100% Brett fermentation in a kettle soured beer

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Brett3rThanU

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Friday night I tried my hand at kettle souring. After the boil I cooled the wort to ~85F and added OYL-605 (Lacto blend), wrapped the better bottle in a blanket to try to keep it at that temp for 24 hours. Per the Mad Fermentationist, rather than boiling to kill the lacto after 24 hours I simply cooled the wort down to ~65F and pitched a packet of OYL-218 (All the bretts). OYL-218 says it contains enough Brett to ferment up to OG 1.060 so I did not create a starter. Sitting at 72 hours post pitch of Brett I have no signs of activity. I know lacto can only take the pH down so far, and Brett is pretty pH tolerant, so maybe it's just a really stressful environment so it's taking longer than usual?
 
Brett works slowly so give it time. also 65 degrees is prob the reason why its working so slowly. id bump it to mid 70s. i never used this blend but did a search on it and found a site that says optimal temp is 68-85.
 
usually, I see it suggested to use lager pitching rates for all-brett beers. Although, since you didnt kill off your lacto, youve basically got a mixed sour fermentation on your hands. I think itll start rolling pretty soon if the yeast pack was fresh
 
Brett will work slower in lower pH environments. I'd suggest warming it up a bit to help them along. mid 70's is where I've seen them really take off.
 
I ended up moving it to a closet where it's 76F and on day 4 I started to see activity. It's chugging along calmly now.

I also emailed Omega Yeast Labs and it seems their package label is misleading. They state on the label it contains enough Brett to ferment 5 gallons of 1.060 OG wort, however upon emailing them state they're referring to a secondary fermentation :confused: even though there's no mention of that on the label. They've never tested it as a primary. He did say the cell count in the package is 60 billion so I've definitely under pitched. I'm contemplating adding another vial of Brett I can get from my local homebrew shop, though might just let it ride and see how it works out.
 
It's currently sitting on 7lb of apricots and I'm about 2 weeks from kegging it. Pre fruit it was it was good, but can't wait to see what the apricots do.
 
Do you think the low pH from kettle souring caused brett to be slow? I recently pitched multiple dregs containing brett into a kettle soured batch and pH was around 3.2 by the time I was able to stop the souring. Hoping brett can get going. Glad it worked out for you.
 
The two issues I see are a) underpitching and b) low pH.

I just made a kettle soured berliner weisse-ish beer, and pulled off some of the souring wort halfway through the process (I went for 2 days) in order to make a starter. This not only helped to build up the cell count, but prepared the yeast for the harsher low pH environment prior to being tossed into an entire 5 gallon batch.

I fermented with wlp001 and wlp644 (not brett, but brett-like), and both strains took off within 24 hours.

Also, most brett strains are packaged with secondary fermentation in mind. Brett tends to throw off most of it's signature flavors when it's starved for nutrients, so most folks use it in secondary. That's not to say they can't create some awesome fruit/funk flavors in primary, but they're much "cleaner" when used as such, typically.
 
Do you think the low pH from kettle souring caused brett to be slow? I recently pitched multiple dregs containing brett into a kettle soured batch and pH was around 3.2 by the time I was able to stop the souring. Hoping brett can get going. Glad it worked out for you.

I think it was a combination of the two. I would definitely make a Brett starter if I did this again, but as I mentioned in an earlier post the package was misleading so I did not.

If you're hoping to get a full primary fermentation off dregs from a few bottles alone I think you're setting yourself up for problems. I'd pitch a pack off yeast with it.
 
I pitched some yeast a few days after pitching the dregs, and had visible signs of fermentation very quickly. Also, it's a small batch, so hopefully the dregs don't get too overwhelmed.
 
Did you taste at all before putting it on apricots? Curious what sort of flavors you got with it as a primary fermentation. Any funk? Mostly fruit?
 
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