Anyone done an all Brett beer?

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Calder

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I have some WLP650 (Brett B). I'm going to make a starter and use in to add some Brett to a couple of gallons of each of my next several brews. Looks like it will be about 12 gallons over the next couple of months; I have 2 batches that are almost ready to bottle that I could steal a couple of gallons from. Thought it would be a good way to get some variety and plenty of use out of the vial. Just need to keep feeding the starter. I have lots of 1.25 gallon glass carboys that I can store the beer away in for 6 to 9 months.

I also thought I might try an all-brett beer with it to finish out the starter at the end, but I'm not sure what to do or what to expect, and wondered if anyone could give some advice or experience:

- I read that as the primary yeast, it acts like regular yeast and ferments quickly and doesn't ferment as low as if it is the secondary yeast. Does this mean it can be bottled and consumed within a couple of months?
- What does Brett yeast give to the beer when it is the primary yeast?
- What styles of beer would be best?
- What temperature is best to ferment at?

Any advice appreciated.
 
As I understand it, the more you treat it like you would sacc (e.g. aeration, proper pitching, ferment in the 60s) the less brett character you will get and the faster fermentation will occur. The less you aerate and the lower your pitching rate, the more it will act like brett and the longer it will take.

I believe I also read (possibly from Vinnie at Russian River?) that even with a high pitching rate and plentiful aeration it can take a couple of months for fermentation to reach FG. Most of the fermentation will finish in a week or so and then it takes another couple of months to reach a stable FG.
 
Ok, so don't rush it. Maybe bottle after 3 months. I assume keep it on the primary all that time.

What style goes with it. Maybe a Brown Ale?
 
I had mine on brett c for 6 months.
its funk but not sour.
Next time i am using pedio.

but thats just me.
 
I have an all brett IPA going right now with brett B and C. According to Ithaca brewing (re: super friends IPA) they pitch big slurry and they give it 2 weeks to ferment. Not sure if that means it's completely finished, or just at an acceptable FG.

I made individual 1L starters for one week, stepped up with another .5L and put each on a stirplate for 12hrs..hand shook for another 6 days, so two weeks total. Within a couple hours of pitching i had activity and by 12 hrs a big krausen had formed. It fermented hard (harder than any sacc. yeast i've used) for about 3-4 days straight and finally give up by about day 5-6. I'm giving it another week before i check the gravity.
 
I have an all brett IPA going right now with brett B and C. According to Ithaca brewing (re: super friends IPA) they pitch big slurry and they give it 2 weeks to ferment. Not sure if that means it's completely finished, or just at an acceptable FG.

I made individual 1L starters for one week, stepped up with another .5L and put each on a stirplate for 12hrs..hand shook for another 6 days, so two weeks total. Within a couple hours of pitching i had activity and by 12 hrs a big krausen had formed. It fermented hard (harder than any sacc. yeast i've used) for about 3-4 days straight and finally give up by about day 5-6. I'm giving it another week before i check the gravity.

Thanks. Good information. I intend to have plenty of yeast by the time I get around to this. What was your OG. Will be interested in what FG you gat and any notes on taste the Brett give it.
 
OG was 1.062. I'll post my gravity in a week or so (if i remember). I'm shooting for around 1.012-15...if i'm close i'll probably still give it another week or so in the primary (i plan to keep it in there for at least 3-4 weeks), then transfer to the secondary and dry-hop.
 
I did two all Brett beers this year. I did a pale beer with Brett B and L together and then a robust porter on the same yeast cake.

I wish I had also added lacto or pedio for some sourness. I'm not disappointed in the beers but I wouldn't brew them again. They are just really barnyard when you use Brett exclusively. I mean I know that's part of the point with Brett but with the porter, we're talking like shoveling a barn barnyard.

It certainly dries out what ever you throw at it and like I said, I'm still drinking them but they aren't beers I would do again. I want more sourness. I'll stick to adding Brett to other beers that also have some sort of Sacc strain. Cheers.
 
I've done an all brett brown ale with brett L.. Made a big starter (I think 1 gallon, been a while) and pitched it like a normal yeast (aeration, temps a little higher at 75) and it took off like a rocket! Thickest, creamiest krausen i have ever seen, almost like a nitro stout head but four inches thick. Smelled lie straight pineapples out of the airlock, not even a hint of brett horsey-ness. Took it from 1.052 to 1.010 or something close in eight days. I let it sit on the cake for another month, then transfered to a secondary for another month. FG was rock solid al the way through the secondary, so I bottled it normally.
After about three weeks, cracked one open. VERY fruity, with lots of pineapple and a little cherry, raisins and caramel from the crystal and brown malt, and a solid hop backbone. There was just a whiff, just a whiff of brett showing through.

