First All Brett

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November

...relax...
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I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at brewing with Brett. I opted to use Brett B and a simple Brown Recipe.
10# Pale
1/2# Aromatic
1/2# Special B
1.5oz Willamette @ 60
I made a starter 6 days in advance and had quite a pillicle form on the starter. After pitching, I had a vicious sacch like fermentation. Visible fermentation quit after 3 days. At 5 days I moved it into Secondary and have the beginnings of a pellicle. I tasted when a racked. Very promising.

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It looks very nice. Did you take a SG when you transferred to secondary? How long do you plan on aging it?
 
The OG was 1.060. It was at 1.010 when I moved it to secondary. How long to age it? Good question. I have no idea. From what I gather from online, beers with only Brett don't take much longer than sacch. My plan is to wait till the pellicle falls. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
 
I don't think it would take over a month or so to reach TG, actually it might be pretty close now. This is especially true since you made a nice starter. Are you bottling or kegging? By the way, I am a huge fan of Willamette in my wild beers, so good choice.
 
I am going to keg it. So do I look for just a stable gravity like I would with sacch and then just rack from under the pellicle or should the pellicle drop out like a kraussen would?

This is going so well that I think I will go plan my next sour beer.
 
Waiting for the pellicle to drop seems to be a do what you want based on taste. There are some who wait and some who don't. My all brett beer never got a pellicle after 3 months and I bottled it this week. For my BW I siphoned from under the pellicle. If it tastes good I say keg and drink.
 
OK ...... anyone know what causes the pellicle to form?

I've done 2 all-brett beers (WLP650) and not had a pellicle. Used the same yeast in secondary in a couple of beers and got a real good pellicle.
 
OK ...... anyone know what causes the pellicle to form?

I've done 2 all-brett beers (WLP650) and not had a pellicle. Used the same yeast in secondary in a couple of beers and got a real good pellicle.

The pellicleforms in the presence of oxygen. It acts as a barrier to protect the yeast / host. I'd your beer is not exposed to oxygen, you will not get a pellicle, and a pellicle is not an indicator of viability.:ban:
 
The pellicle dropped so I finally kegged it. I drew a small sample off tonight to see where things are. It still needs more time to carb but I have some initial impressions. I made the recipe simple to showcase the brett character. The brett flavor is really in the forefront. It is very complex but not overpowering. The only thing I could count against it is that it has a very thin mouthfeel. The flavor is not watered down at all but it still feels very thin and watery. Is this a normal consequence of how low brett finishes out?

All in all it is very good. My experience with brett is limited but the flavor is so complex I find I have a tough time describing it. I have to admit, I have never licked a "sweaty horse blanket" but for some reason that seems to fit.
 
OK ...... anyone know what causes the pellicle to form?

I've done 2 all-brett beers (WLP650) and not had a pellicle. Used the same yeast in secondary in a couple of beers and got a real good pellicle.

My guess is the transfer to secondary introduced enough oxygen to kick brett into its usual pellicle-forming ways. I also never had a pellicle on an all brett beer.
 
The pellicle dropped so I finally kegged it. I drew a small sample off tonight to see where things are. It still needs more time to carb but I have some initial impressions. I made the recipe simple to showcase the brett character. The brett flavor is really in the forefront. It is very complex but not overpowering. The only thing I could count against it is that it has a very thin mouthfeel. The flavor is not watered down at all but it still feels very thin and watery. Is this a normal consequence of how low brett finishes out?

All in all it is very good. My experience with brett is limited but the flavor is so complex I find I have a tough time describing it. I have to admit, I have never licked a "sweaty horse blanket" but for some reason that seems to fit.

I think that once you get it carbed to the correct level the mouthfeel will be where you want it.
 
My guess is the transfer to secondary introduced enough oxygen to kick brett into its usual pellicle-forming ways. I also never had a pellicle on an all brett beer.

My WY Brux beers never get a pellicle unless used in the secondary, but the lambicus beers always have a weird krausen and a funky pellicle, Id bet that along with oxygen levels, the strain of brett also plays an important role
 
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