Incremental feeding Brett C?

As a new homebrewer there are a ton of thing's I want to try. Two of which have consumed me for the past couple weeks are incremental feeding after primary fermentation for a higher ABV and brewing with wild yeasts, particularly Brett C. I heard about incremental feeding on Jamil's "Can You Brew It?", where they tried to clone one of my favorite beers, Dogfish Head's 120min IPA. The brewer said he pitched a normal ale yeast and then a high gravity yeast which he fed with dextrose twice daily and aerated.

My question is, could I pitch Brett C after primary fermentation and then feed it to get a higher ABV and that notorious pineapple flavor? Should I move my fermentation temperature up from 68 to say, 75? I've read Brett likes warmer temps. I've also read it likes more complicated sugars, so would feeding dextrose be superfluous? Any help would be appreciated Thanks!


EDIT: I already have lactose in my beer, would that be enough for the brett to eat? Could I continue to feed it lactose?

2nd EDIT: Apparently, no go on lactose. Brett C doesn't eat it, which brings me back to my somewhat initial question, WTF do i feed it?

Maltodextrin, or just more wort mashed at a high temperature.

Other's have a lot more experience than me, but I think feeding Brett a lot of complex sugars as a secondary yeast is probably going to bring out more of the barnyard flavors. You might not want to do it.

Calder said:

Maltodextrin, or just more wort mashed at a high temperature.

Other's have a lot more experience than me, but I think feeding Brett a lot of complex sugars as a secondary yeast is probably going to bring out more of the barnyard flavors. You might not want to do it.

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I planned to stress the Brett to capture more of the esters, which I've read to be pineapple =p

I'm just theorycrafting currently, Monday I'll be bottling and grabbing my old cake for propagation and Brett experementation. I think I have another 9ish days before I brew again

aardii said:

EDIT: I already have lactose in my beer, would that be enough for the brett to eat? Could I continue to feed it lactose?

2nd EDIT: Apparently, no go on lactose. Brett C doesn't eat it, which brings me back to my somewhat initial question, WTF do i feed it?

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I've had success with Lacto eating lactose. Depending on your alcohol % and IBUs (which probably won't work with your IPA), you might be able to get some lactic twang by pitching a healthy starter of Lacto (made with apple juice) to ferment the lactose. If not, I wouldn't worry about it; the lactose will add body. Let it sit for two months around for a couple months and enjoy the pineappley fruit of your labor. It would be fine fermenting that high or going down to 68F.

weremichael said:

I've had success with Lacto eating lactose. Depending on your alcohol % and IBUs (which probably won't work with your IPA), you might be able to get some lactic twang by pitching a healthy starter of Lacto (made with apple juice) to ferment the lactose. If not, I wouldn't worry about it; the lactose will add body. Let it sit for two months around for a couple months and enjoy the pineappley fruit of your labor. It would be fine fermenting that high or going down to 68F.

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I was going to try it in a sweet stout, but I think I'm gonna try and use Brett in an American Stout.

It's for my friend's wedding gift, his name is Brett Stoudt

Well played sir. Very funny. I say go for it with the lacto starter.

I think you may be better off doing a split batch with Sacc and Brett by themselves. Brett seems to act quite differently when pitched with a Sacc yeast and I'm not sure if you will get the pineapple flavor you want.

Also what Brett C are you using White Labs or Wyeast?

Almighty said:

I think you may be better off doing a split batch with Sacc and Brett by themselves. Brett seems to act quite differently when pitched with a Sacc yeast and I'm not sure if you will get the pineapple flavor you want.

Also what Brett C are you using White Labs or Wyeast?

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My lhbs stocks white labs, I was going to go with them. I was thinking about pitching Brett by itself and then feeding it after initial fermentation? That's where I get a bit lost, I've never used Brett before =p

When using it as a primary strain, pitch a big starter, aerate the heck out of the wort and treat it exactly like a sacc fermentation.

I had problems with Brett beers finishing and clearing. The latest one finished and was clearing nicely after 3 weeks, then I tossed in some dry hops which started it off again. It is now finally clearing after 10 weeks and should be ready to bottle next weekend.

I present, "The American Brett Stoudt"

From beeralchemist:
1.067 OG
1.014 FG
34 SRM
71 IBU
7% abv

- 7# LME
- 1# Light Chocolate malt
- 12oz Crystal 40 malt
- 8oz Black Patent malt
- 8oz Corn Sugar
- 6oz Acid malt
- 1.5oz Centennial 10aa
- 1oz Amarillo 8a (15mins)
- White Labs WLP645 Brett C.

I tried to go very citrusy on the hops and keep the dark/roasted character in check.

I'm unsure about whether the 15min hop addition will be overrun and the viability of the acid malt addition to increase yeast strain and give me more pineapple I'm still unsure about feeding after primary fermentation.

Not sure how it will work in a Stout. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

I've done incremental feeding a number of times, but only when the abv was over 10% or the surgar was over 20% of the recipe. Otherwise I just add it to the end of the boil. I don't know how much luck you'll have feeding a brett fermentation. If you used a simple sugar, the fermentation should go at a normal speed, but much of the sugar would get consumed by the sacch. If you fed with dextrins the brett would consume that instead of the sacch, but it will be slower. You may end up adding dextrin every couple of weeks instead of days. Because of this I don't see an advantage of feeding with maltodextin as opposed to just including it in the original recipe.

Additionally, I've become a big fan of using carafa III special over black patent or roasted barley when wanting color and in check roast. Since it's de-husked you don't get as much of the burnt bitter flavors.

aardii said:

I planned to stress the Brett to capture more of the esters, which I've read to be pineapple =p

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My Belgian Amber Sour smelled and tasted like pineapple after primary fermentation with Wyeast 3278 Lambic Blend. Man it was great, but it faded real fast, like within a week or two.