What to make with WLP644 Brett B Trois?

I just snagged a vial of this yeast and I'm wondering what type of beer I should use it in? I will be using it as the sole yeast and I'll seriously consider any ideas. I know many folks using 644 for 100% Brett IPA, which are delicious, but I've started thinking a Blonde might be tasty. Hmm...

Also, how long does this yeast usually take to finish? I'll be making a starter and stealing some for subsequent batches.

Cheers!

I did a "Belgian IPA" with it and cried upon drinking the last bottle,for two reasons. The first being,of course that I was sad to see it go. The second was that even though the beer went through a few shifts of flavour,it was still just about THE most amazing beer ever.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/108-brett-b-strasse-brettsville-377059/

I'm picking up a vial this week and will make a starter.


I haven't decided what I'm going to brew but I go back and forth between Blonde, Pale, and IPA. I may start with a blonde and use the slurry to make something a little more hoppier.

I've decided on Blonde

Per White Labs these vials have lower yeast counts that are meant for secondary fermentation. They suggested I use 3 vials for a 5 gal batch or one vial in addition to another vial in a 1L starter. Make your starter the same as usual but it will take at least 5-7 days.
All Brett beers will probably take 3-6 months to completely ferment out.

a blonde with it worked out pretty well for me, tho i did enjoy the brux version better for what I was going for. good luck!

lpdjshaw said:

All Brett beers will probably take 3-6 months to completely ferment out.

Click to expand...

absolutely not. all brett beers don't take much longer than sacch if you pitch properly. they should be done in 2-5 weeks.

dcp27 said:

all brett beers don't take much longer than sacch if you pitch properly. they should be done in 2-5 weeks.

Click to expand...

This is what I thought. Thanks!

You have 2cl of slurry in the vial rather than the 50cl usually in a white labs vial, so you need to step up your starter a 3 or 4 times to get a good yeast count. My Brett saison went from 1.050 to 1.002 in 2 weeks, so long fermentation time is not an issue if you allow it to ferment warm.

My one complaint is that I don't get a ton of character from it. There're no off flavors, but there's nothing terribly interesting going on either. I wonder if anyone out there has done a yeast forward beer with this strain and been happy. There's a lot of discussion of Brett IPAs but the recipes are generally so loaded with great hops you could get a tasty result with a few packets of old dry bread yeast.

The starters all had loads of acidity due to aeration, but the beer tastes like I used a relatively neutral sacc strain. I'm thinking that I'll do a few kilos of nectarines with half of it in secondary, but am more than a little disappointed at this point.

-Anthony

AnthonyCB said:

There's a lot of discussion of Brett IPAs but the recipes are generally so loaded with great hops you could get a tasty result with a few packets of old dry bread yeast.

Click to expand...

This is why I chose to make a Blonde, brewing in a couple weeks.

Brett B Trois is one of the most aromatic strains of anything I've ever brewed with.

dcp27 said:

absolutely not. all brett beers don't take much longer than sacch if you pitch properly. they should be done in 2-5 weeks.

Click to expand...

Brett cell counts can continue to increase for up to 8 months. Yes, you will get the majority of your fermentation done well before that - just be carefull you don't bottle too soon if you're planning to bottle condition for any length of time.

lpdjshaw said:

Brett cell counts can continue to increase for up to 8 months. Yes, you will get the majority of your fermentation done well before that - just be carefull you don't bottle too soon if you're planning to bottle condition for any length of time.

Click to expand...

I'll be kegging this bad boy. My basic fermentation plan, at this point:

Pitch a 1.5L starter (after 10 days on a stir plate) and ferment at 68 for a week

Move fermenter to my "sour closet," which currently maintains ambient temp of 74 or so, and let it sit for 3 more weeks

Move fermenter back to chamber and cold crash to 33 for 3 days or so

Keg and allow to lager a bit in the keezer while carbonating.

So I'm aiming for grain to glass in 5-6 weeks. Thoughts? Also, I'll be splitting a 10 gallon batch and pitching Roeselare in the other half- this will age in primary for 12 months... mmmm, sour Blonde.

Brulosopher said:

I'll be kegging this bad boy. My basic fermentation plan, at this point:

Pitch a 1.5L starter (after 10 days on a stir plate) and ferment at 68 for a week

Move fermenter to my "sour closet," which currently maintains ambient temp of 74 or so, and let it sit for 3 more weeks

Move fermenter back to chamber and cold crash to 33 for 3 days or so

Keg and allow to lager a bit in the keezer while carbonating.

So I'm aiming for grain to glass in 5-6 weeks. Thoughts? Also, I'll be splitting a 10 gallon batch and pitching Roeselare in the other half- this will age in primary for 12 months... mmmm, sour Blonde.

Click to expand...

