Anyone used dirty dozen in secondary?

[mnick12]

Title says it all,

Has anyone used ecy dirty dozen as a secondary blend, or for bottle conditioning?

I have a bottle and would like to really let the brett shine. Since this blend contains various isolates from lambics, I would expect it to do well in secodary fermentation or for bottle conditioning.

I have read a few posts about its use in primary, but noting really informative about how this blend behaves in secondary.

Anyone care to share some experience?

 

[sweetcell]

back in late december i bottled a batch of saison with ECY34. i primed low (like 1.5 vols), assuming that the one of the bretts in the dirty dozen would chew off another point or two. i used thick glass bottles. i tried one after a month and it clearly wasn't ready yet - carbonation was low, brett flavors were even lower. at this point i'm thinking that i won't touch another bottle until april if not later.

i'll post an update when i next try it.

 

[mnick12]

back in late december i bottled a batch of saison with ECY34. i primed low (like 1.5 vols), assuming that the one of the bretts in the dirty dozen would chew off another point or two. i used thick glass bottles. i tried one after a month and it clearly wasn't ready yet - carbonation was low, brett flavors were even lower. at this point i'm thinking that i won't touch another bottle until april if not later.

i'll post an update when i next try it.

Thanks,

I have a pale ale I fermented with a yeast I isolated from germinating barley, this yeast produces some mild phenols and slight esters. I was thinking of doing secondary with DD to see how it does in secondary. I have enough fruity brett beers on hand, so I now am looking for some funk.

 

[masonsjax]

I put some fresh wort into the empty Dirty Dozen vial and let it ferment, decanted and added more fresh wort. I saw a really gnarly pellicle, strong strawberry aromatics and low flocculation. I recently drank the wort and added some more. It was fruity, but super tart. Something in there can make acetic acid. I've not seen any hint of it in the full batches I've done yet, so I'm guessing it needs some O2 for that. I keg all of my beer and usually force carb but I plan to do some more extended aging on one of these batches and will probably naturally carb the keg to see how it does under a little pressure. I will report back when I have results.

 

[Jumpman]

i brewed a saison with the DD back on oct 2 i did a 4 gallon batch, the ibu was a little higher around 30 (next try will only use about an oz of low alpha hops) i let it sit for a little over a month and added a gallon of spiced apple cider to it. and on feb 8 i added 3 pounds of peaches to it. i plan on letting it sit for about another month or two. the flavor was nice a little acidity and some cool fruit notes coming in. i think it will be good very soon.

 

[finsfan]

Have yet to use it in secondary, but the batch I am about to bottle is fantastic!! I fermented it with a small amount (50 billion cells) of 3726 and the DD from the get go. Its been in the primary bucket for 3 months and will be bottled tomorrow. It is not that fruity at all and has a ton of funk to it, almost seems sour, possibly a small amount of acetic acid in there which is what I was hoping for keeping it in the bucket. It has turned out better than I hoped and will be doing this method again and again until/if it fails me. It attenuated down to 1.002 and so far has tasted amazing after only 3 months. Cant wait to get this brett under pressure! Cheers.

 

[mnick12]

Have yet to use it in secondary, but the batch I am about to bottle is fantastic!! I fermented it with a small amount (50 billion cells) of 3726 and the DD from the get go. Its been in the primary bucket for 3 months and will be bottled tomorrow. It is not that fruity at all and has a ton of funk to it, almost seems sour, possibly a small amount of acetic acid in there which is what I was hoping for keeping it in the bucket. It has turned out better than I hoped and will be doing this method again and again until/if it fails me. It attenuated down to 1.002 and so far has tasted amazing after only 3 months. Cant wait to get this brett under pressure! Cheers.

Awesome,

It sounds like it will do well in secondary then. Im also going to pitch some in primary for a pale ale, but I really wanted to see how this does in secondary.

 

[mnick12]

A little update

About a month ago I brewed a beer consisting of 7# 2-row, 2# vienna, 2# white wheat malt, and 0.5# acid malt.

OG was 1.051 and it was bittered to 21 IBU using motueka.

I pitched a vial of a wild yeast that I isolated a few months ago from germinating barley. This was a pure culture grown up from a single colony. This yeast is a super slow fermentor but it shows good attenuation if given enough time (>1month). It produces a tart sort of hefe type beer.

Anyway about 2 weeks in the yeast was slowing down, and the SG was around 1.020 with a pH of 3.7. I decided to pitch 1/4 of DD to it.

Fast foward two weeks and there is still positive airlock pressure. The smell is very sulfury and quite pleasingly funky, it somewhat resembles a fruity gueuze. I hoping in the next few months the sulfur will dissipate, but so far it looks like DD does very well in secondary.

 

[bovineblitz]

back in late december i bottled a batch of saison with ECY34. i primed low (like 1.5 vols), assuming that the one of the bretts in the dirty dozen would chew off another point or two. i used thick glass bottles. i tried one after a month and it clearly wasn't ready yet - carbonation was low, brett flavors were even lower. at this point i'm thinking that i won't touch another bottle until april if not later.

i'll post an update when i next try it.

My saison with ECY34 only got down to 1.010 after about 3.5 months.

 

[GHBWNY]

A little update

About a month ago I brewed a beer consisting of 7# 2-row, 2# vienna, 2# white wheat malt, and 0.5# acid malt.

OG was 1.051 and it was bittered to 21 IBU using motueka.

I pitched a vial of a wild yeast that I isolated a few months ago from germinating barley. This was a pure culture grown up from a single colony. This yeast is a super slow fermentor but it shows good attenuation if given enough time (>1month). It produces a tart sort of hefe type beer.

Anyway about 2 weeks in the yeast was slowing down, and the SG was around 1.020 with a pH of 3.7. I decided to pitch 1/4 of DD to it.

Fast foward two weeks and there is still positive airlock pressure. The smell is very sulfury and quite pleasingly funky, it somewhat resembles a fruity gueuze. I hoping in the next few months the sulfur will dissipate, but so far it looks like DD does very well in secondary.

Had the same strong sulphury smell with a hefe during and post-ferm, but it disappeared and didn't show up in the taste.

 

[mnick12]

Had the same strong sulphury smell with a hefe during and post-ferm, but it disappeared and didn't show up in the taste.

Yeah it is kind of odd,

I have encountered sulfur in many of my clean fermentations before, but this one is very persistent. Im sure it will clear up in a few months, but right now it is overwhelming. There is still a pleasing funk underneath it all, I am just waiting for it to shine!

 

[sweetcell]

My saison with ECY34 only got down to 1.010 after about 3.5 months.

interesting. what was your primary yeast? where was your gravity at before the ECY34?

 

[bovineblitz]

interesting. what was your primary yeast? where was your gravity at before the ECY34?

I pitched a larger starter of Belgian Schelde along with a large starter of the Dirty Dozen. Should have been way more yeast than necessary for full attenuation. Maybe it'll drop with time.