Brett Claussenii - What Temp

Anyone any experience with using Brett-C as a primary yeast? How does temperature affect it?

I used it back in January in a split batch of Brown ale (11 gallons split 4-ways between PacMan, Thames II, Chimay, and Brett-C). I pitched big, and started fermenting the Brett-C batch at 68 F, and raised the temp over a week to 80 F. Got nothing special from it; hard to tell the difference between the Brett batch the the PacMan and Thames batches which were fermented at 62 F and came out clean.

On Saturday I used it again in a Saison type brew, again as a primary yeast. I used the slurry from the Brown. I suspect I under pitched, as the Brown was only 2.5 gallons and the slurry had been in the fridge for a couple of months. This time I started at 80 F. Fermentation started within 10 hours. I have since moved it to 83 F, and will raise it a few more degrees over the next few days.

White Labs says 85 F+. Sounds really high to me. What can I expect from this batch?

Calder said:

Anyone any experience with using Brett-C as a primary yeast? How does temperature affect it?

I used it back in January in a split batch of Brown ale (11 gallons split 4-ways between PacMan, Thames II, Chimay, and Brett-C). I pitched big, and started fermenting the Brett-C batch at 68 F, and raised the temp over a week to 80 F. Got nothing special from it; hard to tell the difference between the Brett batch the the PacMan and Thames batches which were fermented at 62 F and came out clean.

On Saturday I used it again in a Saison type brew, again as a primary yeast. I used the slurry from the Brown. I suspect I under pitched, as the Brown was only 2.5 gallons and the slurry had been in the fridge for a couple of months. This time I started at 80 F. Fermentation started within 10 hours. I have since moved it to 83 F, and will raise it a few more degrees over the next few days.

White Labs says 85 F+. Sounds really high to me. What can I expect from this batch?

Click to expand...

Can't speak for the 85 F+ scenario, but I did a split batch with Brett C at standard temps (68 F-ish) and all I got was aroma. I believe Oldsock noted in his book that Brett C is mostly aromatic, not a ton of flavor...although I can't seem to find in my notes what page that appears on.

Update: fermenting high certainly does bring out the flavors from the yeast.

I got nothing fermenting at 70 F, but this batch kept at 80 F+ has a lot of fruit flavors after one week.

I've used Brett C as a primary and it's pretty clean, as are most Brett only primaries. Slightly fruity but you wouldn't pick it out as Brett. I really liked the beer but I think pitching it into secondary is where it shines.

I'll add my 💰 .02 to this thread....

I've done a belgian pale ale that started in the 60's and ended in the upper 70's and it exhibited some fruitiness and very very slight Brett character. I sat on it for about 2 months until it was finished. The profile was very promising so I knew it needed to be pitched as a primary strain in a very strong tripel or bgsa.

That 1 gallon batch yielded top crop that was pitched into my 1.090 golden strong, about 1 dense cupful. I pitched that as usual in the low 60's and ramped it up to 80f for 2 weeks and then back to 69F. It has now been in primary for 4 solid weeks and it is still fermenting! Still cloudy and still busting out CO2 every 30 seconds from my s type airlock. I'm going to let it sit for another 2 weeks and check a gravity reading. I have no idea what the gravity is now but I'll check it and post back. All sorts of staged aromas over this time period from fruity to banana to sulphur etc etc.

Ps- I left almost an identical post to this one with no response a little while back so I'm subbed.

djbradle said:

I'll add my 💰 .02 to this thread....

I've done a belgian pale ale that started in the 60's and ended in the upper 70's and it exhibited some fruitiness and very very slight Brett character. I sat on it for about 2 months until it was finished. The profile was very promising so I knew it needed to be pitched as a primary strain in a very strong tripel or bgsa.

Click to expand...

I'm not expecting any Brett character from using the yeast as a primary strain. All I'm looking for is for any character from the yeast. When I fermented it at 70 (pushed to 80 over a week) in a brown ale, I couldn't distinguish the beer from the same wort fermented with PacMan at 62 F. Zero yeast character.

This time fermenting in the low 80s seems to have brought out lot of fruit flavors. Nothing harsh; no fusels. Like you noted, after a week at high temps, gravity was 1.007 from 1.062, and still giving up occasional burps of the airlock.

Later this year, I'll probably add it t a few gallons as a secondary yeast to see what develops, but that takes a long time - no instant gratification.

I'm definitely not looking for Brett character in this one though I don't know what will come of it. One descriptor on White Labs site was "dusty pineapple".....that sounds interesting, lol. I'm aiming for the pineapple though!

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for pineapple. I noticed some during sampling but once the beer had finished and was packaged it had a more generic ale fruitiness. It reminded me of a kolsch.

Hard to believe any yeast that can withstand high gravity brews will produce a kolsch type generic flavor. After 4 years of brewing I've never had such a thing occur. Now low to mid gravity brews, that's a different story....and I intend to mean high temps too specifically.

I literally just did this same thing with Brett B and C in 2 separate 3 Gallon batches. I started fermentation at 78/80ish. I used US-05 as a co-pitch though. I'm interested to hear how yours turns out so i can see if i see any similarities in mine.

Brewed what I call my Aussie Wheat (48/48% pale ale malt/wheat malt with 4% C30 and heavy Summer and Galaxy hopping nearly all at flameout). I had picked up Wyeast's Brett C on a whim, so I set aside 1 gallon to pitch it in. Unfortunately it's sitting at only 58F due to my heating wrap being used to keep the primary clean batch in the 60s. Worst case it's a starter or something to blend with sours later on.

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Here's sample of the bottling bucket after a 6 week primary for my golden strong and boy is it strong! OG was 1.090 and my FG is 1.011. About 10.3%

This sample has too much yeast to get a good idea but it's very fruity, bubblegum, pear with some heat I didn't expect and I pitched big. Hoping that this strain doesn't act badly. At this point it was left in the upper 70's for quite some time and bottled tonight at 77F. No surprise that it's still very cloudy. There is that "dusty" component in the background that I'm surprised to pick up. I'd say earthy.😜

I'll give it time to carb, a long hard cold crash for about 3 months, and report back.

Day 3 at 60F in a 1 gallon jug
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That's chilly! At this point you should raise the temp as much as you're comfortable with. Go for at least the low 70's. Bit by bit of course. A pale ale I brewed up was done in the low 70's and was very tasty. Though maybe a cool ferm test might throw something different in terms of flavor or aroma.

As I said, my heater is occupied by the big, clean batch. This is primarily just building it up for future use. If it comes out drinkable as is or worthy of blending with something else in the sour fermentorium, all the better. But it's fermenting fine, just likely lack luster. It's only a gallon.

Yea I agree, not trying to make a thing out of it. You'll no doubt build up a large volume of yeast for a future pitch.

Cracked one of the golden strongs tnite and it does have that kinda dusty fruit flavor. Very nice for a Brett primary. It's got some heat since it was such a high gravity brew but within a few months we should be "age appropriate".

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Golden strong is clear and bubbly. Excellent lacing and foam stability. Subtle nose with very mild funk, pepper, and fruits indiscernible. Some heat, tropical fruit, crisp, dry. Very very nice! A very strong golden ale.