Fermentis SafBrew™ BR-8 Dry Brettanomyces Yeast

[MrFancyPlants]

What kind of batch should I try first? Once I bought a keg of Dead Guy Ale for a party and pitched Orval dregs in the leftovers. It was ok but started to taste like Orval after a while.

I have had a ton of pineapple from Orval dregs before too, but it was such an accident I don’t know if I could recreate. It was second runnings and honey, I believe, fermented with Belle. Almost undrinkable because it was too bitter and strong. I added the Orval dregs and forgot it for a while. I may have left the keg exposed to temperature fluctuations and the last pint or two turned into something else completely, like a pineapple explosion. I may have imagined the thing too.

I am thinking BR8 would make a brett only batch more tenable. I am going to need more floating dip tubes I think.

 

[Miraculix]

Br8 is not a typical brett strain and it has a very very unique and strong flavour profile. I would taste test it first. I brewed quite a few batches with it and tbh I don't like it that much any more. Have a look into the br8 thread, you will find more information there.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Br8 is not a typical brett strain and it has a very very unique and strong flavour profile. I would taste test it first. I brewed quite a few batches with it and tbh I don't like it that much any more. Have a look into the br8 thread, you will find more information there.

My terminology might be off, but it is not typical because it is not diastatic? So it doesn’t go to work after the other yeasts go to sleep unless you give it some more simple sugars?
Brett IMHO, in general, can get out of hand from a flavor perspective when mixed with other yeasts and stored for a while. But BR8 might behave differently.

 

[Miraculix]

My terminology might be off, but it is not typical because it is not diastatic? So it doesn’t go to work after the other yeasts go to sleep unless you give it some more simple sugars?
Brett IMHO, in general, can get out of hand from a flavor perspective when mixed with other yeasts and stored for a while. But BR8 might behave differently.

Exactly. Br8 also dominates the brew really easily so better co-pitch it n really small rates.

 

[Sipina]

Br8 is not a typical brett strain and it has a very very unique and strong flavour profile. I would taste test it first. I brewed quite a few batches with it and tbh I don't like it that much any more. Have a look into the br8 thread, you will find more information there.

Can you elaborate what exactly you do not like about it?

 

[Miraculix]

Can you elaborate what exactly you do not like about it?

The taste. Hard to describe, it's unique. It's not what I would want from brett. I would expect either fruit, horsy-leather type of flavours and maybe even some mild acidity from some of the Bret's. I don't get either or from br8. It's more like a strange vine-type of ester with something else going on. It is also completely upfront and dominating everything else.

I have had an older bottle of one of the porters I've brewed with it and that br8 flavour in there improved heavily with age. So it might be that the flavour just needs time to mature. It was also just a very very small dose of br8 and it was co-fermented with English yeast.

 

[Shenanigans]

Sounds like the jury is still out on BR8 then.
Hopefully we come to a better conclusion when all these beers have been aged for a year or so.
Maybe the flavour just clashes with with some types of malts and it's better to use it in a simple light beer.

Difficult to get our hands on Brett strains here in europe for a decent price so it would have been a nice string to add to our bow.

At least I have good access to fresh Orval here; that's comparable to WLP650 Brettanomyces bruxellensis right?
Boring to always use the same strain though.

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[Miraculix]

Sounds like the jury is still out on BR8 then.
Hopefully we come to a better conclusion when all these beers have been aged for a year or so.
Maybe the flavour just clashes with with some types of malts and it's better to use it in a simple light beer.

Difficult to get our hands on Brett strains here in europe for a decent price so it would have been a nice string to add to our bow.

At least I have good access to fresh Orval here; that's comparable to WLP650 Brettanomyces bruxellensis right?
Boring to always use the same strain though.

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Definitely not. I tried it in a smash lager with pilsner only. Not good at all. It actually benefits from strong malt flavours as they mask the unpleasant parts of the br8 induced flavour.

Only hope I have is that long term aging helps, but I'm honestly not expecting this to happen.