joshrosborne
Well-Known Member
I had been wanting to do a 100% Brett beer for quite some time now and rather than go the way of IPA or blonde with Trois or one of the fruity strains, I thought I would mess around with Lambicus and Brux. I Really liked this year's vintage of Deschutes Dissident, so I contacted the brewery and to my absolute surprise, got a great response about what Brett/bacteria they use:
I made up a very small starter with the dregs in a pint jar and let it ride for a week or so until I could see a significant amount of growth of the yeast that has begun to collect on the bottom of the jar. I built this up to somewhere between 500-750ml over another week and chilled until I was ready to brew.
The recipe I ended up going with is as follows. My store was out of roasted barley, so I went with some black patent and increased the amount of chocolate malt I was originally going to use. I'm not sure if this is a stout, porter, or something else, but I wanted a dark Brett beer and this will do the job. I brewed yesterday and this morning have airlock activity and krausen.
Brett Stout
American Stout
Type: Extract Date: 8/25/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 6.20 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Bayou Classic Pot
End of Boil Volume 5.20 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 6.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (338.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.0 %
6.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
7 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 4 83.6 %
1.50 oz Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.8 IBUs
Starter from Deschutes Dissident (Brett L/Brett B)
As far as Brett goes we use an equal amount Brux and Lambicus in our aging process of two years. A portion is in oak Pinot casks and a portion is in stainless. With the stainless we use staves in the tanks that are not getting cherries. We dont want anything from the orchard to infect our staves because we get three uses out of them. The portion that is not getting cherries will have staves for the Brett to live on and added oak character. We grow a strain of Lacto Bacillus here at the brewery which we use in the mash and in the kettle. This becomes inactive in the kettle obviously, so other than the pH and the bio flavor it is not really used for conditioning.
The Brett should still be active and possibly pitchable. So you will have a blend of Brux and Lambicus. I would recommend that you try to propagate the yeast back up. Add the yeast to 15 Plato wort, store near 75-80 degrees F and see if grows, if you have activity in 2 or 3 days, you can let it finish out and then pitch with that. If you dont have a microscope to check viability just keep a good eye on it and if it really takes off you should be fine.
I made up a very small starter with the dregs in a pint jar and let it ride for a week or so until I could see a significant amount of growth of the yeast that has begun to collect on the bottom of the jar. I built this up to somewhere between 500-750ml over another week and chilled until I was ready to brew.
The recipe I ended up going with is as follows. My store was out of roasted barley, so I went with some black patent and increased the amount of chocolate malt I was originally going to use. I'm not sure if this is a stout, porter, or something else, but I wanted a dark Brett beer and this will do the job. I brewed yesterday and this morning have airlock activity and krausen.
Brett Stout
American Stout
Type: Extract Date: 8/25/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 6.20 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Bayou Classic Pot
End of Boil Volume 5.20 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 6.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (338.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.0 %
6.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
7 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 4 83.6 %
1.50 oz Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.8 IBUs
Starter from Deschutes Dissident (Brett L/Brett B)