Brett Fermentation Temperature

What is the 'best' temperature to ferment Brett, or maybe the better question is how does different fermentation temperatures affect Brett . I'm using WLP650 (Brett-B).

I've now made 4 All-Brett beers so far, two were simple Farmhouse style, and two were Brown-Porters. All 4 were fermented at room/basement temperature (low to mid 60s), and all 4 turned out really good.

Next week I'll be starting a new one (simple farmhouse recipe), and am thinking of fermenting somewhere around 75 to 80 F to see what happens. However, if it is going to make a awful beer, or produce an excessive amount of fusel alcohols, I'd prefer not to waste the effort.

Anyone any experience?

For reference, recipe for 6.5 gallons:

Partial Mash - 3.7 lbs 2-row
0.65 lbs Acid Malt
0.65 lbs Oats

5 lbs Pilsner LME
1 lb Cane Sugar

0.5 ozs Milennium (15%) @ 60
0.5 ozs Willamette @ 10
0.5 ozs Willamette @ 2

OG: 1.056, 25 IBUs.

Brett tends to like warmer temperatures than ale yeasts, somewhere around the belgian area (75-90). That means that, if you choose to blend brett with something clean like 001, you can balance the funky character by using a lower temperature, or tilt it in the other direction by ramping up the heat.

My fast sour brown used brett b for primary and has the perfect level of funk from fermenting at 72.

rexbanner said:

My fast sour brown used brett b for primary and has the perfect level of funk from fermenting at 72.

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I'm not looking for funk. Going to pitch a big starter, and aerate well.

Calder said:

I'm not looking for funk. Going to pitch a big starter, and aerate well.

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you'd be better off with the wyeast strain then.....

I am also interested in warm fermenting brett B. I Plan to use Wyeast Ardennes for primary and then rack to secondary and add the brett B. Now, I read in BCS for the Orval clone that cellar temps are recommended for a month in secondary, and BLAM suggests they are also doing this at Orval. But thats a long time for me to tie up a fermenting fridge. Some people are suggesting several months are required for the brett to be noticable.

If Brett prefers higher ale temps, then I could just leave the secondary out at room temps - which for me is 80-90F. Or I could do as advised - say 60F for a month and then leave out warm for another month - I presume the first month the brett will fully attenuate as much as its going to, and then a month of warm temps to funk up a bit ? Or should I just do a month at 60 and then rack to keg and fridge cold for a while ?

So..

1. Secondary at 80F for two months
2. Secondary at 60F for one month then 80F for another month
3. Secondary at 60F for one month then just keg and cold store for a month

Also, once kegged in cold storage, is anything happening with the yeast or is it then just 'normal' conditioning as per sach ?

I have never done a brett before, any advice appreciated.

The lagering period for orval clones is to get as much primary yeast to drop out as possible. Then the beer is dosed with "local yeast" which has brett in it and the beer is bottled. The carbonation builds to almost 5 volumes in the bottle it doesn't start there. So if you don't want to tie up a fermentor just make sure you have lots of heavy bottles to use. I just made a 9gal batch and packed it all in champagne bottles. The carbonation is coming along along nicely. It's at the point where it's a fresh hoppy beer with high carbonation but the intense orval brett flavor isn't there yet. It's only been in the bottle for two or three months thought at this point. I think it'll start hitting its stride around the six month point.

So the brett is only added at bottling ? I didnt realise that.

I wonder whats the idea behind adding simple sugar, the brett would convert any remaining complex sugar into alcohol and you would get the same FG regardless of the types of sugar. I presume its to either get a fast primary ferment and/or to get the right amount of carbonation in the bottle. So if I do go for brett in the secondary the simple sugars are not necessary and mash temp is probably irrelevant ?

Or maybe the more dextrins left for the brett the more brett-forward the beer will be - even though it will finish at the same gravity?

You should listen to the Crooked Stave interview on the Brewing Network (Sunday Session a few weeks ago). I think Chad said the lowest temp he fermented at with Brett was 68 F. There's a lot of info in that episode, starting around 50 min in when they cut the BS and start the interview.

Thanks, will listen to that tonight.

I have got a lot of conflicting info on best temps for brett from cool to really warm. I think since its my first attempt, I will stick with Jamils recipe and temps, ie secondary cool for a month. Give it a taste and if not funky enough then just bring out to room temps for a week and try tasting again.

If anyone is interested I note from the White Labs site they say in their FAQs about brett L "Brettanomyces also likes higher fermentation temps, so at least 75 degrees and ideally 85. "

85 is what we get pretty much all year round here, so maybe perfect for brett fermentations with no temp control ! Will try this on my second attempt. I presume (yet again another guess) that the last bit of fermentation by the brett in secondary is not going to produce much heat since its slow to work at such low gravity.

craigevo said:

So the brett is only added at bottling ? I didnt realise that.

I wonder whats the idea behind adding simple sugar, the brett would convert any remaining complex sugar into alcohol and you would get the same FG regardless of the types of sugar. I presume its to either get a fast primary ferment and/or to get the right amount of carbonation in the bottle. So if I do go for brett in the secondary the simple sugars are not necessary and mash temp is probably irrelevant ?

