Amarillo Bomb (all brett.c)

I just dropped 6oz amarillo, now for the next 8oz..

Recipe: Amarillo bitter (Paxton)
Style: 10B-American Ale-American Amber Ale

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.50 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.50 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.050 SG
Expected OG: 1.057 SG
Expected FG: 1.014 SG
Expected ABV: 5.8 %
Expected ABW: 4.5 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 37.0
Expected Color: 9.1 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 75.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 75.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
Maris Otter 9lb 0oz (69.2 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Red Wheat Malt 2lb 0oz (15.4 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 20L Malt 1lb 0oz (7.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Medium Crystal (120EBC) 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Caramalt 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
US Amarillo (5.0 % alpha) 6.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Amarillo (5.0 % alpha) 8.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 1 Min From End

Other Ingredients
Irish Moss 0.25 oz used In Boil

Yeast: White Labs WLP645 Brettanomyces claussenii

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:HERMS
Step: Rest at 110 degF for 15 mins
Step: Raise by direct heating to 135 degF for 15 mins
Step: Rest at 135 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise by direct heating to 156 degF for 15 mins
Step: Rest at 156 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise to and Mash out at 165 degF for 15 mins

Recipe Notes

14oz of amarillo. Maybe its just me but that brew can't possibly hold that many hops.
After some point you are just wasting.

I dunno, I had a IPA my pal did, with 9oz northern brewer and it was awesome..i was shocked....timing is everything, if it were at 60 min with 6 oz and the 8 oz at 30 min id be scared .

snazzy said:

14oz of amarillo. Maybe its just me but that brew can't possibly hold that many hops.
After some point you are just wasting.

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I adapted this beer from Sean Paxton (the Home brew Chef) Amarillo pale I was listening to an interview he did on Basic brewing, where he was talking about an all Brett.C version of this beer where he used a whole pound in the last 5min.

What I'm after is the volatile oils of the Amarillo that would boil off with an early hop addition, and by doing it this way I still get an IBU of 37.What I am looking for it the Citrus and dried apricot aroma of the Amarillo, and be enhanced by the Pineapple and passion fruit character the Brett.C. will impart.

It did seem a bit excessive to me too, but with the prices of hops from hops direct I thought I'd give it a shot.

How did you prep the Brett? Did you do a starter?

I pitched a vial last night in 1L of 1.040 starter, and this afternoon I stepped it up with another Liter of starter. I plan on stopping the stir plate before I go to bed tonight, and let the yeast settle, decant off the 1.5L, and Pitch the slurry in the morning.

There is definitely not enough cells in the vial to do a one step starer, let alone to pitch strait from the vial for a primary fermentation.

I think I am going to ferment at 72ºF

I know, I've been doing some brett research. There's about 50 million cells/mL in the vial, or about 1.75 billion in a vial, as compared to the 100 billion or so in a normal yeast vial.

This looks like a fun experiment. Let us know how it goes!

Brewsmith said:

I know, I've been doing some brett research. There's about 50 million cells/mL in the vial, or about 1.75 billion in a vial, as compared to the 100 billion or so in a normal yeast vial.

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Thanks, thats a good bit of information, considering I stepped it twice, I should be pitching a good stock of yeast.

The only problem this may have is the time the brett is going to take to ferment you may loose a bit of the aroma and flavor you were going for.

Wild Devil (Hop Devil fermented with Brett C.) is one of my favorite beers. This should be great!

z987k said:

The only problem this may have is the time the brett is going to take to ferment you may loose a bit of the aroma and flavor you were going for.

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This is purely what I've heard, not experience. I thought I remember someone saying that an all Brett fermentation is fairly fast. Unlike a sour fermentation where the regular yeast do the work, and a small amount of brett finishes.

from what I could find, with similar pitching rates Brett. will ferment just as fast as Sac. This guy in Fort Collins Chad Yacobson has some of the results of his masters project in all Brett fementation posted, that I used as a resource.

I just pitched this this morning, 2L starter with what looked fairly dense, like ~300b cells. I'll report back how it takes off, slow or fast.

Very interested in how this turns out. This looks like something I would gladly make.

Edcculus said:

Wild Devil (Hop Devil fermented with Brett C.) is one of my favorite beers. This should be great!



This is purely what I've heard, not experience. I thought I remember someone saying that an all Brett fermentation is fairly fast. Unlike a sour fermentation where the regular yeast do the work, and a small amount of brett finishes.

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I've still seen a couple of months instead of the ~1 week.

I was reading the "Horse of a different Color" PDF from Babble Belt before I started this, and it really seams to me that Brett.C acts a lot like Sac. when doing the primary fermentation, but can go a lot further when in conjunction with other helper bacteria, but not necessarily when it is on its own. From what I read most beer got down to ~1.010 with all Brett.C fermentation, in 7-11 days. some were kegged carbonated and bottled soon after with out problems, and after a few months were stable at the bottling gravity.

