. My next one will be brewed in about 12 days.

Update: I made this almost 4 weeks ago with Topaz and Williamette.

It's the weirdest thing. Two weeks ago the krausen had fallen and the airlock was chugging away at a 1/2 bubble/minute and it was still kind of cloudy. So I decided to give it a couple more weeks. I checked on it tonight. The airlock is now chugging away at 3 bubbles/minute and looks very yeasty. I guess it had a mid-fermentation lag.

The modifications to the above recipe are:
1. 1oz (each) hop editions of Topaz and Williamette at 30 minute, 15 minute, and flameout.
2. 1oz (each) dry hop of Topaz and Williamette, 14 days.
3. Oak chips, 14 days.
4. IBU = 78.
5. I upped the volume to 5.25 gallons to make sure I get 5 gallons at bottling.
6. Because I upped the volume with the same grain bill, the OG dropped to 1.069.

Also: the starter for this thing tasted like Tropicana grapefruit juice and smelled of sweaty horses and gym lockers.

Update? Which Brett did you use?

I made an Imperial IPA with zero ibus with a mixed Brett fermentation. 100% Brett, but with both Brett Brux and Trois from White Labs. All hops added after KO, 400 grams for a 27 liter batch. Came out amazing and awesome.

Did you hopstand or whirlpool your hops?

I used Wyeast 5112 - Brett B.

It's not bottled yet. Maybe tonight if I get time or at the latest Friday.

I dry hopped with an ounce of Williamette and an ounce of Striesselspalt. I couldn't find the Topaz I bought for it. At the same time I put an ounce of oak chips in.

That was 3.5 weeks ago. I've been dealing with a bad back issue since shortly after dry hopping & oaking. My Doc is convinced it's something that I'm certain it isn't.

Fun times.

Anyway... The last gravity measurement was 1.014. That makes it 7.2%. That was a somewhat yeasty sample, so the FG might be lower.

The sample tasted a little funky but not a lot of funk and all the grapefruit had gone away.

Hopefully more of the Brett character will come through after bottling.

Beernik said:

Did you hopstand or whirlpool your hops?

I used Wyeast 5112 - Brett B.

It's not bottled yet. Maybe tonight if I get time or at the latest Friday.

I dry hopped with an ounce of Williamette and an ounce of Striesselspalt. I couldn't find the Topaz I bought for it. At the same time I put an ounce of oak chips in.

That was 3.5 weeks ago. I've been dealing with a bad back issue since shortly after dry hopping & oaking. My Doc is convinced it's something that I'm certain it isn't.

Fun times.

Anyway... The last gravity measurement was 1.014. That makes it 7.2%. That was a somewhat yeasty sample, so the FG might be lower.

The sample tasted a little funky but not a lot of funk and all the grapefruit had gone away.

Hopefully more of the Brett character will come through after bottling.

Click to expand...

I have no idea what you mean by hopstand. I don't whirlpool. I just dropped them all in there after I turned the flame off and they sat there while the beer chilled, for an hour or something. Small amount of dry hops, just 2 ounces. All Nelson Sauvin, Chinook and Citra. And, yeah, I know some alpha acids were isomerized so it's not truly zero. But no hops were used before flame out.

What you did is a hop stand. You add a bunch of hops at flameout and let the wort "stand" at a near boiling temperature (150F - 180F) for a long time (20 - 90 minutes). Whirlpooling is more-or-less the same thing either with constant stirring or recirculating the wort.

Beernik said:

What you did is a hop stand. You add a bunch of hops at flameout and let the wort "stand" at a near boiling temperature (150F - 180F) for a long time (20 - 90 minutes). Whirlpooling is more-or-less the same thing either with constant stirring or recirculating the wort.

Click to expand...

No offense, but I know what whirlpooling is. I've been brewing for many, many years. But never heard the term hop stand.

But, no, that is not what I did. I chilled the wort immediately. I didn't let it sit at elevated temps. It got below the temps you listed fairly quickly, but it took a while to get the last bit of chilling done because it was summer and the water here is warmer in the summer.

Minor correction: Those hops are called Willamette, not Williamette. A lot of folks who use Beersmith make that mistake as they made that mistake in the program, with version 1.0 if I remember correctly. But there is no I in that after the two Ls. It's like the Willamette Valley in Oregon or the Willamette River in Portland. Pronounced with emphasis on AM, like will-AM-it.

And the other hops are Strisselspalt, though my Beersmith 2.0 says Strisslespalt...

(no smart ass tone here, so please don't get offended. Not trying to offend. Read my tone as friendly, please.)

Finally got it bottled today. Which means all my carboys are empty and I'm officially on home brewing hiatus until my Doc figures out why I can't lie down without feeling like I'm being stabbed in the back.

Unfortunately, this hiatus also means no drinking unless I decide to skip a day on the pain meds. Otherwise, the combo makes me want to just sleep the rest of the day.

Dry hop & oaking ended up being 28 days.

The beer is exactly what I was looking for. It has a light funk, a lot of grapefruit, and a medium oak intensity. If I had to sum it up: liquid sunshine on medium toasted oak.

Sorry to hear about the back. Best of luck with that. The beer sounds lovely.

Well, I got good news today. I have a slight spinal curvature, probably due to bad posture, probably because my work chair only provides lumbar support and not the rest of my back, and that's putting pressure on a disc when I lie down.

Which means it's not muscular and I can stop taking the muscle relaxer pill. Which means I'm down to the pain pill at night to help me sleep.

So hopefully with some physical therapy and making my office get me a different chair, I'll be well on my way to recovery in 4 weeks when the beer is carbed.

Great to hear. Congrats.

Couldn't wait to try it. It maintains a small head and laces after only 6 days in the bottle.