Or maybe the more dextrins left for the brett the more brett-forward the beer will be - even though it will finish at the same gravity?

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Just a little clarification. Orval centrifuges the beer but if you ask me a homebrew lagering period is trying to the same thing. I cold conditioned mine for a few days added the dry hops then bottled. I added enough priming sugar to achieve about 2.5vol or a little less (I forget). That way the brett in the bottle could continue to attenuate the beer developing the brett character and increasing the carbonation.

ryane said:

you'd be better off with the wyeast strain then.....

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never had an issues with the WL strain as a primary fermenter.

Orval centrifuges the beer ? presumably before adding brett.

So I can just crash cool and fine it then for a few days instead. then rack to secondary, then pitch the brett. similar outcome if they are not expecting to get much work out of the brett as such cold temperature as 60F.

I will assume Jamil is just following similar practice then. Maybe he is implying the brett will work in a keg. who knows. disappointing that he didnt explain his logic for this cool brett conditioning in his book.

Anyhow, I got an email back from white labs and they confirmed the higher range of temps is ideal for brett..

"As for temperature, Brett does like to be warm, so upper 70's to low 80's is a good range for it. It will work at lower temperatures but much more slowly so it will take a long time for the Brett flavors to develop. This applies to all of the Brett strains that we carry, so now that the weather is turning warmer you can just leave it at room temperature and it should be good to go"

And I did listen to the crooked stave podcast last night, as someone else said here, ferment warm. Unfortunately he was cut off by someone else just as I think he was about to say he wouldn't ferment below 68(?). Of course he was talking about primary fermenting with brett, so maybe doesnt apply to secondary. Maybe after a month you will get a low level of bretty taste even at a low temp. Will try and see.

Going to be brewing this Brett beer tomorrow. Plan is to ferment at 75 F for 2 weeks, and then let it drop to room temperature.

craigevo said:

Orval centrifuges the beer ? presumably before adding brett.

So I can just crash cool and fine it then for a few days instead. then rack to secondary, then pitch the brett. similar outcome if they are not expecting to get much work out of the brett as such cold temperature as 60F.

I will assume Jamil is just following similar practice then. Maybe he is implying the brett will work in a keg. who knows. disappointing that he didnt explain his logic for this cool brett conditioning in his book.

Anyhow, I got an email back from white labs and they confirmed the higher range of temps is ideal for brett..

"As for temperature, Brett does like to be warm, so upper 70's to low 80's is a good range for it. It will work at lower temperatures but much more slowly so it will take a long time for the Brett flavors to develop. This applies to all of the Brett strains that we carry, so now that the weather is turning warmer you can just leave it at room temperature and it should be good to go"

And I did listen to the crooked stave podcast last night, as someone else said here, ferment warm. Unfortunately he was cut off by someone else just as I think he was about to say he wouldn't ferment below 68(?). Of course he was talking about primary fermenting with brett, so maybe doesnt apply to secondary. Maybe after a month you will get a low level of bretty taste even at a low temp. Will try and see.

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Hi Craig -

Apologies for bumping up a 2-year-old thread here.

I am a fellow Singapore resident as well.

Just wanted to check whether you ended up using Brett B (WLP650) @ room temps (80+F) or you used it @ cooler temps?

Considering that it takes quite a bit of time for the funk to develop, I'd prefer not to tie up my brewing fridge if it is not necessary.

Thanks.

I just put it at room temp in my cave and deal with the fluctuation. Turns out well if you give it enough time (just like about any other brew).

cpa4ny said:

Hi Craig -

Apologies for bumping up a 2-year-old thread here.

I am a fellow Singapore resident as well.

Just wanted to check whether you ended up using Brett B (WLP650) @ room temps (80+F) or you used it @ cooler temps?

Considering that it takes quite a bit of time for the funk to develop, I'd prefer not to tie up my brewing fridge if it is not necessary.

Thanks.

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hello fellow braumeister pilot, fancy meeting you here! i use this strain at my ambient summer temps, aiming for 24c or so, it does not give any crazy off flavors or funk in that range, from my experience. i haven't gone quite as high as your ambient though. i generally use it in the summer and put a brew belt on a STC-1000 to temper fluctuations. it's great for farmhouse styles as a primary yeast.

Thanks very much for your help. I am totally clueless in regards to fermenting sour beers. Planning a Belgian beer with Chimay yeast / Brett B combo


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cpa4ny -I pitched the wyeast brett brux. pitch the pack into keg at room temp - ie 30 deg C.

craigevo said:

cpa4ny -I pitched the wyeast brett brux. pitch the pack into keg at room temp - ie 30 deg C.

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Thanks Craig - appreciate it!

At such high temperatures, would 3-4 weeks suffice for a decent level of sourness?

brett is never going to give you a sour beer, unless you oxygenate the hell out of it and get it to produce acetic acid, which in normal conditions of primary fermentation or adding after fermentation in the orval style never happens

Thanks DS - I certainly meant funk, Orval-style.