One hundred percent brett c

[divrack]

Made a pure brett c (wlp 648)beer just because I could, without thinking much about it. It's a fairly pale recipe with a bunch of unmalted wheat and some rye. It's been chugging away for a few weeks and the gravity is about.02 or thereabouts and primary seems to have stopped. I assume it'll keep chewing away until it's down a good bit further? Obviously it's way too sweet now for anything.

No pellicle yet, but smells amazing.

Anyway I'd just like to hear from anyone that's done a hundred percent Brett c and what happened.
The only person I've heard doing it mentioned needing to keep it at 80. Mines been probably closer to 70 the whole time as I was doing a standard pale at the same time.
Should I ramp up the heat do you think?

 

[BrewSomeMore]

No, just let it go for a couple months as complexity will build. Pellicle may or may not form it depends how much O2 is in the headspace. Be patient!

 

[divrack]

No, just let it go for a couple months as complexity will build. Pellicle may or may not form it depends how much O2 is in the headspace. Be patient!

i imagine its pretty much full with o2 now as ive been opening it to take gravity. i could blast a bit of co2 in there if you think its worth it?
i was vaguely planning on putting some port soaked oak chips in it as the aroma seems complementary but tasting the sample and its currently got a really light fruity and slightly tart flavour. now thinking maybe some fruity dry hop additions and leave it at that. hopefully some of the more buttery and leathery notes will mellow as it cleans up.

 

[BrewSomeMore]

It's ok, some micro-oxygenation is beneficial. Don't want to open too much. Wait until you are ready to bottle/keg if you want to dry hop. Aroma won't last if secondarying for awhile.

 

[oli-aus]

If it's 100% Brett it should attenuate as much as it's going to in a month. They seem to finish at .01 ish but I'm sure it could be higher.
It's completely different when Sach isn't involved, they don't get near as dry.

 

[jfolks]

If it's 100% Brett it should attenuate as much as it's going to in a month. They seem to finish at .01 ish but I'm sure it could be higher.
It's completely different when Sach isn't involved, they don't get near as dry.

What oli-aus said.

I'm assuming you pitched one vial (no starter) into 5 gal of 1.050-1.060 wort? If so, you might very well be about as low as you're gonna go, since those white labs brett tubes only have 2 billion cells.

 

[divrack]

What oli-aus said.

I'm assuming you pitched one vial (no starter) into 5 gal of 1.050-1.060 wort? If so, you might very well be about as low as you're gonna go, since those white labs brett tubes only have 2 billion cells.

No i made a stepped 1.5 ltr starter. its down to about .01 now actually. smells amazing mouthfeel is a little thick and buttery however.. not tasting of butter but like over dextriny or something. im sure itll clean up though with time. right now it smells like itd go great with some heavy oaky port chips added but the taste is surprisingly light and zesty like it wants some galaxy hops added or something. i hardly added any bittering hops however, think it was about 5 ibus, which i heard is a threshold for the way the yeast works..

 

[specharka]

No i made a stepped 1.5 ltr starter. its down to about .01 now actually. smells amazing mouthfeel is a little thick and buttery however.. not tasting of butter but like over dextriny or something. im sure itll clean up though with time. right now it smells like itd go great with some heavy oaky port chips added but the taste is surprisingly light and zesty like it wants some galaxy hops added or something. i hardly added any bittering hops however, think it was about 5 ibus, which i heard is a threshold for the way the yeast works..

Brettanomyces is quite tolerant of hops...it's lactic acid bacteria that is intolerant. I usually shoot for 25-30 IBU to provide some complexity while the Brett goes to work.

Just so you know, Brett C is not a very aggressive strain on its own, and will struggle to ferment some sugars. My 100% Brett beers finish 3-5 points higher than strains blended with Saccharomyces.