Farmhouse Blend WLP670 yeast- pellicile at bottling

hello,
I brewed a petite saison with WLP 670 farmhouse blend.
Everything looked great, and after about 2 month in fermentor i bottled last monday. Fermentation was great- 1.035 to 1.003.

This yeast blend is supposed to have some brett, although it was undetermined (i believe) how much was in it. No pellicle formed during fermentation. However, i noticed today that there were some chunks at the top of the bottles, which i thought were yeast rafts, as they fell to the bottom when broken up by shaking. But then i looked at my half-filled tap-a-draft dispenser and noticed 3 "bubbles" typical of pellicle formation.

Anyone use this yeast and have a similar situation? Any suggestions?

Rich

How long did the beer sit before bottling?

All the Russian River beers form pellicles in the bottle. I'm a little concerned that you say you DIDN'T get one in the fermenter. . . but hey, if it was in a low-oxygen environment, that might be why.

tasq said:

How long did the beer sit before bottling?

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i left it in primary for a little under 2 months, say 1.5 months.

pericles said:

All the Russian River beers form pellicles in the bottle. I'm a little concerned that you say you DIDN'T get one in the fermenter. . . but hey, if it was in a low-oxygen environment, that might be why.

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interesting. I never popped open the airlock until i took a hydro reading 3 days prior to bottling.

anyone else with the farmhouse blend?

I used it but didn't allow time for the brett to do anything (kegged after a couple of weeks). I did, however, set aside a gallon in a jug when kegging to see where else this blend would go. So far, I haven't seen a pellicle though there is not much surface area for one to form. I haven't taken a reading or taste sample either since my plan is to let this go for at least another 3 months. Sampling from a one gallon batch too often will soon leave me with nothing!

I did, however, really like the 4 gallons of saison (or American Farmhouse Ale, whatever you choose to call it) that I kegged early. I'm not very good with beer descriptors but the best I can conjure at the moment is it was elegant and graceful...if that makes any sense...

Here's a logical explanation of why this is happening.

1) Brettanomyces forms a pellicle in the presence of oxygen.

2) You used a blend, meaning that the more dominant strain of yeast was sacc., not brett. In doing so, the sacc. got a hold of the wort first and dominated CO2 production in your primary. As such, there was no O2 to cause a pellicle to form.

3) You bottled. And no doubt got some O2 pickup in the process. Now, all of the sudden, your brett is around oxygen. So, BOOM! It forms a pellicle in the bottle.

And Boogie, you'll be less likely to see a pellicle in the keg (if you even open it up) if you purged with CO2 and didn't allow the beer contact with O2.

Got one fermenting now, been in the primary about 4 weeks no pellicile yet. I spoke with John Carrol from WL at Great Taste of the Midwest, and he really didnt know much about it from what it seemed. But Ill let you know what comes of my beer.

Braufguss said:

And Boogie, you'll be less likely to see a pellicle in the keg (if you even open it up) if you purged with CO2 and didn't allow the beer contact with O2.

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Thanks Braufguss. I actually had no intention of even checking the keg since I intentionally didn't allow time for the brett to do anything. I wasn't expecting any brett character at all in that portion of the batch. It's the gallon I put aside in a jug that I was referring to. No pellicle last time I checked, but the headspace and the surface area of the beer are so small if I get one it won't be much of one.

I just bottled up a saison using East Coast Yeast 03 Farmhouse brett blend. It barely developed a pellicle. The surface of the beer just got slightly viscous but nothing ugly and white. I let the beer sit in two fermentors for over a month after about 1.5 months in one fermentor. I bottled the 8gal batch on Friday. I did not taste it at bottling but my last tasting there was barely any brett flavor. There is very little for the brett to work with in a saison. My sacch yeast took my gravity down to about 1.006-1.010. Then the brett slowly fermended down to 1.003 at which point I decided to bottle. The brett will consume some esters produced during fermentation along with possibly shave a couple more gravity points in the bottle leading to higher carbonation. I bottled with dextrose for just under 3 volumes with expectation of the brett adding another .5-1volume of CO2 from additional fermentation in the bottles.

I suspect there will just be a hint of brett instead of a full on in your face brett character in these saison brett blends.

smokinghole said:

I suspect there will just be a hint of brett instead of a full on in your face brett character in these saison brett blends.

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That's the idea.

I brewed an Orval "clone" with Wyeast 3789 - Trappist Blend. It didn't have much funk at bottling time (nor did it form a pellicle), so I built up a starter or Orval dregs and pitched it at bottling time.