Brett B Starter?

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buckeyebrewer

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I am attempting to recreate Goose Island's Sofie. I am fermenting with White Labs 565 Belgian Saison and White Labs 650 Brett B. I have never used Brett before. My plan after reading through other threads is to make a starter for the 565 Saison like I normally would and pitch this like I normally would with any other primary fermenting yeast. My questions are:
1. When should I pitch the Brett B?
2. Should I make a Brett B starter?
3. How long do I leave brew in primary after both yeasts are in it. Is it longer because of the Brett?
Then I was going to transfer into a secondary to age it for a few months.
4. Will the Brett form a pellicle in the secondary?
5. Do I need to wait for the pellicle to fall before bottle or kegging?
Thanks everyone....
 
1. Now or in secondary. Will get more Brett character if pitched earlier.
2. Just like any other starter. Not necessary if not using it as the primary yeast.
3. Leave it in primary for a few weeks. The Brett should be in suspension, so you will transfer it to the secondary.
4. Not necessarily. It makes the pellicle to protect it from O2. If there is no O2, there may not be a pellicle.
5. No, but you should not disturb it otherwise.
 
Pretty much what Calder said...I prefer to let primary finish and the beer to clear and then rack to secondary and hit it with the brett at that point.
 
Ok...I have a few more questions about my Goose Island Sofie attempt.
I read through this thread (Pellicle Photo Collection) and all of the threads within that thread.....which was a total eye opener.... (Thank you jessup for starting that one). I now have a few more questions.
1.How long should I let this thing sit? I was thinking 6 months but that doesn't seem long enough.
2. Do you think Goose Island ages their Sofie longer than 6-8 months?
I wrote them an email and hope to get a response. I will post it if they sent me anything. Thanks
 
I can't say for certain with a particular clone. But, in general when it comes to something like using brett as a secondary, you pitch it and when the gravity is stable its time to bottle. For example one of my current brews I pitched the Wyeast brett b as a secondary at around 1.015. It has been stable at 1.011 for 2 weeks so I dry hopped it today and will bottle in a few weeks to total around 2 months from brew day to bottling. That said, it really depends on when the gravity stabilizes. When pitching brett as a secondary its going to be much quicker than if you are letting multiple bugs do your work for you.
 
I think Orval bottles within a few months, and the taste changes depending on how old the bottle is. The Brett continues working in the bottle, over time the Brett flavor comes to the fore as the hop flavor fades.
 

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