You're starting with 4 billion cells not 100 billion (usual WL cell count). If you only do 1 step on your starter you are unlikely to have more than 40 billion cells let alone the 500 billion+ you're looking for to ferment 10 gallons of wort.

AnthonyCB said:

You're starting with 4 billion cells not 100 billion (usual WL cell count). If you only do 1 step on your starter you are unlikely to have more than 40 billion cells let alone the 500 billion+ you're looking for to ferment 10 gallons of wort.

Click to expand...

Doesn't Brett produce more character when stressed???

Did you try the blonde Trois? If so how did it turn out? I'm wondering if the strain produces enough flavor to carry a beer on its own.

I brewed an IPA with Trois on 5/13. Started at 1.070 and its down to 1.014 after 7 days @ 68*. The sample was incredible (even warm and uncarbonated), a good hint of pineapple as advertised with this strain.

I cannot wait to brew some others with this yeast!

Hi all
I know it's an old thread but i'm interested in everyone's actual experience with sacch trois yeast in non-ipa / non-hoppy beer. Everyone seem to use this yeast where it would be hard to detemine the strain specific contribution to the "tropical fruits flavors" and the like. I have a simple simcoe/eldorado pale ale fermenting with it; so far so good but still hoppy so hard to tell.

Thanks !

Another question for people on this yeast. I’m sure this a question for MTF but I refuse to join Facebook to ask it.

Any idea if Sacch Trois is susceptible to killer wine yeasts?

If anyone is on MTF and wants to ask the question for me I’d appreciate it.

LeggedBoots said:

Hi all
I know it's an old thread but i'm interested in everyone's actual experience with sacch trois yeast in non-ipa / non-hoppy beer. Everyone seem to use this yeast where it would be hard to detemine the strain specific contribution to the "tropical fruits flavors" and the like. I have a simple simcoe/eldorado pale ale fermenting with it; so far so good but still hoppy so hard to tell.

Click to expand...

I used it at ~70°F ambient with free rise. Lots of fruity pineapple and mango.

Compared to Hornindal Kveik, which has a similar ester profile (on paper), I much prefer 644.

couchsending said:

Any idea if Sacch Trois is susceptible to killer wine yeasts?

Click to expand...

To my knowledge, all ale yeasts are sensitive.
(BTW someone did just post your question)

Thanks Rph_Guy
What was the hopping used in those beers ? ( varieties and schedule )

What i want to know is:
- Would a simple 2-row smash with something like mt hood would still end up being "tropical fruity" ?

Thanks again!

I used no hops & something like 80% 2-row and 20% wheat.
I also co-pitched Wyeast B. Lambicus, but I could tell which flavors were from which yeast based on the starters I made. The combination is fantastic by the way.

Yes, 644 is fruity. 70°F with free rise is perfect. Don't overpitch.

Although there's nothing new for HBT regulars, this is a good overview of the Sacc Trois story :
https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2019/3/4/unlikely-behavior-the-strange-story-of-brett-trois

RPh_Guy said:

To my knowledge, all ale yeasts are sensitive.

Click to expand...

Not entirely true - some beer yeasts produce killer factors of their own and so are killer-resistant themselves, but it's not particularly common. The NCYC lists 56 killers in their collection, of which only a handful are Saccharomyces but they include NCYC 230, 235 and 1001. Conversely, not all wine yeasts are killers.

I don't know about WLP644 - the odds are against it but it's such an oddity that it could well be a killer, or at least killer-neutral.

Northern_Brewer said:

some beer yeasts produce killer factors of their own and so are killer-resistant themselves, but it's not particularly common.

Click to expand...

Which commercial strain(s) of beer yeast produce competitive factor?

As I say - it's not common, but those NCYC are all from (anonymised) commercial breweries. Burton Bridge use one of them though.

If you mean commercial homebrew strains, I've no idea. Quite possibly none of them, but then the commercial US homebrew strains are a somewhat weird subset of brewing yeasts.

Northern_Brewer said:

it's not common

Click to expand...

So, you can't for sure say that WLP644 or ANY available homebrew strains produce competitive factor or are neutral to it?

In fact, it's pretty safe to assume WLP644 is susceptible to competitive factor?

Did you look at that NCYC list? Most of the strains weren't Sacc and much of the listed Sacc strains were associated with wine, not beer. They are clearly NOT all from commercial breweries.

I've used this yeast twice in IPAs. First one I fermented mid 60s and then ramped up to 70-72 at the very end of fermentation. Turned out really nice, not a fruit bomb but clean and hoppy. The second one I fermented at 77 according to my notes(intentional to try to bring out more esthers) and that one turned out nasty. My IBUs were pretty low yet it turned out way bitter and not fruity/hoppy at all. My acid additions, ph, process were the same in both batches so I don't know what went wrong.

I have been meaning to do a mixed fermentation with it in a saison, maybe with 3711. Spice it lightly with seeds of paradise and maybe a modest dosing of mild citrus hops.