I killed the last bottle of it last month, that bottle had about a year and a quarter on it, and it was sublime. Nice and funky, but still had alot of the fruit left, especially the cherries, and surprisingly not bone dry, although it was a tad more carbonated than I would have liked.

All in all, a great beer, and I hope you enjoy dancing with wild yeasts!
 
I've done an all brett brown ale with brett L.. Made a big starter (I think 1 gallon, been a while) and pitched it like a normal yeast (aeration, temps a little higher at 75) and it took off like a rocket! Thickest, creamiest krausen i have ever seen, almost like a nitro stout head but four inches thick. Smelled lie straight pineapples out of the airlock, not even a hint of brett horsey-ness. Took it from 1.052 to 1.010 or something close in eight days. I let it sit on the cake for another month, then transfered to a secondary for another month. FG was rock solid al the way through the secondary, so I bottled it normally.
After about three weeks, cracked one open. VERY fruity, with lots of pineapple and a little cherry, raisins and caramel from the crystal and brown malt, and a solid hop backbone. There was just a whiff, just a whiff of brett showing through.

I killed the last bottle of it last month, that bottle had about a year and a quarter on it, and it was sublime. Nice and funky, but still had alot of the fruit left, especially the cherries, and surprisingly not bone dry, although it was a tad more carbonated than I would have liked.

All in all, a great beer, and I hope you enjoy dancing with wild yeasts!

Looking forward to it. Just trying to learn as much as possible before I start. Got the Brett B in the starter today. Going to be using some of it in secondarys in several beers over the next 2 months, and then be ready to pitch a large starter to an all-brett in about 8 weeks.
 
I did two all Brett beers this year. I did a pale beer with Brett B and L together and then a robust porter on the same yeast cake.

I wish I had also added lacto or pedio for some sourness. I'm not disappointed in the beers but I wouldn't brew them again. They are just really barnyard when you use Brett exclusively. I mean I know that's part of the point with Brett but with the porter, we're talking like shoveling a barn barnyard.

It certainly dries out what ever you throw at it and like I said, I'm still drinking them but they aren't beers I would do again. I want more sourness. I'll stick to adding Brett to other beers that also have some sort of Sacc strain. Cheers.

Were the yeasts from WL? I ask because in my experience, the WY versions are much fruitier, while the WL versions, especially of L, can be pure funk/fecal/goat
 
Were the yeasts from WL? I ask because in my experience, the WY versions are much fruitier, while the WL versions, especially of L, can be pure funk/fecal/goat

I'm quite curious about this for my Saborteur clone. I believe it's Brett L in there, but I don't have the equipment to see it.

I'd like to get a lot of pineapple and almost none of the barnyard/nastyness.
 
I'm quite curious about this for my Saborteur clone. I believe it's Brett L in there, but I don't have the equipment to see it.

I'd like to get a lot of pineapple and almost none of the barnyard/nastyness.

Mine were both Wyeast strains. Still lots of barnyard.
 
I've done 2 batches with Brett as primary: a Brett L batch combined with a lactobacillus fermentation and a Brett C blonde. I've also used the dregs from the Brett C batch and pitched into secondary on a Belgian Pale Ale.

At least for the WL Brett C, I found that I got more aroma and flavor in less time pitching a large culture into secondary than I got with Brett C alone. It seems to me (based on readings and limited experience) that Brett makes its biggest flavor/aroma contribution when it's totally stressed out. So pitching it into a fermented beer (1.012-1.015) will drop it a couple points and leave you with biggest impact.
 
Brewed a batch last night of the muse someone had posted on here. I changed a few things in the recipe. This was my first all grain alchemy said my target OG was 1.067 I was at 1.061 which should be fine.

Made a starter a week ago 1L, after a few days it had some krausen then fell. I shook everyday till brew day smelled really good just not much activity. Pitched yeast last night it was at 78F and cooled the wort down to about the same temp. No visible activity today, looked like a good amount of yeast on the bottom but no krausen or anything. We'll see what happens hope the yeast is okay.
 
