100% Brett beer - what styles work?

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JLem

JLem

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I'm thinking of brewing a 100% Brett beer this summer. I have no temp control and I'm not a fan of the standard hot-weather styles (e.g. Saisons, etc), so normally I just don't brew once the temp warms up too much. But I was thinking an all Brett beer might do OK at these elevated temps. I'm all for experimenting anyway.

But which styles work well fermented with Brett? Should I go big and bold with an Imperial Stout? Or should it be more light and mellow like an American Wheat?
 
Pale ale..I was thinking about doing Edworts Pale ale with Brett. I've tryed a Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura "Dark Dawn" and i'm not a huge fan of funky stouts.


From Jolly Pumpkin's web site

Madrugada Obscura "Dark Dawn" – A Belgian inspired stout that is as dark as a moonless midnight, brimming of roasted malts and bitter hops.
It will keep you good company in all places, be thay light or dark.

Seasonal released in January
8.1% Alc./Vol.
 
I like most wheat styles with Brett. Wit, American wheat, fruited wheat, all are great. I'll also second pale ale.
 
I just did a low gravity IPA or APA 1.042 SG and 42 IBU's and fermented it out with Brett A. It was unbelievable. I think I will use the Brett A on all 5 gallons next time. Look up the Homebrew chef and check out his recipe for Sonoma Pale Ale. Nice recipe, although I didn't follow it, it was the genesis for my recipe.

Next month a fellow brewer and I will be doing a series of Brett beers using Brett A, WY Brett L, WL Brett L, and some Russian River oak chips. We will be using each of these as a primary yeast, as well as a secondary yeast (using WL 530 or 510 as a primary). It will be a lot of work, but should be fun. I will post the details as they come in.

Why not brew up 8 gallons of wort, regardless of style, and ferment 5 as one normally would and use the other 3 gallons for Brett experiments?
 
I second the IPA suggestion.
Also, sour mashes work great with 100% brett beers. You could do a berliner (great hot weather beer).
 
I've made a super friends clone: IPA with brett B and C, all citra hops. Turned out OK- had a very strong herbal/spice character- not sure where that came from. I made two separate starters for both the brett strains. Next time i think i'll pitch them directly in and skip the starters as I didn't get hardly any of the traditional brett characters.
 
Gritsak said:
Next time i think i'll pitch them directly in and skip the starters as I didn't get hardly any of the traditional brett characters.
Click to expand...

Brett only makes the 'traditional flavors' when stressed. e.g. low pH, in presence of alcohol, etc... 100% Brett fermentations don't provide those environments.

Just sayin'.
 
Braufguss said:
Brett only makes the 'traditional flavors' when stressed. e.g. low pH, in presence of alcohol, etc... 100% Brett fermentations don't provide those environments.

Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

The beer from both of my all brett starters that were completely fermented out had strong brett character, so i'm not sure how accurate it is to say that an all brett beer will have none of the traditional brett flavors. My idea behind not making starters next time is to intentionally underpitch to stress the yeast.
 
[quote="Inhiding]

Why not brew up 8 gallons of wort, regardless of style, and ferment 5 as one normally would and use the other 3 gallons for Brett experiments?[/quote]

well, I'm only set up for small batches - usually 3.5-4 gallons. I do all-grain, split boil on my kitchen stove (electric).

There's a lot of ideas here. Thanks. What about flavors/characteristics (e.g., roasty, smokey, caramelly) that DON'T go well with Brett?
 
Braufguss said:
Brett only makes the 'traditional flavors' when stressed. e.g. low pH, in presence of alcohol, etc... 100% Brett fermentations don't provide those environments.

Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

Have you actually made any 100% brett beers? Using White Labs Brett L will give you lots of sweat and wet hay when it's the exclusive fermentating organism.
 
maskednegator said:
Have you actually made any 100% brett beers? Using White Labs Brett L will give you lots of sweat and wet hay when it's the exclusive fermentating organism.
Click to expand...

Most all-brett beers I'm aware of use brett c. I'm pretty sure brett L alone wouldn't taste so great...
 
I tasted a 100% Brett L pale ale that was actually very good, but I really enjoy that flavor to start with. I actually enjoyed it enough that I brewed something similar today. 100% Belgian Pilsner, an ounce of Saaz and Brett L. Hopefully it turns out.
 
