Hops and Brett

I have had a few guys I work with say they can't stand hops and Brett together for an ipa, others love it. What do you guys think? Does the hop variety matter to you?

I'm working on one right now and it smells and tastes delicious so far. Will let you know on final product

I brewed a saison/pale ale with a culture of brett from crooked stave. I used Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra. Heavy on the Mosaic, light on the citra because I find it overpowering sometimes.

I thought it turned out great, surprisingly tart and lots of hop flavor that still comes through in the flavor and aroma after a few months in bottle.

I bottled it after 5 weeks in the fermenter, and havent had an issue with overcarbonation.

I took this beer into New Belgium and got huge compliments from one of their brewers.


79% Pilsner (2 Row) Bel Grain 15.000 lb
11% Weyermann - Vienna Malt Grain 2.000 lb
5% Acid Malt Grain 1.000 lb
5% Oats, Flaked Grain 13.504 oz
<1% Weyermann - Dehusked Carafa III Grain 2.000 oz

12 IBU Warrior 90 min
.25 oz Citra whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min
2 oz Mosaic whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min
.5 oz Galaxy whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min

Dry Hopped with
1 oz Mosaic
.5 oz Galaxy
.25 oz Citra

The reason I didnt hop this more is that I was splitting the 10g batch into saison and 100% brett, but it really didnt need it. I dont like my saisons with a lot of american hop character, so I was looking for a lot of citrus and tropical fruit rather than piney, resin character.

If I were to brew this again, I wouldn't necessarily use the same base malts, but it worked out really well. I think you could get away with any american pale malt, but the pilsner and vienna make a nice combo.

The saison half was pretty good, but the brett half really kicks ass.

I brewed a Sculpin clone last month and added Brett Brux Trois in the secondary and also in the bottle. I hope it turns our because my two favorite styles are IPAs and brett beers. I'm also aging a few sour pale ales that I'll dry hop when nice and tart.

nofootbreak said:

I brewed a saison/pale ale with a culture of brett from crooked stave. I used Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra. Heavy on the Mosaic, light on the citra because I find it overpowering sometimes.

I thought it turned out great, surprisingly tart and lots of hop flavor that still comes through in the flavor and aroma after a few months in bottle.

I bottled it after 5 weeks in the fermenter, and havent had an issue with overcarbonation.

I took this beer into New Belgium and got huge compliments from one of their brewers.


79% Pilsner (2 Row) BelGrain15.000 lb
11% Weyermann - Vienna MaltGrain2.000 lb
5% Acid MaltGrain1.000 lb
5% Oats, FlakedGrain13.504 oz
<1% Weyermann - Dehusked Carafa IIIGrain2.000 oz

12 IBU Warrior 90 min
.25 oz Citra whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min
2 oz Mosaic whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min
.5 oz Galaxy whirlpool at ~155 f for 40 min

Dry Hopped with
1 oz Mosaic
.5 oz Galaxy
.25 oz Citra

The reason I didnt hop this more is that I was splitting the 10g batch into saison and 100% brett, but it really didnt need it. I dont like my saisons with a lot of american hop character, so I was looking for a lot of citrus and tropical fruit rather than piney, resin character.

If I were to brew this again, I wouldn't necessarily use the same base malts, but it worked out really well. I think you could get away with any american pale malt, but the pilsner and vienna make a nice combo.

The saison half was pretty good, but the brett half really kicks ass.

Click to expand...

I should probably add that the brett probably did all of the work making this beer. I haven't had much luck with 100% brett beers with commercial strains.

You may have to be more specific in your comment. Brett seems to produce very different flavors if used as the primary or secondary yeast. Were they talking about all brett beers, or beers with brett added at secondary/at bottling?

We are looking at doing a barrel, all Brett fermentation. Then dry hopping more after it is ready to go.

I did one with 100% Wyeast Brett B with Topaz and Willamette hops. It's good, but the yeast did 99% grapefruit esters and 1% funk. Next time I'll try it as a secondary addition.

chip82 said:

We are looking at doing a barrel, all Brett fermentation. Then dry hopping more after it is ready to go.

Click to expand...

Brewing an all-brett IPA is comparable to brewing a regular IPA, but with a real big, multi-day starter and warmer ferm temps. There is a lot of good insight in the Brett Trois thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/wlp644-brett-b-trois-326861/

Themadfermentationist blog has a couple good 100% Brett IPA threads


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