WLP644 -Brett B Trois

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Apologies if this has already been covered, but I just picked up some WLP644 today to use in a Rye Pale Ale.

While I know that this isn't a Brett strain, is there any reason for me to treat it like Brett and ensure that I'm using a different Ale Pail, Auto-Siphon, Tubing... as to not risk infecting my "clean" beers?
 
nope, your good, use your normal equipment and sanitize as usual

Apologies if this has already been covered, but I just picked up some WLP644 today to use in a Rye Pale Ale.

While I know that this isn't a Brett strain, is there any reason for me to treat it like Brett and ensure that I'm using a different Ale Pail, Auto-Siphon, Tubing... as to not risk infecting my "clean" beers?
 
So I read here that you can ferment this beer upwards of 100 degrees, and that 75+ temps will bring out more fruit. Anyone have experience to confirm this? As of now im letting mine sit in like 74 degree ambient and its going off so temps are up there around 83-85 i'd guess. Can you even get unwanted esters from this yeast?
 
Anyone else experiencing this yeast slowing down but still continuing to ferment? I did a big pitch with a starter built up from some recycled slurry, and it had a really vigorous fermentation early on before settling down. But I've noticed it's still occasionally bubbling up from the pile of trub at the bottom of the fermenter. My gravity on day 7 appears to be 1.011-12. That's only 80.7% attenuation for me, so I'd expect it to drop a little further. (Mashed at 152 for a long time with no crystal malt, but some munich and honey.)
 
So I read here that you can ferment this beer upwards of 100 degrees, and that 75+ temps will bring out more fruit. Anyone have experience to confirm this? As of now im letting mine sit in like 74 degree ambient and its going off so temps are up there around 83-85 i'd guess. Can you even get unwanted esters from this yeast?

I'm letting mine sit close to 80F right now. When I used Imperial Organic's conan/644 mix, I let it sit at 76 for awhile and I didn't get any unpleasant flavors.

I'm a big fan of all of the esters this yeast puts out. Sometimes it smells a little fusely to me, but I think that's a combination of the low gravity and the relatively high temperatures of gravity samples I've encountered. It's always pleasing in the bottle.
 
Anyone else experiencing this yeast slowing down but still continuing to ferment? I did a big pitch with a starter built up from some recycled slurry, and it had a really vigorous fermentation early on before settling down. But I've noticed it's still occasionally bubbling up from the pile of trub at the bottom of the fermenter. My gravity on day 7 appears to be 1.011-12. That's only 80.7% attenuation for me, so I'd expect it to drop a little further. (Mashed at 152 for a long time with no crystal malt, but some munich and honey.)


That sounds like normal yeast/fermentation to me. Don't expect it to go too much further down
 
Anyone else experiencing this yeast slowing down but still continuing to ferment? I did a big pitch with a starter built up from some recycled slurry, and it had a really vigorous fermentation early on before settling down. But I've noticed it's still occasionally bubbling up from the pile of trub at the bottom of the fermenter. My gravity on day 7 appears to be 1.011-12. That's only 80.7% attenuation for me, so I'd expect it to drop a little further. (Mashed at 152 for a long time with no crystal malt, but some munich and honey.)

While mine did slow down after about a weeks time, it got down to 1.004 from an OG of 1.042. This took 17 days. I used almost 8% Crystal in mine. I didn't use a starter, just the Pure Pitch pack into a fermenter that I shook for 3 minutes before dumping the yeast in. No temp control and at one point the fermenter hit 80° F.
 
I bottled my Rye Pale Ale last night that I used WLP644 in and man it is fruity! Way more than I expected from a combined 5 oz of Citra and Centennial. Also, I feel like the rye is a bit subdued with this yeast. Given that the recipe was 20% rye, I typically get more "spice" with other yeasts.

I'm really digging this yeast and grabbed 3 jars of slurry for use in another Pale Ale, a Sour/Wild ale, and to mix with some Belle Saison.
 
I am sure this is answered somewhere in this thread, but I'm not going to read it all.

I just pitched WLP644, wort was 76 F, room temp was 72 F. Is there any reason to try and control temperature. Yeast spec is 70 to 85 F.

It is sitting in my swamp cooler bucket (without any water), so it would be easy to add 10 gallons of water to the bucket to keep temps constant around room temp. I also have a heater so I can control temp rise.

With most Belgians/Saisons, I usually start low (65 - 70 F), and after a few days raise the temp by a couple of degrees a day, but this time it didn't seem necessary due to the yeast temp range.
 
I bottled my Rye Pale Ale last night that I used WLP644 in and man it is fruity! Way more than I expected from a combined 5 oz of Citra and Centennial. Also, I feel like the rye is a bit subdued with this yeast. Given that the recipe was 20% rye, I typically get more "spice" with other yeasts.

I'm really digging this yeast and grabbed 3 jars of slurry for use in another Pale Ale, a Sour/Wild ale, and to mix with some Belle Saison.

I just copitched some WLP644 with WLP565 Belgian Saison into a rye saison yesterday. I'm fermenting at 78'F for 3 days then will raise the temp to 85'F for a week. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I'm hoping the saison yeast and the wlp644 work well together.
 
