Too soon to be sour?

I pitched Brett L onto a pretty basic pale ale, along with some blackberries, about two months ago. I got a really nice pellicle about a month in, but it's already starting to fall. I have read about people saying that it's ready to bottle when the pellicle falls, but I also thought it would be at least six months before this thing is ready. I guess I should take a sample and find out where I stand but I hate to take too many samples. I won't have any beer left! Is it possible that Brett has already done it's thing and this beer is ready to go?

How high many IBU's?

was this primary or secondary with brett? if it was primary that was enough time, if it was secondary id give it another month or more. brett doesnt really sour unless its exposed to alot of air tho

BryanThompson said:

How high many IBU's?

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IBUs don't effect brett

23 with a late addition of 1 oz @ 5%

was this primary or secondary with brett? if it was primary that was enough time, if it was secondary id give it another month or more. brett doesnt really sour unless its exposed to alot of air tho

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It was secondary. If it doesn't sour, what kind of effect is it going to have on the beer?

rebel80 said:

It was secondary. If it doesn't sour, what kind of effect is it going to have on the beer?

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bacteria, like lacto, is what really gives the sour. brett is more of a horsey, funky thing, but it can sour to a lesser effect.

dcp27 said:

IBUs don't effect brett

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Oh, yeah. Mixed up my critters.

A lot of folks will say that when the pellicle drops you're ok to bottle. That doesn't mean that you should bottle, just that fermenation's done pretty much all it will and that you shouldn't end up with explosions. When you actually bottle will depend on taste which will continue to change with or without the pellicle, so if you like where it's at then package it up, if not then let it sit. But you may still want to check the gravity over some time just to make sure it's finished.

Update :

Just tasted this and it is awesome! Plenty of Brett character came through. I don't want to waste any more beer than I have to by taking hydro samples. I think I'm just going to bottle. What kind of bottle bomb risk am I taking here. The bugs have had more than three months to do their thing.

Did you take any samples? Where is the gravity?

I would expect a brett secondary to go close to 1.000.

Did you take any samples? Where is the gravity?

I would expect a brett secondary to go close to 1.000.

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I wasn't going to because I was trying to maximize how much gets bottled, but I didn't realize it would go all the way down to 1.000. I will definitely take a sample before I bottle it up. Thanks!

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Did you take any samples? Where is the gravity?

I would expect a brett secondary to go close to 1.000.

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The last 3 I did ended at 1.006, 1.007. and 1.009. All between 9 and 12 months in the fermenter.