100% Brett lambicus recipe suggestions

Hi everyone! I'm looking for suggestions on what to brew with 100% Wyeast Brett Lambicus. I'm brewing a belgian pale with the yeast right now but since I will have a bunch of yeast cake after this beer is done I was hoping to brew something else.

I was thinking about something dark and high gravity that would play nice with the sour cherry flavor.

I was looking at some belgian dark strong recipes but, as with most high gravity recipes, I'm worried about them over attenuating with the brett.

Anyone have any experience with this yeast who can point me in the right direction?

100% Brett shouldn't over-attenuate, without sacc it behaves more like sacc, just a little slower. Pitch a large amount (halfway between ale and lager amounts) and mash a little higher if you want less attenuation. Adding flaked grains to the grist can help mouthfeel, since Brett can be a little thin compared to sacc. I've done a super simple vienna smash with 100% Brett L and it was lackluster, but I bet with some dark grains and a stronger beer it would work. Good luck!

Rad. However, a lot of the reading I've been doing contradicts each other. Some sources say that it will attenuate like an ale yeast, some say to expect ~90% attenuation, so I'm not sure who to believe

I'd love to just brew a belgian dark strong with the yeast but I don't want it to get super dry and gross over time.

I'd say it's fairly high attenuating, but in a normal range (in my limited experience). I got like 1.008 from 1.060 as an example. Didn't try anything strong and sweet with it so I don't know where it'd go. I'd just keep the hops on the low side and use crystal malts and no simple sugar. It will take experimentation.

Would you be bottling or kegging?

I think that the contradictory info may actually both be true, in their own ways.

I think I've heard/read Chad Yakobson say that Brett is still super-attentive, even as the only yeast strain. But, it will behave like Sacc and attenuate to a typical (or to a high but not super attentive) rate in the typical time Sacc would (or a tad slower). If you keg at this time, when it's gone through the typical primary fermentation, great, drink. If you bottle at this time, or otherwise allow continued or some other secondary aging, it will continue to slowly attenuate in the same way Brett does as a secondary strain.

*No personal experience, just what I've surmised from my research.*

I'll be bottling. I did find this recipe for a 100% brett belgian golden strong so I guess I know it can be done with good results, although the resulting FG is rather low.

My belgian pale ale is my first 100% brett beer so I'm not entirely sure what characteristics I'm going to get from the B. lambicus so once it's done I'll have to choose a second beer according to how that one turns out.

What about a dark saison? I'm having a hard time finding a good looking recipe for one :/

Here's my dark saison recipe, I absolutely love it. One of my favorite recipes:

OG: 1.071 based on 75% efficiency

73% Pilsner
6% Munich
4% Crystal 120
3% Vienna
3% Wheat
2% Carafa I
4% Brown Sugar
4% Dark Candi Syrup

Mash really high, as you'll get high attenuation from the Brett. I used a saison sacch strain, and it went from 1.071 to 1.008 after mashing at 157º. Hop to about 15 IBU for a good balance, more if you prefer your beers on the bitter side. With the low FG, there isn't much residual sugar left to balance the bitterness, which is why it's so low.

Also, you can substitute more brown sugar for the Candi Syrup if it's too expensive, or vice versa if you want more of the dark fruit flavors from the syrup.

TheZymurgist said:

Here's my dark saison recipe, I absolutely love it. One of my favorite recipes:

OG: 1.071 based on 75% efficiency

73% Pilsner
6% Munich
4% Crystal 120
3% Vienna
3% Wheat
2% Carafa I
4% Brown Sugar
4% Dark Candi Syrup

Mash really high, as you'll get high attenuation from the Brett. I used a saison sacch strain, and it went from 1.071 to 1.008 after mashing at 157º. Hop to about 15 IBU for a good balance, more if you prefer your beers on the bitter side. With the low FG, there isn't much residual sugar left to balance the bitterness, which is why it's so low.

Also, you can substitute more brown sugar for the Candi Syrup if it's too expensive, or vice versa if you want more of the dark fruit flavors from the syrup.

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That looks pretty good! If I wanted a beer with slightly higher gravity would I just use less water or would I want to specifically increase a couple of ingredients? I'd prefer a beer with a gravity around 1.08 or so if possible

I was also looking at this recipe:

11 lbs Wyermann Pilsner Malt
1 lb Flaked Wheat
1 lb Caramunich
0.5 lbs Special B
1 Lbs D2 Belgian Candi Syrup
0.34 lbs Turbanado Sugar

0.5 Ounces Styrian Goldings 3.4% AAU @ 90
0.3 Ounces Magnum 14.1% AAU @ 90
1 Tab Whirflock @ 15 minutes
0.6 TSP Wyeast Yeast Nutrient 10 Mins
0.5 TBS Coriander Seed 10 mins



Any feedback on this? The FG given for the recipe is 1.008, which actually seems pretty low for a belgian dark strong.

