Brett C. experiment question.

A fellow brewer made an ESB a couple months back, and it finished with a fairly high gravity, and it is very weird tasting, nobody has seemed to like it, so he and I decided we are going to experiment w/it.

This beer has been chilled and force carbed, and now warmed and flattened by pulling the pressure relief valve daily, so we are about to start tinkering with this less than pleasant tasting beer.

My main question is:

Will tossing a brett culture in there after primary fermentation has been long finished, and the conditons that the beer has been subjected to (chilled carbed, and then flattened) will fermentation continue?

I am also thinking of getting some lacto and pedio and tossing it in the mix, so do you think it is worth it?

We are basically trying to sour it, and change the flavor profile, and maybe get it to drop a few more points in gravity.

I hate to see a bad beer go to waste, and I think that if it can be revived by some buggies then I am all for it, I just don't want to be wasting some cultures if the beer is not going to ferment further because of the previous conditions stated above.

I like to experiment, but I don't wanna throw good cultures into something that will not ferment any further.

Any ideas?

i think the souring would definitely take place eventually. does this beer have off-flavors or is it just worty and underattenuated? If there's sugar left, I'd sure think the brett would take care of it to some extent, but you'll need a big cell count since there's no O2 left.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt, as I've never used any brett strains.

Given that you're not happy with the beer as is, you only have a few options:

1: Use the brett as planned, see what happens.
2: Let it age and see if it improves.
3: Blend it with another brew (beer, not lemonade, bitter makes a trashy shandy).
4: Dump it.

I'd see those as a rough order of possibilities, by likelihood of success. #1 and #2 might be about equal. You could dry hop the sh*t out of it and see if that improves the flavor profile. The brett may also bring a unique flavor to the mix, though it seems a bit dicey. Also of note, it will take a while for the brett to work its magic (as in 3-6 months), so letting it age and/or dry hopping a bit might be the first step. Then you can pitch the brett if that doesn't work. At that point, if all else fails, consider option 3#, but if it's too foul even to blend at this point, just pitch it and make room for a better beer. Whatever you decide, good luck!

PintOfBitter said:

i think the souring would definitely take place eventually. does this beer have off-flavors or is it just worty and underattenuated? If there's sugar left, I'd sure think the brett would take care of it to some extent, but you'll need a big cell count since there's no O2 left.

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since it will be refermenting with brett and maybe some lacto and pedio, could it be re-aerated w/o problems?

If you don't want to throw money into it you could just do natural open air fermentation...

I'd do an natural starter and add that to the keg rather than just opening the keg for a few days.

Don't reaerate it. Lacto and pedio don't need air. I'm guessing Brett doesn't need it as bad as sacc.

I've racked to a secondary and then added the Brett, pedio, and lacto. The only difference between what I did and you did is the carb & decarb.

It's worth a shot, but it may occupy your keg for a while.

PintOfBitter said:

i think the souring would definitely take place eventually. does this beer have off-flavors or is it just worty and underattenuated? If there's sugar left, I'd sure think the brett would take care of it to some extent, but you'll need a big cell count since there's no O2 left.

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This is my ESB. Here's the recipe: http://www.thesanch.com/bubbajuice/recipes/scrap-esb-recipe/

It finished off at like 1.024 or so after 4 weeks in the primary. It tasted very yeasty and sweet. Although I think the carbonation brought down the sweetness. I have not tasted it since decarbing it. Some people have described it as "soapy."

Brett C. is a good choice if you're going to do it. Throw it in the keg and put a spunding valve on. Wait 6 months and taste it.

dstar26t said:

Brett C. is a good choice if you're going to do it. Throw it in the keg and put a spunding valve on. Wait 6 months and taste it.

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I'm probably going to fill three 1 gallon growlers, throw brett c. in one, belgian sour mix in another, and pedio in third, then with whats left in the keg I might throw that into a 5 gallon BB that I will purge w/co2, and toss a little of all 3; brett c., belgian sour mix, and pedio into it and have a nice flavor experiment going.

We'll see what happens this weekend.

Updates! I want pictures!

thesanch said:

Updates! I want pictures!

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Sorry, man, I just haven't taken the time to get any decent photos, as the growlers have collected dust and I need to wipe them off, plus I am afraid to move them, and disturb the very, very, very thin pellicle that is forming, but I promise I will get some photos up.

You might be by this weekend anyway!