Accidental brett?

So we just bottled a saison we'd pitched 3711 into. Our OG sample was off (we are topping off with a couple gallons per batch and OG readings seem to be impossible to get right - switching to full boils with the next batch), but we were shooting for a smaller beer - around 1.034. It was fermented in a bucket that had some brett c in it a couple of batches ago. We kept it fairly warm (68 for the first day or so, then let it ramp up to around 75 degree ambient temps) and when we pulled a sample it had attenuated down to 0.998. Our estimated FG was going to be around 1.008 or so. The sample had a hint of leathery taste to it. The grain bill didn't include any simple sugars.

My guess is that this means we have an accidentally bretted saison. It tastes pretty good, so I saved the yeast. My question is - is there anything else this could be? I didn't think it was possible to attenuate a beer past 1.000 without adding simple sugars.

-edit-

Forgot to add - this is all within the span of about 10 days or so. It also struck me as odd that we got what I think is probably brett in such a short amount of time.

Wyeast 3711 is a BEAST. There are several threads floating around here reporting results at or below 1.000 with that strain.

You say "leathery", so I want to believe it could be Brett. Hell, if it tastes nice, who cares?

It's probably just the 3711 being the super attenuator that it is, especially when ramping to some higher temps. That's te fermentation profile I take with all of my Saisons and I can always get them deep into the single digits in a weeks time. I just kegged a Saison using WLP 565 and it hit 1.000 in in that time frame.

If there was residual Brett cells left in the bucket I doubt they would work that quickly being that they would have a low cell count and it would be working more as a secondary strain.

But hey, if there was some Brett C left then you got yourself a nice Farmhouse Brett blend to use for a few generations. The more you use it the more Brett will come out so the best way to know is use what you saved again.

Thanks! I thought it was impossible for sacch to attenuate past 1.000 but I guess I am wrong on that one.

thasnazzle said:

Thanks! I thought it was impossible for sacch to attenuate past 1.000 but I guess I am wrong on that one.

Click to expand...

Nah, plain water will read 1.000, but ethanol is lower density than water so once you start mixing the two you can get lower than 1.000. Toss in a strong saison yeast and (I'm assuming) a mash schedule aiming for a very fermentable wort and I can definitely see getting below 1.000. Although I've got to agree with everyone else, a Brett saison sounds like the right kind of screw up, if that's the case!