Kegging Brett Beer

[Bandit]

I have just brewed my first Brett beer and I'm thinking about kegging it. I will be dedicating a keg/lines to funky beers so I am not worried about contaminating other brews. Any other concerns with kegging a Brett beer? I have heard that when bottled, a Brett beer can change character over time. When kegged at 40 deg. F, will the character of the Brett beer remain the same or also change over time?

 

[Gritsak]

Sparrow lists the temp range of brett as 40-95. So in theory brett could still be doing something? (albeit extremely slowed down). I haven't noticed any remarkable change in my limited experience with kegged brett beers (i've gone through two so far), but then again they've only lasted a couple months at best. Might depend on the beer too.

 

[marqoid]

Do you even need to worry about having seperate keg lines? The beer shouldn't run back into a keg after it's in the tubing. Once a beer is pulled I would expect that it is drunk within ~1 hour not giving it time for any small amount of brett to do anything bad.
I have been wondering these same things before I keg a brett beer.

 

[Bsquared]

Brett can form stubborn Bio-films in tubings that can be hard to clean out, and could potentially get into a non-brett beer being served later on that line.

I have typically kegged my brett beers in specific kegs designated brett/wild yeast only (I have a couple pin lock kegs I use separate from my ball lock kegs). I also serve these beers out of a designated line on a picnic tap.

 

[Mustangj]

Do you even need to worry about having seperate keg lines? The beer shouldn't run back into a keg after it's in the tubing.

This happen to me. I had a non funk ESB that I put on to a tap that had a lambic. I had a couple pints and over the next couple months I didn't drink it, went back to it and it had a brett character. just becouse the beer is only moving in one direction that doesn't mean the bugs are
.

 

[marqoid]

Interesting, thanks for saving me a keg.

 

[edmanster]

use caution also when using a Co2 manifold without check valves or ball valves not to empty the head pressure of the wild brew into your Co2 lines when hooking up different kegs that might be at a lower pressure.. those bugs can get everywhere... the rule is, anything plastic or rubber that touches wild should be dedicated for wild only..

 

[Bandit]

Thanks for the replies.

For those interested, here's my recipe (5.5 gal):

7lbs Belgian Pilsner
1lb Caramel Vienne
8 oz. Corn Sugar
1.25 oz. Hallertauer (90 min)
1.0 oz. Styrian Golding (15 min)
0.5 oz. Styrian Golding (0 min)
1.0 oz. Styrian Golding (Dry Hop)
Wyeast #3522 (Belgian Ardennes) - Yeast Starter, Added at beginning
Wyeast #5112 (Brett-Brux) - Yeast Starter, Added 2 days after start of fermentation
Dregs of Goose Island Matilda and Orval were added to Brett-B starter
O.G. 1.051
IBUs: 21
Mash: 150 deg. F. (60 min)
90 min boil
Gravity has been steady at 1.005 for (2) months in carboy, so I guess it may be done fermenting (?).

 

[Bandit]

Good point edmanster, I hadn't considered the gas lines.

 

[marqoid]

I guess I will stick to bottling my sours.

 

[AmandaK]

I guess I will stick to bottling my sours.

It's not that bad! At least that way the flavors will change over time... and probably for the better!