Need Brett Answers

[srob18]

I've never brewed a Brett beer before but am deciding to in the upcoming weeks. I found a great video on how to best us it.

I'm looking for help from anyone who has played around with Brett enough to know certain esters or flavors to look for at certain Primary fermentation temperatures. Also, Any suggestions on styles that work well with Brett? I'm debating doing a Saison, APA or possibly going off the wall with a Porter.

Please help haha,

 

[mnick12]

I've never brewed a Brett beer before but am deciding to in the upcoming weeks. I found a great video highlighting some of the qualities of Brett on how to best us it.

I'm looking for help from anyone who has played around with Brett enough to know certain esters or flavors to look for at certain Primary fermentation temperatures. Also, Any suggestions on styles that work well with Brett? I'm debating doing a Saison, APA or possibly going off the wall with a Porter.

Please help haha,

I am just starting to drink a brett ale I bottled two weeks ago. It was 78% 2-row, 19.5% golden naked oats, and 2.5% acid malt. OG was 1.052 with no hops in the boil.

I only boiled for 20 minutes then threw in 2oz of motueka at flameout. Once cooled I added a 1l starter of lactobacillus acidophilus (optional lacto is not needed). The next day I pitched a 1l starter of Brettanomyces custersianus. Fermentation took it down to 1.010 in 3 days, and after two weeks it stabilzed at at 1.008. Final pH was 3.7, and it was dryhopped for an additional week with some nelson and exp 5256.

This is by far the fruitest beer I have ever had, the brett really transforms the hop aroma and flavor.

For a brett beer I would recomend a source of acid. You could use acid malt, lactic acid, or some lactobacillus. The acidity really helps with a quick fermentation, and it seems to accentuate the fruit flavors produced by brett.
Also even though I didnt use any boil hops, the beer was still very crisp and refreshing without being sweet.


Which brett were you planning on using?

 

[srob18]

Which brett were you planning on using?

I was planning on using WLP644, Brett Brux Trois(however my like of experience using Brett doesn't tell me if this is a good or bad idea). Doing something along the lines of 3Lb 2-row, 2 Lb wheat, 1 Lb amber maybe some other flavoring or adjunct fermentables too. It's only going to be a 3 gallon batch.

Ideally i'd like to use 100% Brett. I'm just not sure what flavors different strains produce. Yours sounds pretty good though!

 

[chefchris]

I was planning on using WLP644, Brett Brux Trois(however my like of experience using Brett doesn't tell me if this is a good or bad idea). Doing something along the lines of 3Lb 2-row, 2 Lb wheat, 1 Lb amber maybe some other flavoring or adjunct fermentables too. It's only going to be a 3 gallon batch.

Ideally i'd like to use 100% Brett. I'm just not sure what flavors different strains produce. Yours sounds pretty good though!

Well, if you want 100% Brett then you're barking up the wrong tree with Trois. It was recently found to actually be a sach strain. Still makes a great beer and still has Brett characteristics. All Brett beers tend to not be very funky, pretty clean actually and they're done in the same time frame as ales. Just read the different descriptions for each strain and see what sounds good. I've only used 2 different strains for all Brett beers; White Labs Brett C and before every one realized it wasn't Brett, Trois. Just give your starter enough time and dive in. Saison, APA, Porter, RIS, Barleywine ... they'll all work.

 

[stpug]

I was planning on using WLP644, Brett Brux Trois(however my like of experience using Brett doesn't tell me if this is a good or bad idea). Doing something along the lines of 3Lb 2-row, 2 Lb wheat, 1 Lb amber maybe some other flavoring or adjunct fermentables too. It's only going to be a 3 gallon batch.

Ideally i'd like to use 100% Brett. I'm just not sure what flavors different strains produce. Yours sounds pretty good though!

Yes, like chefchris said, all indication points that Brett Brux Trios is not Brett at all, but regular Sacc instead, WHICH IS NOT TO SAY YOU WON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT . Brett (Sacc) Trois is well known for creating those fruity and odd uncharacteristic sacc profiles that are typically associated with brett. The plus side is that you wouldn't have to "worry" about having rogue yeast floating around your brewery

http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.com/2014/12/brett-trois-riddle-wrapped-in-mystery.html
http://embracethefunk.com/2014/12/11/brettanomyces/

As far as 100% brett beers, it comes down to "duration". If you ferment with only Brett then you'll want to give it a bit of hard-to-ferment constituents so that after the easy stuff is taken care of then it has to work hard on those remaining tough parts which is where it will create some of it's characteristic profiles; this obviously includes the fact that you'll need to give it some time to finish it's work. IMO, saison screams "ME, ME, ME" when referring to using brett, BUT I'm all for experimentation so I might go with a porter also. An APA might be lost on brett since you'd likely want to get it to tap/serving sooner than later.

What ever you decide on, keep us posted. It's always fun to hear other peoples experiences and outcomes.