TAK said:

I think I've heard/read Chad Yakobson say that Brett is still super-attentive, even as the only yeast strain. But, it will behave like Sacc and attenuate to a typical (or to a high but not super attentive) rate in the typical time Sacc would (or a tad slower). If you keg at this time, when it's gone through the typical primary fermentation, great, drink. If you bottle at this time, or otherwise allow continued or some other secondary aging, it will continue to slowly attenuate in the same way Brett does as a secondary strain.

Click to expand...

That is not my experience. I have All-Brett beers that have been in bottles for a few years. No gushers, no over-carbonation. It does evolve over time, and I've come to the conclusion that all-brett beers are better fresh. I can't explain what it is, but up to a year, they are great 'fresh' beers, and as they evolve, they get dull and bland. I've made a lot of all-brett beers, but only used Brett-B (a couple of different strains), other Bretts may work differently.

brwagur said:

That looks pretty good! If I wanted a beer with slightly higher gravity would I just use less water or would I want to specifically increase a couple of ingredients? I'd prefer a beer with a gravity around 1.08 or so if possible

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Since those are percentages, you can dial in the gravity you want, just keeping the ratios the same. For a 10 gallon batch, I had 24.5 pounds of fermentables total, including the 2 pounds of simple sugars (which is roughly 8% of 24.5.)

If you're doing a 5 gallon batch, you'll have a total 12.25 pounds of fermentables to reach a gravity of 1.071. If you want a gravity of around 1.080, you'll need to scale everything up in proportion. Remember, though, that we practically work with ounces and pounds, not percentages, so just keep the percentages somewhat close, they don't have to be perfect. I like to stick things in an Excel spreadsheet to play around with them. I'll try to work with it a little later today and see if I can get you a more exact recipe, and post it here.

TAK said:

Would you be bottling or kegging?

I think that the contradictory info may actually both be true, in their own ways.

I think I've heard/read Chad Yakobson say that Brett is still super-attentive, even as the only yeast strain. But, it will behave like Sacc and attenuate to a typical (or to a high but not super attentive) rate in the typical time Sacc would (or a tad slower). If you keg at this time, when it's gone through the typical primary fermentation, great, drink. If you bottle at this time, or otherwise allow continued or some other secondary aging, it will continue to slowly attenuate in the same way Brett does as a secondary strain.

*No personal experience, just what I've surmised from my research.*

Click to expand...

I agree with Calder here. One of the reasons Brett is a slow worker when used in secondary, is that it's under a lot of stress, being in an environment of alcohol and CO2, and has less sugars to work with. It will still attenuate fairly aggressively, and does take a little longer to work than *some* Sacch strains, so you want to be sure fermentation is complete, but it won't continue to attenuate in the bottle as long as you've bottled after it's done. I just did three all-Brett pale ales, and they were done in less than three weeks. I bottled and kegged at four.

A little late, but I did an all Brett L. Alt. It is great! Malty, stone fruit, and on the dryer side. Quite the unique combo! 10/10... would recommend!

Not late at all! My Brett L. pale ale is still fermenting I'm actually leaning more towards a belgian golden strong.

hpr89 said:

A little late, but I did an all Brett L. Alt. It is great! Malty, stone fruit, and on the dryer side. Quite the unique combo! 10/10... would recommend!

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Hpr89, you got a recipe for this?

I did a quick sour red. Unhopped wort, pitched starter of omega lacto, after 24hr pitched big Brett L starter. After a few weeks it attenuated to 1.010 (common for extract in my experience), dry hopped for a few days with El Dorado, the kegged. Came out really good. A slight bit too sour (I'm good with that), and super cherry notes with a hint of funk. Next time I will either pitch both together or ***** the Brett and wait a few days, then pitch the omega lacto (that stuff is awesome).

Jujitsudave, I'm interested in hearing more about your quick sour red. What was the grain to glass time?

TMannion87 said:

Jujitsudave, I'm interested in hearing more about your quick sour red. What was the grain to glass time?

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Yeah. Sounds delicious.

I didnt take many notes on time, but I believe it was a total of 5 weeks. I highly recommend playing with it. I think the cherry flavor really came through nicely. Probably due to the brett and the use of large amounts of munich malt extract.