My vote is for Wheat - and not American wheat but a straight up German Weizen. I'm imagining a Krystall Weizen with a dry 100% brett character. Too much?
 
Gritsak said:
The beer from both of my all brett starters that were completely fermented out had strong brett character, so i'm not sure how accurate it is to say that an all brett beer will have none of the traditional brett flavors. My idea behind not making starters next time is to intentionally underpitch to stress the yeast.
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree, 100% brett beers will give you a very funky beer, I will say though that they tend to take a bit more time to develop the same level of funk (strain dependent) and tend to start our a bit more fruity when young
 
i've also made a 100% white labs brett L beer and it was simple, but pretty good.

and i have a 100% wyeast brett L beer in primary right now.
 
emjay said:
Most all-brett beers I'm aware of use brett c. I'm pretty sure brett L alone wouldn't taste so great...
Click to expand...

How do you know? I'm not trying to call you out or anything buy you've made some claims that I feel are wrong. There are plenty of examples of 100% Brett beers that are very good that use B or L as well as blends of different strains.

If the OP wants to make a beer with 100% Brett L, then go ahead. I bet it will be good. I just did a Biere de Garde and I split the batch in half. The first half got WY 2112, and the other got Brett B only. The brett B is very funky and it was 1 month from brewing to bottling. I did not like the BdG very much when I was sampling it before bottling (kinda boring to me) so I only bottled 1 gallon of it, and the rest sat on the Brett B cake from the 100% Brett B batch. After ~4.5 weeks I sampled some yesterday and it smelled like Brett. Very funky, sweaty etc, but the flavor was very mild and pleasant.


http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/06/all-about-brettanomyces.html This is a link to a blog about a guy who makes lots of sours and brett beers. This link specifically is about Brett and I found it very helpful. The blog is good as well. Have fun and keep us posted on your upcoming Brett adventures
 
I've made a handful of all brett beers- a berliner, a couple saisons, a belgian pale, and an imp. porter. I've done a couple co-pitching brett with a sacch strain- both saisons. From my experience with those beers and tasting some others, I would say that the larger the initial pitch, the longer it takes the beer to display "classic brett flavors". Every all brett beer I've tried has eventually developed what I would call "brett character" of the sort you get from a brett secondary.

As far as styles- I definitely liked the all-brett pitches on saison grain bills (even if I'm not sure "saison" is a proper term for a beer like that). Darker beers can be fun (that porter has been awesome to taste over time- it's gone pineapple/passionfruit to musty straw with fruit notes over the course of a year).

Commercially, Wild Devil and the Midnight Sun collaboration 3767 are both quite tasty wild IPAs, and I love love love the farmhouse Avery 15 with brett a. Boulevard Saison Brett is on my short list as well. I have dregs stored from all four of these, and I plan to use them this summer. Just haven't decided what yet.
 
emjay said:
Most all-brett beers I'm aware of use brett c. I'm pretty sure brett L alone wouldn't taste so great...
Click to expand...

While I disagree with what your saying its not 100%

Ive brewed up a 100% brett L beer before, and it was good nicely fruity with hints of funkiness, I will say though that adding just a pinch of acidity to the beer really made those flavors pop a lot more

recipe + tasting if anyone cares
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2009/04/100-brett-l-malty-brown.html
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2011/05/blended-brett-l-malty-brown-review.html
 
I just tried my 100% Brett B beer last night (~1 month in the bottle) and it's already very funky, dirty, barnyard-y. I'm excited to see how age changes the beer.

I'm also excited to continue experimenting with Brett. I have another pack of Brett L laying around and cant decide right now what to do with it
 
coypoo said:
I just tried my 100% Brett B beer last night (~1 month in the bottle) and it's already very funky, dirty, barnyard-y. I'm excited to see how age changes the beer.

I'm also excited to continue experimenting with Brett. I have another pack of Brett L laying around and cant decide right now what to do with it
Click to expand...

I like a combo of Brett B and Marris Otter, it always reminds me of a way overripe (slightly rotten) banana and bread, sort of a rotten banana bread thing :cross: sounds gross to describe it that way but its quite good
 
ryane said:
I like a combo of Brett B and Marris Otter, it always reminds me of a way overripe (slightly rotten) banana and bread, sort of a rotten banana bread thing :cross: sounds gross to describe it that way but its quite good
Click to expand...