 

[mnick12]

Yes, like chefchris said, all indication points that Brett Brux Trios is not Brett at all, but regular Sacc instead, WHICH IS NOT TO SAY YOU WON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT . Brett (Sacc) Trois is well known for creating those fruity and odd uncharacteristic sacc profiles that are typically associated with brett. The plus side is that you wouldn't have to "worry" about having rogue yeast floating around your brewery

http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.com/2014/12/brett-trois-riddle-wrapped-in-mystery.html
http://embracethefunk.com/2014/12/11/brettanomyces/

As far as 100% brett beers, it comes down to "duration". If you ferment with only Brett then you'll want to give it a bit of hard-to-ferment constituents so that after the easy stuff is taken care of then it has to work hard on those remaining tough parts which is where it will create some of it's characteristic profiles; this obviously includes the fact that you'll need to give it some time to finish it's work. IMO, saison screams "ME, ME, ME" when referring to using brett, BUT I'm all for experimentation so I might go with a porter also. An APA might be lost on brett since you'd likely want to get it to tap/serving sooner than later.

What ever you decide on, keep us posted. It's always fun to hear other peoples experiences and outcomes.

This brings up a good point.

If you want a funky brett then it is best to do pitch brett in the secondary of a regular beer and let it age for a while (~6 months)

If however you want a quick brett beer that can be done in about the same amount of time as a regular beer. Just make a large starter and pitch it in your favorite recipe, then wait until the gravity stabilizes and you are good to go.

That beer I brewer took about a month to go from grain to glass, and if I wasnt so lazy it could have been less.

If you want a true brett and cant get any of the ecy strains, then I would reccomend wy5526 it is quite pleasent.

 

[youreanimpulse]

I've done Brett B, C and L primary beers at this point. All were done in 3-4 weeks. FG's were 1.008-1.012. All different styles: Saison, CDA, IPA. The characteristics are different, but generally the fruity stuff comes through but little or no funk. The CDA (C) has a funky note from the Pacific Gem hops. I love the Brett L IPA, really fruity but different. Hard to describe. All that to say that an APA is totally a great idea.

 

[masonsjax]

Brewing with Brett can span a wide range of styles, just like brewing with Sacc. It's not bacteria, so contaminating your gear isn't nearly as scary as some think. Hasn't been a problem for me anyway.

What kind of contributions are looking to get? That would better indicate what strain and how/when to use it. That said, you can never go wrong putting Brett into a Saison, whether it's a single isolate or a blend, small pitch, large pitch, primary, secondary, short term, long term, as bottle conditioning yeast, etc. It's all good!

 

[srob18]

http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.com/2014/12/brett-trois-riddle-wrapped-in-mystery.html
http://embracethefunk.com/2014/12/11/brettanomyces/

-Thanks for these, they were interesting reads!

IMO, saison screams "ME, ME, ME" when referring to using brett, BUT I'm all for experimentation so I might go with a porter also. An APA might be lost on brett since you'd likely want to get it to tap/serving sooner than later.

What ever you decide on, keep us posted. It's always fun to hear other peoples experiences and outcomes.

I'm debating between a Saison or APA. I'm also thinking of possibly pitching Brett BT and then possibly a different strain for secondary fermentation. The idea being the Brett B highlights its fruity esters and then the secondary strain brings that farm house funk to it.

 

[srob18]

Brewing with Brett can span a wide range of styles, just like brewing with Sacc. What kind of contributions are looking to get?

I'm thinking Saison or APA and i want it to be funky and fruity. So possibly pitching brett bruxellensis trois for primary then maybe switching to a funkier secondary Brett yeast(which hopefully wouldn't kill all the contributions from the first strain in primary fermentation).

 

[srob18]

I love the Brett L IPA, really fruity but different. Hard to describe. All that to say that an APA is totally a great idea.

I had a Brett APA from a nearby local brewery, same thing, hard to describe but fruity and kick ass. It made me want to make a beer with that yeast

 

[srob18]

That beer I brewer took about a month to go from grain to glass, and if I wasnt so lazy it could have been less.

If you want a true brett and cant get any of the ecy strains, then I would reccomend wy5526 it is quite pleasent.

did you use WY5526 as your primary yeast in this above beer? Also, any hidden flavors that it brought out that you weren't expecting(in either a good or bad way?).

 

[masonsjax]

I can recommend the Yeast Bay Saison Brett blend. I've been using it a lot lately. It's a really good blend of mild spice, over-ripe fruit, and light earthy funk. It dries out a lot over about 5 or 6 months, but I prefer the flavor from batches I've kegged after 2 or 3 months. To compensate for the lower attenuation on these younger beers, mash low (I've been doing 148F), and be sure to use simple sugars in place of some of the base malt.

 

[mnick12]

did you use WY5526 as your primary yeast in this above beer? Also, any hidden flavors that it brought out that you weren't expecting(in either a good or bad way?).

I used a single colony isolate grown up from a bottle of ecy19 which is brett custersianus.

I have used 5526 in the past and it is really quite nice. I would say it is cherry like in aroma and flavor, but not too funky. Its different enough that you know it isn't regualr sach, but it is not too weird.

 

[srob18]

Thanks everyone for the help, i'll provide some updates when i brew this next batch up and let you all know what I went with