Strange Brew...

So I'm putting this up here partly for the purpose of documenting what I know will be a rather long process, and partly to be able to ask questions, for suggestions, etc. while I move this one along.

Back story:

Having a few BIAB batches under my belt and limited funding, time, etc. but an incessant need to keep designing (and subsequently wanting to brew) new batches, I decided to get together supplies to make three 1 gallon batches - a massive imperial stout, an imperial IPA, and an american stout. Here were the recipes (I believe... I did a poor job of keeping the notes I took since I had nearly given up on them as being ruined):

Imperial Stout:
4.5lbs 2-row
3oz roasted barley
1oz chocolate malt
4oz brown sugar
.2oz nugget@60min
.25oz northern brewer@15mins
oak chips soaked in bourbon at 2ndary
black peppercorns (3) at 2ndary
Calculated OG: 1.141
IBU: 59

Imperial IPA:
3lbs 2-row
.5oz nugget@60min
.5oz amarillo@10min
.5oz nugget@flameout
.5oz amarillo@flameout
1oz citra dry hop
Calculated OG: 1.098
IBU: 94

American Stout:
2lb 2-row
4oz chocolate malt
1/3oz cascade@60
1/3oz cascade@15
1/3oz cascade@flameout
Calculated OG: 1.061
IBU: 42

I brewed two of them on one day, one on another day. Didn't bother taking OG because I wanted to taste them first, as test batches. Perhaps dumb, but I wasn't concerned. It was experimentation. I discovered not too long later that my thermometer was off... by a lot. Result being that all three were mashed via BIAB at well over 160F, perhaps as high as 170-175F? I don't really know, quite honestly. You'll note that two of these would have had pretty massive

I used Notty on all three, and discovered after ferm was "finished" that all three were very, very sweet still (I didn't notice any tannins, so temp didn't get THAT high). I left them alone for quite a long while hoping that something would work/happen. No such luck. Long story short, I was right near the point of just dumping all three and calling them a loss, when I decided to be experimental.

Time has gone by (5, 6 months now?), so aroma and dry hops are gone, probably any hop flavor too. Before I bothered joining here and getting reasonable advise, I thought I would try blending the three, adding about a gallon of water and about a pound of cane sugar, assuming it might help "dry it out". I also added champaign yeast thinking it might do something (I know better now, via a different thread).

So, the yeast has done all it's going to do with the cane sugar and whatever fermentable sugars there were in the batches. And here I sit with roughly 3 gallons (after all the loss from the three original containers) I've ordered up a vial of Brett C. that I'm going to add to it. I'll probably add some oak to it at some point (or perhaps spanish cedar? hmmm...) I figure, at this point, what could possibly be a problem? If I'm going to otherwise dump it anyway, should be fun to play with. It might even eventually, in a year or two or three, become something interesting.

Yes there might have been some oxidation introduced during the blending and the addition of the water and sugar. I'm sorta counting on it at this point. But again, with Brett and age, and maybe some other things along the way, who knows?

It's clearly unstylable and I don't anticipate ever entering it into any competitions or anything, but it should be a fair learning experience. And could prove interesting. I'm thinking of calling it "Odd Bruin" or, if it really works out well, "St. Brett: the Patron Saint of Failed Mashes".

Anybody having any interesting thoughts, suggestions, or ideas - they would be most welcome. At this point in time I don't think I want to make a full on sour by adding any bugs... especially with the IBUs in the bittering alone for all of these, they might not work anyway. At any rate, the Brett should be here next Thursday, so it'll begin then. I'll take an "initial" gravity of it at that point, since I haven't done that yet.

Cheers to the Mad Homebrewer's laboratory over here...

Brett C didn't come in to the LHBS today as promised... So it'll be another week.

So, I have some cedar planks meant for grilling that I haven't used... I know that Spanish Cedar is neither, but has anybody tried this? I thought about adding this in now/soon for a while, and hoping that with the age that the Brett will require, it could blend in to make for something interesting. Any thoughts on that?

I would throw some lacto and pedio in there also and let it sit for a few years

My only concern is that the hop content may be too high for any bugs to survive. I could say "eh, it's experimental, so who cares?" But the concern at this point is wasted money. LHBS is having some trouble getting the Brett c in, so I might just switch the plan to Brett b, since they have it in stock. But they also carry roselaire.... So I don't know...

I would use roeselare, better bang for the buck. Pedio does not care about alpha acids.

So I FINALLY picked up some Brett for this sucker. Bought what the LHBS had in stock, which was straight Brett B.

Took a gravity reading where it sat. Perhaps ironically, gravity was 1.012. Flavor isn't bad, though not great. Hoppy and a little sweet, mildly boozy, and perhaps once again ironically, fairly dry. Relatively IPA like, I suppose. Not terrible. But no turning back now!

Pitched in the Brett, we will see what's next. I plan on tossing in some oak chips eventually, though I don't have any cleaned or soaked yet. I'll get there, there's time.



I decided I'm gonna call it Odd Bruin. Who knows what it'll be like.

Cheers.

Could somebody tell me approximately how long it should take for Brett (alone) to form a pellicle? I haven't opened the lid on the bucket yet, but plan to add some fruit and oak in the next day or two. I just want to confirm that if I open the bucket and don't see one yet if that's a problem or not.

Using the iPhone app to post so can't see the date... But see my last post's time stamp to see when I pitched. Note that I pitched low - the wyeast pack wasn't totally puffed when I pitched, and it went into about 3 gallons.

Thanks in advance.

eyebrau said:

Could somebody tell me approximately how long it should take for Brett (alone) to form a pellicle? I haven't opened the lid on the bucket yet, but plan to add some fruit and oak in the next day or two. I just want to confirm that if I open the bucket and don't see one yet if that's a problem or not.

Click to expand...

I don't think anyone can answer that question. It could take a few weeks to a few months, or not even create one at all. It is not a problem if you don't see one, and it is not a problem to break one.

Good to know. Thanks for responding! That puts me at ease. I appreciate it.

Been gone a while, but figured I'd update this one. Had put some thawed frozen strawberries in a couple months ago, and later also tossed in the dregs from a bottle of Anchorage Galaxy White IPA. Popped the lid today to take a look. I'm assuming this is normal? The funky bubbles I expected, but not the white powder.



Smells fantastic, though, so I'm not too worried.

Tossed in dregs from a Berliner weisse about a week ago, so we will see if there's still anything for the lacto to take hold of. A friend has a cherry tree that's ripe... I haven't had the time or money to get ingredients to make a kriek, so I think I may go pick some and toss them in here. They're free and available, so what the heck?

bradjoiner said:

I would use roeselare, better bang for the buck. Pedio does not care about alpha acids.

Click to expand...

It may not be as sensitive as some lacto strains but it most assuredly is inhibited by alpha acids.

example http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19714985