Brett Beer 100% Brett Apricot Pale Ale

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deepsouth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
455
Reaction score
11
Location
biloxi, ms
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (White Labs #WLP650)
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.057
Final Gravity
1.009
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
40
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
50 days at 74 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 days at 74 degrees
Tasting Notes
the apricot really shows through and the hops don\\'t overcome the brett or the fruit
Ingredients

4 lbs 8 oz Extra Light Dry Extract
2 lbs Pilsner Dry Extract
0.10 oz Amarillo Gold [9.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 2 3.1 IBUs
0.10 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 3.9 IBUs
0.10 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 4.0 IBUs
0.15 oz Amarillo Gold [9.30 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 3.5 IBUs
0.15 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 4.6 IBUs
0.15 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 4.6 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [9.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 4.6 IBUs
0.75 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 5.9 IBUs
0.75 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 6.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (White Labs #WLP650)
1 jar Vintners Harvest Apricot Puree (3 lbs. 1 oz.)


i made a starter with the brett and let it go for about four days and then decanted and added more wort and let it go again for two days prior to brewing and pitching.

i added the apricot in secondary after 50 days in primary.
 
some pictures of the bottling... nice color on this one. taste is apricot, brett, pale ale. couldn't ask for more.

4CADAC66-B175-4E5D-B40F-6CE79F07A5D0-17157-00000F0007406817.jpg


4CCD868F-ED3F-4718-8B60-E2382013E303-17157-00000F000B49E30E.jpg


C6B76DF0-2ADB-4C9B-93AF-88EEA0689DDA-17157-00000F000F445723.jpg


70555B62-832D-46AE-9E9E-AB4E3C0A2DF7-17157-00000F001309CA75.jpg


C40EE8B1-9BF4-4BDD-9CE9-F907B82FF9E9-17157-00000F0017168141.jpg
 
With those cans of Vintner's fruit puree - do you need to pasteurize them first or are they good to go right into secondary?
 
i'll also bump up the ibu probably next time due to the extended aging process before i bottle it.
 
@ Deepsouth

So after a few years of not brewing at all, my friend and I decided to get back into the addiction and dust off some carboys. He wanted to brew an apricot so after searching the site for a few minutes we settled on your recipie ( we were actually in our local brew shop using our phones to pick a recipie). I had never heard of Brett yeast before but I figured it couldn't be much different than other types of yeast....I was wrong. So after this long and drawn out intro, I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

1) Why such a long primary fermentation?
2) I didn't use a starter for my yeast, I just let my white labs yeast set out for the duration of the boil, and then pitched it @ 72 degrees F after cooling the wort down with my chiller. I noticed that it took almost 4 days before we saw any real activity in the carboy, and sience then everything has seemed to just be moving extremly slow as far as fermenting goes( It definatly does not share the same charictaristics of the hefe sitting right next to it.) It is in a dry cellar that stays a constant 68 degrees and has been there sense the 8th of december......Are these conditions ok?

Thanks for any and all feedback man!!
 
@ Deepsouth

So after a few years of not brewing at all, my friend and I decided to get back into the addiction and dust off some carboys. He wanted to brew an apricot so after searching the site for a few minutes we settled on your recipie ( we were actually in our local brew shop using our phones to pick a recipie). I had never heard of Brett yeast before but I figured it couldn't be much different than other types of yeast....I was wrong. So after this long and drawn out intro, I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

1) Why such a long primary fermentation?
2) I didn't use a starter for my yeast, I just let my white labs yeast set out for the duration of the boil, and then pitched it @ 72 degrees F after cooling the wort down with my chiller. I noticed that it took almost 4 days before we saw any real activity in the carboy, and sience then everything has seemed to just be moving extremly slow as far as fermenting goes( It definatly does not share the same charictaristics of the hefe sitting right next to it.) It is in a dry cellar that stays a constant 68 degrees and has been there sense the 8th of december......Are these conditions ok?

Thanks for any and all feedback man!!

sorry it's taken me so long to respond. regarding number one....i had read several places that brett develops over time, so i decided to do an extended primary before adding the apricot. also, i wasn't sure what the extended aging would do to the apricot if it sat on the yeast. regarding the second part of the question, as this brett was my only yeast for this beer, i noticed that there were significantly fewer cells than with 'regular' yeasts, so i figured i'd need to bump that up a bit.

i think your temps are great. ours were higher down here and i didn't notice any ill affects.


all that said, how is your beer coming along????!?!?!?
 
Deepsouth,

I am a new brewer, in fact I just bottled my first batch (American brown ale -extract kit) on Sat and am impatiently waiting... So, the question I have is would the apricot purée work with something like a cream ale extract kit?

If so, would you recommend adding the purée into the secondary as you did with your recipe? How long should I let the secondary go?

Thanks for any input you can provide!

~John
 
Deepsouth,

I am a new brewer, in fact I just bottled my first batch (American brown ale -extract kit) on Sat and am impatiently waiting... So, the question I have is would the apricot purée work with something like a cream ale extract kit?

If so, would you recommend adding the purée into the secondary as you did with your recipe? How long should I let the secondary go?

Thanks for any input you can provide!

~John

mmmmmmmmmmmm apricot cream ale. sounds like it would work for me. next time brew this beer, i'll keep it in secondary about a month rather than a week. being inexperienced in fruited beers myself, i was concerned about the putting the apricot on the yeast as i didn't know how it would 'act'.
 
BTW, what did you use for a secondary fermentor?

If it was a 5 Gal carboy or bucket, did you have any issue with not having enough room? I was debating about picking up another 6 Gal carboy for fermenting beers like this with additions. Whaddya think? :mug:
 
BTW, what did you use for a secondary fermentor?

If it was a 5 Gal carboy or bucket, did you have any issue with not having enough room? I was debating about picking up another 6 Gal carboy for fermenting beers like this with additions. Whaddya think? :mug:

i went with a 5 gallon carboy. i didn't have any space problems.
 
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