Did I just screw up my Brett? (well kind of anyway)

I brewed a brett almost exactly 1 year ago and let it sit in the primary fermenter for that period pretty much untouched. I decided it was time to bottle which I did this weekend. I siphoned off the beer into my bottling bucket leaving the sediment and the growth on top undisturbed. I added priming sugar and bottled.

My question is since it was so settled out from sitting for a year will there be enough yeast in the beer to carbonate? I figure most of the yeast was settled at the bottom and not in the beer. I know I could dump each bottle (52) back into the bottling bucket and add yeast but that would be a MAJOR pain. I plan on letting them sit for another year so do you think the trace ammounts of yeast will grow over that period and carbonate the beer?

I doubt like hell it will ever carbonate if it does you're looking at a long time though.

Best bet, get some slurry from a batch you have just fermented add a little boiled/cooled water then put it into a syringe ( like they use for injecting flavor into turkeys etc)

A few drops of that slurry should be fine.

Some might suggest a few granules of dried yeast but I cant even begin to imagine how ponderous that would be.

babalu87 said:

I doubt like hell it will ever carbonate if it does you're looking at a long time though.

Best bet, get some slurry from a batch you have just fermented add a little boiled/cooled water then put it into a syringe ( like they use for injecting flavor into turkeys etc)

A few drops of that slurry should be fine.

Some might suggest a few granules of dried yeast but I cant even begin to imagine how ponderous that would be.

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Thanks! That is a better alternative to emptying each bottle, just uncap and cap again (remembering yeast this time). I may wait a week or two and just see if anything happens to them.

Unfortunately I already dumped what was left since I am not sure I want to go through such a long ordeal again for a beer I may not like anyway. I won't try another Brett again until this one is done and I decide if I like it. $10 is an easier way to go that saving for such a long time.

....and I have a Brett L ready to bottle next month made with blueberries. I won't screw that one up!

was this an all brett beer? if it was you dont really need to wait that long, brett as a primary strain acts very similar to sacch and will finish out within a couple weeks usually

my all brett beers are typically kegged within a month, chilled and drank

wild beers that include pedio/etc require longer periods because the bugs will slowly eat dextrins and other things in the beer that sacch/brett wont on their own

ryane said:

was this an all brett beer? if it was you dont really need to wait that long, brett as a primary strain acts very similar to sacch and will finish out within a couple weeks usually

my all brett beers are typically kegged within a month, chilled and drank

wild beers that include pedio/etc require longer periods because the bugs will slowly eat dextrins and other things in the beer that sacch/brett wont on their own

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It was this: Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Activator Wyeast 5112 and only that.

I have to admit, I am new to these types of brews and should have done more research before trying them.

I want to bump this to get confirmation I let this sit too long. I guess I don't understand. If I had used something ELSE with the Brett B. THEN I would have had to age longer than a month?

I think you should wait it out, year old Lambic is blended into a gueuze to provide carbonation, there is a good chance the Brett is still active. If not you can always wait and reyeast if there is no carbonation in 3-4 weeks, it doesn't sound like you are in much of a hurry.

Oldsock said:

I think you should wait it out, year old Lambic is blended into a gueuze to provide carbonation, there is a good chance the Brett is still active. If not you can always wait and reyeast if there is no carbonation in 3-4 weeks, it doesn't sound like you are in much of a hurry.

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Thanks, that is what I am going to do. If after a few weeks there is a hink of carbonation I am going to let them sit for at least another few months and try again.

I am still confused by what Ryane said though.

I believe what Ryane is referring to is if you brew a beer with Brett as your primary yeast with the absence of a sacc. strain. Then Brett will act very much like a sacc. yeast and ferment your beer within a couple weeks. Therefore no need to really age for a year.
But if you use Brett in conjunction with a sacc yeast then the sacc yeast will dominate and then Brett will take a long time to grow and eat due to the low amount of remaining sugars.

Almighty said:

I believe what Ryane is referring to is if you brew a beer with Brett as your primary yeast with the absence of a sacc. strain. Then Brett will act very much like a sacc. yeast and ferment your beer within a couple weeks. Therefore no need to really age for a year.
But if you use Brett in conjunction with a sacc yeast then the sacc yeast will dominate and then Brett will take a long time to grow and eat due to the low amount of remaining sugars.

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Ok understood, thanks!

Tested one yesterday and it is carbing so I am going to let them be.

Can you post up a recipe/tasting notes? How did you like it?

oldschool said:

Can you post up a recipe/tasting notes? How did you like it?

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I'll see if I can find the paper I scribled the recipe notes on. I quit doing kits and recipes long ago and basically decide to brew something, look at what I have and use my imagination loosely based on what I have learned here, descriptions of hops flavors and so on. I like to be creative and experiment keeping just enough notes so I could probably reproduce it if I wanted to.

Anyway, I have brewed a few Bretts and so far I must say the taste is unique and I am uncertain if I have failed or succeeded since I have yet to find a comparable commercial beer to compare flavor to. However, at first I did not care for the strange flavor but over time I have actually grown to like it. Defenitaly sour which I actually like and the one I did with fruit additions I like even better.

Oh, I used about 40% wheat in both which for aging a beer is a no-no they say, did not know that then, but then again I have yet to have any horrible off flavors from wheat beers I have kept for several months or longer.

I have been putting off using the brett L. i have in the fridge for too long. Orval is what got me turned on to brett even though I'm sure I can't clone the precious Orval.

oldschool said:

I have been putting off using the brett L. i have in the fridge for too long. Orval is what got me turned on to brett even though I'm sure I can't clone the precious Orval.

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I can't find Orval anywhere, I am dying to try one.

ANYONE IN SOUTHERN NJ KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND ONE????

Brett has a reputation for being particularly resilient and long-lived. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it carbonated up just fine, although it may take an extended period.

jgln said:

I can't find Orval anywhere, I am dying to try one.

ANYONE IN SOUTHERN NJ KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND ONE????

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I just checked ratebeer.com and you can get it there but i'm not sure exactly which place. If you look around and can't find any then I will gladly send you a few (one to drink and some to cellar). There are threads on ratebeer talking about if Orval is the best beer in the world and I think it could be. I really can't stress how effing awesome it is if you like brett.