I just copitched some WLP644 with WLP565 Belgian Saison into a rye saison yesterday. I'm fermenting at 78'F for 3 days then will raise the temp to 85'F for a week. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I'm hoping the saison yeast and the wlp644 work well together.


Really cool idea! Please let us know how it turns out
 
I did a NEIPA style with this and fermented pretty high temps, smell at bottling gave me beerrgasms! After bottle conditioning it had faded pretty fast. Want to do it again and reduce bitterness to much lower and keg so I can drink within days!
 
I have a brew going right now using Brett B Trois. But I did a starter with Escarpment Labs Old World Saison yeast in my brew. This is the first time I have ever used the strain so we will see. Once it ferments out, I am going to dry hop it for 5 days. I am doing primary fermentation plus the dry hop in a keg. It should be ready for carbonation in about two weeks. So I will report back my experience when I get to drink it.
 
I just copitched some WLP644 with WLP565 Belgian Saison into a rye saison yesterday. I'm fermenting at 78'F for 3 days then will raise the temp to 85'F for a week. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I'm hoping the saison yeast and the wlp644 work well together.

I did the same with the Escarpment Labs Old World Saison yeast combined with WLP644, but I am fermenting it a little bit cooler at 72F. I don't really have a way to bring the temperature up on my fermentation vessels however.
 
Very long thread and a lot of good info. How do people think this could work out?
- Mash your beer as normal, take PH down to 4.5
- Chill to 40 celsius area and pitch lacto
- Wait PH to go down to area you like (example. 3.3)
- Boil as normal + hops etc..
- Chill to 20 celsius area
- Pitch WLP644 and let age for 4-6months
- Bottle

And would I need to add some yeast during bottling or could that WLP644 still handle the bottling sugar and carbonation?
 
Very long thread and a lot of good info. How do people think this could work out?
- Mash your beer as normal, take PH down to 4.5
- Chill to 40 celsius area and pitch lacto
- Wait PH to go down to area you like (example. 3.3)
- Boil as normal + hops etc..
- Chill to 20 celsius area
- Pitch WLP644 and let age for 4-6months
- Bottle

And would I need to add some yeast during bottling or could that WLP644 still handle the bottling sugar and carbonation?

I don't see any reason to age a kettle sour for any period of time, let alone several months. You may never get the character from the yeast in a pre-soured wort. If you want the 644 character, switch up the process - ferment then add the lacto (while restraining hops - dry hops after the acid profile is reached). Even that process should only take a couple weeks.

Along those lines, if you bottle right away after hitting FG, no need for additional yeast. If you do age, fresh yeast is good insurance against THP in the bottle.

Better yet, wait for RPHGuy to chime in - this is pretty much his process.
 
Last edited:
Very long thread and a lot of good info. How do people think this could work out?
- Mash your beer as normal, take PH down to 4.5
- Chill to 40 celsius area and pitch lacto
- Wait PH to go down to area you like (example. 3.3)
- Boil as normal + hops etc..
- Chill to 20 celsius area
- Pitch WLP644 and let age for 4-6months
- Bottle

And would I need to add some yeast during bottling or could that WLP644 still handle the bottling sugar and carbonation?
I recommend a post-souring process:
  • Mash, boil, and chill as normal. Use zero hops. Boiling is optional but recommended.
  • Drain 300-500mL wort into a sanitized jar or flask. Add Lactobacillus plantarum and a few grams of calcium carbonate. Cover and set aside at room temperature.
  • Pitch WLP644 and ferment at 70°F (21°C) with free rise.
  • After 1-2 days, add the L. plantarum starter by decanting it off the calcium carbonate.
  • Optional/recommended: once it reaches desired sourness (a few days), add hops via dry hop or hop tea. 0.5 oz or more per 5 gal (0.8g/L) will stop the Lacto.
  • Package as normal when fermentation completes.
Notes:
Low pH mutes yeast expression, so by delaying the souring we allow maximum yeast expression, resulting in a delicious flavorful beer.
WLP644 is not Brett and does not benefit from aging.

Cheers.
 
I recommend a post-souring process:
  • Mash, boil, and chill as normal. Use zero hops. Boiling is optional but recommended.
  • Drain 300-500mL wort into a sanitized jar or flask. Add Lactobacillus plantarum and a few grams of calcium carbonate. Cover and set aside at room temperature.
  • Pitch WLP644 and ferment at 70°F (21°C) with free rise.
  • After 1-2 days, add the L. plantarum starter by decanting it off the calcium carbonate.
  • Optional/recommended: once it reaches desired sourness (a few days), add hops via dry hop or hop tea. 0.5 oz or more per 5 gal (0.8g/L) will stop the Lacto.
  • Package as normal when fermentation completes.
Notes:
Low pH mutes yeast expression, so by delaying the souring we allow maximum yeast expression, resulting in a delicious flavorful beer.
WLP644 is not Brett and does not benefit from aging.

Cheers.

Got it, thanks a lot for your response.

-H
 
Back
Top