I did a all Brett beer a year ago based off of Vinnie's

Russian River Sanctification Clone
0-B Untitled Style
Date: 1/9/10

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 76.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 214.81 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.000 - 1.100)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.000 - 1.100)
Color: 5.49 (0.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 6.35% (0.0% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 25.3 (0.0 - 50.0)

Ingredients:
11 lb Standard 2-Row
10.25 oz Vienna Malt
10.25 oz White Wheat Malt
10.25 oz Acidulated Malt
0.8 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
0.4 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
0.85 ea WYeast 3112 Brettanomyces Bruxellensis
0.0 ea WYeast 3526 Brettanomyces Lambicus

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:42:59 Mash In - Liquor: 4.04 gal; Strike: 176.29 °F; Target: 154.0 °F
01:42:59 Sacc Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 153.9 °F
01:42:59 Batch Sparge - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 0.0 min; Sparge #1: 2.46 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 0.0 min; Sparge #2: 2.46 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 0.0 min; Total Runoff: 7.08 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.12

Turned out awesome after some time in the bottle. Perfect for a table sour.
 
OG was 1.062. I'll post my gravity in a week or so (if i remember). I'm shooting for around 1.012-15...if i'm close i'll probably still give it another week or so in the primary (i plan to keep it in there for at least 3-4 weeks), then transfer to the secondary and dry-hop.


Checked the gravity today..it's down to 1.012 after 15 days in the primary. I started cold crashing today and plan to transfer to secondary and dry hop in a week. Taste is very interesting and different. Aroma and flavor are nothing like the starters. It's very earthy with a big spice character, despite using about 4oz of citra from 20-0 min.
 
Checked the gravity today..it's down to 1.012 after 15 days in the primary. I started cold crashing today and plan to transfer to secondary and dry hop in a week. Taste is very interesting and different. Aroma and flavor are nothing like the starters. It's very earthy with a big spice character, despite using about 4oz of citra from 20-0 min.

Why cold crash? you will take a lot of the yeast out of suspension and it will take longer to finish (assuming it is not finished). I would have thought you would have cold crashed after dry hopping. 1.012 from 1.062 in 2 weeks is good (that's 80+%), sounds like it might be there. What was your recipe?

My starter is going great. It's White Labs Brett B, and tastes of lots of fruit (cold crashed, took a glass full, and stepped up). I can't really taste any of the barnyard characteristics people talk about. From what I've read, White Labs is more prone to that too than Wyeast. I used half of my starter to boost a Flanders Red I started a week ago (it was cultured from a bottle, and I'm not really sure what bugs are in it - thought I'd make sure it had Brett at least).

I have a Biere De Mars Clone (Ommegang) going right now that I will use some of this starter for next week (currently fermenting with WLP550), and then will step it up ready for an All-Brett in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks for everyone who has provided some information on this. It all helps. Will be glad to read other's experience of All-Brett beers, and any advice anyone has. Trying to learn, and there seems to be very little information out there ...... Yes, I've searched the forums, and there is alot of information, but by comparision to other yeasts, there is very little.

Any recipe recommendations for an All-Brett beer (Brett B)?
 
Why cold crash? you will take a lot of the yeast out of suspension and it will take longer to finish (assuming it is not finished). I would have thought you would have cold crashed after dry hopping. 1.012 from 1.062 in 2 weeks is good (that's 80+%), sounds like it might be there. What was your recipe?

My starter is going great. It's White Labs Brett B, and tastes of lots of fruit (cold crashed, took a glass full, and stepped up). I can't really taste any of the barnyard characteristics people talk about. From what I've read, White Labs is more prone to that too than Wyeast. I used half of my starter to boost a Flanders Red I started a week ago (it was cultured from a bottle, and I'm not really sure what bugs are in it - thought I'd make sure it had Brett at least).

I have a Biere De Mars Clone (Ommegang) going right now that I will use some of this starter for next week (currently fermenting with WLP550), and then will step it up ready for an All-Brett in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks for everyone who has provided some information on this. It all helps. Will be glad to read other's experience of All-Brett beers, and any advice anyone has. Trying to learn, and there seems to be very little information out there ...... Yes, I've searched the forums, and there is alot of information, but by comparision to other yeasts, there is very little.

Any recipe recommendations for an All-Brett beer (Brett B)?

I found i get much better results cold crashing to get everything out of suspension, then dryhopping in a secondary. I cold crash again once that's finished. 1.012 is lower than the recipe i was using as a rough guideline (ithaca super friends), so i'm fine with it finishing there. I keg so i don't have to worry about bottle bombs.
 
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