I just got home and the beer is chug'n away like i pitched 002, I have a blow off tube, because the 2L starter never settled over night, so I just pitched the whole thing, and put a blow off tube because it has a lot less head space.

hey thats awesome! Thats what I thought about Brett C, but didn't really have any sources to back it up. I think I see some 100% Brett beers in my future! Possibly an all Brett Tripel.

Sounds like a great experiment to me!

Edcculus said:

hey thats awesome! Thats what I thought about Brett C, but didn't really have any sources to back it up. I think I see some 100% Brett beers in my future! Possibly an all Brett Tripel.

Click to expand...

I'll let you know how it goes, but one of the reasons why I brewed this beer, was to have a good thick yeast cake to pitch in the the triple I have planned next. I'm looking to do some big late hop additions to it too, to give it some real west coast character, I'll probably have 4oz Amarillo and 4 oz Sorachi Ace in the last min.

Recipe: All Brettanomyces C. Tripple
Style: 18C-Belgian Strong Ale-Belgian Tripel

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.50 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 6.00 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 6.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.50 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.059 SG
Expected OG: 1.080 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 8.9 %
Expected ABW: 6.9 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 37.0
Expected Color: 5.9 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 82.1 %
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 75.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
Belgian Pilsen Malt 10lb 0oz (55.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Wheat Malt 5lb 0oz (27.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Biscuit Malt 8.00 oz (2.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Aromatic Malt 8.00 oz (2.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - Candi Sugar Pale 2lb 0oz (11.1 %) End Of Boil

Hops
German Hallertauer Magnum (11.0 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Amarillo (5.0 % alpha) 4.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 1 Min From End
Sorachi Ace (12.0 % alpha) 4.00 oz Loose Whole Hops used 1 Min From End

Other Ingredients

Yeast: White Labs WLP645 Brettanomyces claussenii

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:HERMS
Step: Rest at 110 degF for 15 mins
Step: Raise by direct heating to 135 degF for 15 mins
Step: Rest at 135 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise by direct heating to 156 degF for 15 mins
Step: Rest at 156 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise to and Mash out at 165 degF for 15 mins

Recipe Notes

I just checked the gravity on this beer an took a taste. It's at 1.018 down from 1.055 and is still chugging away nicely. the aroma is supper funky right now, I almost did not take a sip. It's not the pineapple bomb I was thinking it would be, and it tastes nothing like it smells like, but It's showing promise. I must have drank 10billon yeast so I'm going to stay close to home tonight...

Wow, so I checked the gravity today because this weekend I'm going to Keg this beer and Pitch the yeast cake.

It's down to 1.005 or lower right now, it's got a supper funky aroma (good funky) but a clean, earthy flavor that the Amarillo hops highlight vary well. But the Pineapple I'm looking for is not there, but may be after aging another month it will get there!

Das one sexy fermentation. I will look forward to seeing your results.

I kegged up this beer yesterday, and had a pull tonight just to check

Surprisingly it is not too dry, or lacking in some mouth feel, even though the FG got down to 1.004. I think the EtOH is quite high 7%,but does not taste like it.

The Pineapple in the aroma is defiantly there, but the bitterness comes on a little too much, and a little bit too late. I'm hoping CO2 will round that out.I think it might develop nicely.

I got the CO2 dialed in on this around 2.5% and that seams to be about right for this beer.

The color is a nice deep golden to amber with a light white head, that is not too big but holds up for about 2min.

The aroma is candied pineapple. this was not as evident at lower carbonation but as the CO levels went up the aroma became more defined. There is no malt aroma or Hop aroma, considering I added +8oz of late addition Amarillo and dry hoped it at three weeks, I'm quite surprised of the lack of hop aroma.

Vary surprisingly this beer does not taste thin, considering that the FG was 1.007, it is quite a full beer. I think this might be to my mashing scheduled that has multiple temperature steps (110,130,158,165).On the same note the EtOH is around 7-8%, but lacks other hot alcohols.

The flavor is a little over whelmed by the 2008 Amarillo that is not like the 2007 Amarillo , but instead of having an apricot flavor is leaning way to the garlic side. The bitterness is sharp, but is lacking a malty backing. The brett.c gives it a light funkiness, but nothing like other brett strains.

All and all, I think this is a good drinkable beer, but It could need some thing a Brett.B or L could add to the flavor, and it might be better if the 2008 crop of Amarillo did not taste so much like garlic.

Now I'm interested how the Belgian triple I made with the brett.c will be?

Very cool stuff. Its hard for me to even imagine what this would taste like.