That's funny you mention that. While we were drinking it and describing the flavors, we thought "who would drink this" if we were describing this to someone who had never had a brett beer
 
I have done a few 100% Brett beers and haven't found one I don't like yet.

I've done WL Brett C with a Brown Ale base - really brought out the roast and fruit flavors. For the first month there was zero funk, now at 6 months it still has the roast but much more funk and just barely tart. I am really getting hooked on the roast - sour flavor combo.

I also did a Drie / Avery 15 Brett Strains in a Special Bitter wort and it was a tropical fruit bomb for the first month, which was nice with the floral hops. At 6 months it has some decent sourness and the hops/bitterness have fallen-off, but still has a great caramel malt and big funk aroma.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/01/dreg-series-avery-15-or-drie-brett.html

Since I liked the Bitter so much with Avery 15 dregs I tried some in an Old Ale wort. And like others have spoke about above, the beer started out with some great fruit notes that went very well with the dark fruit from the treacle. But now the beer's nose is very funky with some of that fruit flavor still there.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/02/dreg-series-old-ale-with-avery-15-brett.html

I have yet to find a wort I don't like with Brett fermentation. In my opinion, it just takes a bit more thought about the evolution of the beer. With my experience from WL Brett C produced a very clean beer with some citrus component and then the beer turned musty and funky in a good way. For the Avery 15 Brett strains they started out over the top fruity, like a fruit cocktail and over time have developed some sourness and a bit of funk.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2010/12/dreg-series-brett-c-brown-ale.html

There is a lot of experimentation still to do. Also some things that were not mentioned, but make a big difference in the flavor profiles are aeration (mine were not aerated after pitching and i had no sourness for the first couple months), pitching rates (my pitching rates were low about half normal sacc rates), pH of wort before pitching (I did not pre-sour my wort) and temperature (mine were done in the low 70s). Chad Y in his Brett Project dissertation covers some of this. If anyone has done any side by side experiments that might also help the OP know what he might get from a 100% Brett fermentation.

Good luck and let us know your results.
 
Almighty said:
I have done a few 100% Brett beers and haven't found one I don't like yet.

I've done WL Brett C with a Brown Ale base - really brought out the roast and fruit flavors. For the first month there was zero funk, now at 6 months it still has the roast but much more funk and just barely tart. I am really getting hooked on the roast - sour flavor combo.

I also did a Drie / Avery 15 Brett Strains in a Special Bitter wort and it was a tropical fruit bomb for the first month, which was nice with the floral hops. At 6 months it has some decent sourness and the hops/bitterness have fallen-off, but still has a great caramel malt and big funk aroma.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/01/dreg-series-avery-15-or-drie-brett.html

Since I liked the Bitter so much with Avery 15 dregs I tried some in an Old Ale wort. And like others have spoke about above, the beer started out with some great fruit notes that went very well with the dark fruit from the treacle. But now the beer's nose is very funky with some of that fruit flavor still there.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2011/02/dreg-series-old-ale-with-avery-15-brett.html

I have yet to find a wort I don't like with Brett fermentation. In my opinion, it just takes a bit more thought about the evolution of the beer. With my experience from WL Brett C produced a very clean beer with some citrus component and then the beer turned musty and funky in a good way. For the Avery 15 Brett strains they started out over the top fruity, like a fruit cocktail and over time have developed some sourness and a bit of funk.
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2010/12/dreg-series-brett-c-brown-ale.html

There is a lot of experimentation still to do. Also some things that were not mentioned, but make a big difference in the flavor profiles are aeration (mine were not aerated after pitching and i had no sourness for the first couple months), pitching rates (my pitching rates were low about half normal sacc rates), pH of wort before pitching (I did not pre-sour my wort) and temperature (mine were done in the low 70s). Chad Y in his Brett Project dissertation covers some of this. If anyone has done any side by side experiments that might also help the OP know what he might get from a 100% Brett fermentation.

Good luck and let us know your results.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info and the links. I am currently thinking about brewing up a brown/porter (maybe as far as a stout). But not too hop-bitter (maybe 25ish IBUs). And while I'm playing around with this brew, I might throw some fresh, spring-growth spruce tips in as late additions in lieu of hops (but still bittering with hops). I've got my LHBS ordering me up some B. claussenii and will probably put a recipe together and brew this up in June sometime.

Thanks for all the ideas/advice. I'll keep everyone posted. :mug:
 

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