As I dive into brewing brett beers I want to make sure I have my fermentation temps correct. I've already brewed two saisons that will get different brett strains in the secondary. I'll pitch those in a few weeks. I'm also planning on a 100% brett beer. So what fermentation temps should I shoot for with brett as the secondary strain vs. brett as the primary strain? I'm using White Labs 650 and 653 as the secondary strains and in my 100% brett beer I'm using White Labs 644. White labs suggests temps around 85 degrees for all three strains. Does that sound high? What would happen if I ferment at lower temps?
Fermentation Temps for Brett Beer
- Thread starter jrfehon
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Biergarden
Well-Known Member
I'm keeping mine at 70-72 degrees. I used Roselare right into the primary. Currently it's in the secondary on oak for a few more weeks. It smells awesome. I'm not 100% on the of brett, but I'm sure it will start eating the oak before too long. But it has that sour cherry smell of Rodenbach already.
I like to try for a mash pH of 5.3. That, imho, helps bring out the character of the yeast when it comes time to ferment. Additionally, I infusion mash at 158. I think it makes a different to keep the body up with all the sour going on.
If you ferment too low of a temp, the fermentation will slow down. There are three different micro organisms in that culture. I'm not certain, but I do believe all three will behave differently at lower temps. But, don't worry about it too much.
I like to try for a mash pH of 5.3. That, imho, helps bring out the character of the yeast when it comes time to ferment. Additionally, I infusion mash at 158. I think it makes a different to keep the body up with all the sour going on.
If you ferment too low of a temp, the fermentation will slow down. There are three different micro organisms in that culture. I'm not certain, but I do believe all three will behave differently at lower temps. But, don't worry about it too much.
Thanks for the response but I'm asking more about brett only beers and not mixed sour cultures like Roeselare. I've heard that using brett strains on their own requires higher fermentation temps but I'm looking for confirmation on that.
they don't. 70s is good, but works fine into the lower 60s as well. others have had success in the 80s too. i havent noticed much difference IME. i generally just let brett go at whatever temp
out of curiosity, what style for the 644?
marvaden
Well-Known Member
A fourth thing to do, if you have the space, would be a simultaneous pitch. I've heard claims that there's a subtle difference between it and the secondary. I personally do simultaneous pitch out of laziness/desire to decrease likelihood of something else getting in there. You can actually just leave it in primary this way because the brettanomyces will eat the dying/dead yeast cells before autolysis sets in.
Biergarden
Well-Known Member
There's brewery in Anchorage called Anchorage Brewing that do a brett IPA that's rather good.
http://anchoragebrewingcompany.com/beers
I'm pretty sure they're using citra or Cascade hops.
dcp27 said:
This is very strain dependent, my friend and I have long more drawn out fermentations in the 60's, my buddy swears it stalled out at least twice in the lower 60's. this was for Iris c2 though. I do all my primaries in the low 70s and if I do secondaries I do it a little lower.
marvaden
Well-Known Member
I've done an All Brett Sour Mashed IPA with a mix of Brett C and Brett B Trois. When it was younger, it was very pineapple-y and grapefruit-forward. The bitterness didn't come through until the aftertaste, but not an any way other than helping to clear your pallet. As it aged, the sour-mash characteristics started shining through more as well as the bitterness. It is quite nice and still changing. Been in the keg for nearly 3 months now after it was fermented in the primary for a month.
That one, I let ride without putting into a swamp cooler, so it definitely had a warmer fermentation. It also had a very light grain bill (80% pilsner 15% maris otter 5% flaked rye), so the yeast really shone through.
I suggest that unless you really want a very tropical fruit heavy beer, go with a more malt heavy recipe than I used. Also, in order to get any hop flavors to come through, you will need to dry hop. I didn't, and I got little to no hop flavor even though I used 8oz of hops and the majority in hop bursting fashion. Some of these characteristics might have just gone to the background from the sour-mashing in addition to the brett, though.
I am doing an highly hopped amber ale with the same (washed) brett blend, but this time I sat it in my swamp cooler so that it would stay below 70 during fermentation. I'll let you know if it is as ester-heavy afterwards. This may give a clue for brett fermentation temperature differences (albeit, not very scientific since there are other factors not being accounted for).
That one, I let ride without putting into a swamp cooler, so it definitely had a warmer fermentation. It also had a very light grain bill (80% pilsner 15% maris otter 5% flaked rye), so the yeast really shone through.
I suggest that unless you really want a very tropical fruit heavy beer, go with a more malt heavy recipe than I used. Also, in order to get any hop flavors to come through, you will need to dry hop. I didn't, and I got little to no hop flavor even though I used 8oz of hops and the majority in hop bursting fashion. Some of these characteristics might have just gone to the background from the sour-mashing in addition to the brett, though.
I am doing an highly hopped amber ale with the same (washed) brett blend, but this time I sat it in my swamp cooler so that it would stay below 70 during fermentation. I'll let you know if it is as ester-heavy afterwards. This may give a clue for brett fermentation temperature differences (albeit, not very scientific since there are other factors not being accounted for).
I was planning on doing a Sculpin clone that has a thread on this forum. It's one of my favorite IPAs so at first I thought of just brewing it clean. However, I'm really fascinated by brettanomyces and how those bugs function in different environments so it seems like more fun to do an experiment with the Sculpin recipe rather than just cloning an existing beer. The recipe isn't much maltier than your IPA but I wouldn't mind a tropical fruit flavor. Hopefully it will work.
a sculpin recipe should work pretty well with the 644. just remember to wait on the dry hops for the brett secondary one til close to bottling (a few months). the primary one shouldnt take much longer to ferment than clean, but it will be slower to clear
fyi, brett isn't bugs, its yeast
fyi, brett isn't bugs, its yeast
I was planning on aging the brett secondary segment for at least 2 months if not more. The potential for bottle bombs makes me nervous so I'm going to wait until I'm absolutely sure the gravity has stabilized. At that point I'll dry hop. Hopefully I'll have some of the beer from the other segments left at that time so I can compare the three.
Similar threads
