Using my beer gun for a brett beer and sac beers. How possible is it?

[tyrub42]

Hi,

I have a brett beer that has been aging for 4 months and I plan on bottling it in around 6-8 weeks (not a big rush, so I'm just going by whenever samples come out with the same gravity). I had originally planned on using an old bottling wand, but I would rather be able to purge bottles and fill with my beer gun, as I've heard that brett can get gross when exposed to oxygen. I had originally assumed that was a bad move, but upon speaking with some friends, was reminded that it would be very easy to sterilize the metal parts of the beer gun by boiling and/or baking them without hurting the stainless steel at all. I thought I was in the clear, but then remembered the rubber piece in the front of the gun (the stopper). I'm in Taiwan, so there's no way to get a new piece, and my family is in NY, so there is no way I'm asking anyone to do anything except stay inside and wash their hands right now, so I wanted to ask what you think about using the regular rubber tip and then just giving it like 5 pbw soaks or something afterwards. I don't think it's safe to boil it, but I'll email Blichmann about it just to be sure. So here are my main questions.

-As long as I boil the metal tubes from the beer gun or bake them in the oven to sterilize, do you agree that should kill any stray brett cells that hang on after the initial PBW soak? If so, which do you prefer?

-Do you think it would be safe to use the rubber tip of the beer gun on one batch of brett beer if I clean/sanitize it multiple times afterwards?

Thanks! I know the general advice is to have separate everything, but I'm not able to buy a new beer gun just for this. I do have seperate tubing, fermenter, and will bottle from my boil pot instead of my usual bottling bucket, but wondering what your input is for the beer gun.

 

[tyrub42]

Sorry about the typo in the threat title!

Edit: fixed title but can't delete this message

 

[radwizard]

I use my beer gun on both Wild and Clean beers. I never did have a problem with it, and do it fairly often for the last several years. I was also worried about that black piece on the tip, I boiled it initially, but eventually just cleaned it really well and sanitized.

I don't really get what you are doing with the boil pot though. Are you just trying to use the beer gun for purging the bottles?
If you are going to use the Boil pot as a bottling bucket, I wouldn't worry about purging the bottles and just use a bottling wand.

 

[tyrub42]

I use my beer gun on both Wild and Clean beers. I never did have a problem with it, and do it fairly often for the last several years. I was also worried about that black piece on the tip, I boiled it initially, but eventually just cleaned it really well and sanitized.

I don't really get what you are doing with the boil pot though. Are you just trying to use the beer gun for purging the bottles?
If you are going to use the Boil pot as a bottling bucket, I wouldn't worry about purging the bottles and just use a bottling wand.

Oh awesome, thanks! That's good to know. Also good to know I can boil the rubber piece safely without harming it. Sound like a plan, then

Also, yeah the boil pot has a spigot on it, so I'm using it instead of my regular bottling bucket.

I am bottle conditioning this, and I bottle condition all of my beers, but I'm not sure if the Oxygen would be detrimental to the brett character, especially since it'll be in these bottles for probably 2 years before I finish them.

FWIW when bottle conditioning hoppy beers, purging the bottles makes a night-and-day difference. I used to think it didn't matter but it matters so much. Hop aroma, shelf life, color, everything is totally different when purging bottles. This is my first brett beer, so I have no experience to go off of; I just heard that brett can get very gross very quickly with too much oxygen around, so if possible I want to play it safe.

Thanks a lot

 

[RPh_Guy]

Ideally you'll want to add fresh Saccharomyces from an acid shock starter when bottling.
Otherwise yes, excessive oxygen exposure can cause THP, acetic acid, or oxidation of the malt. The Brett flavor doesn't really oxidize though.

 

[tyrub42]

Ideally you'll want to add fresh Saccharomyces from an acid shock starter when bottling.
Otherwise yes, excessive oxygen exposure can cause THP, acetic acid, or oxidation of the malt. The Brett flavor doesn't really oxidize though.

Could you explain a bit more about the acid shock starter? I was planning to add some t58 at bottling, but just rehydrated.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

AFAIK there's no need for an acid shock starter for bottling a brett beer unless there are souring microbes as well. If it's just Brett, or Sacch + Brett, a little bit of rehydrated yeast at bottling as you're planning should be good enough. FWIW, I've bottled a few brett (not sour) beers without adding yeast at bottling and they turned out well.

 

[RPh_Guy]

AFAIK there's no need for an acid shock starter for bottling a brett beer unless there are souring microbes as well. If it's just Brett, or Sacch + Brett, a little bit of rehydrated yeast at bottling as you're planning should be good enough. FWIW, I've bottled a few brett (not sour) beers without adding yeast at bottling and they turned out well.

Brett by itself can definitely make a THP bomb, so I recommend caution.

Could you explain a bit more about the acid shock starter? I was planning to add some t58 at bottling, but just rehydrated.

I guess since isn't sour I would recommend making a small starter 6-12 hours beforehand and pitch it at high kraüsen when bottling.

Also in my experience Brett cross-contamination isn't a concern of you have a good cleaning process. YMMV.

 

[tyrub42]

Awesome, thanks so much guys!

BTW in your experience, how long is it usually before brett beers get a healthy amount of funk? This one is 4 months old, so I wasn't surprised to taste very little of it now, but hoping that by the 6-8 month mark it starts funking up nicely. Summer in my apartment is very hot (probably 85-90 ambient in my apartment), so it'll likely accelerate from next month. It's Brett Brux secondary on top of a t58 primary fermentation in this beer if that helps.

 

[RPh_Guy]

BTW in your experience, how long is it usually before brett beers get a healthy amount of funk? This one is 4 months old, so I wasn't surprised to taste very little of it now, but hoping that by the 6-8 month mark it starts funking up nicely.

Several months with a traditional pitch. What type of fermenter did you use?

 

[tyrub42]

Several months with a traditional pitch. What type of fermenter did you use?

30-liter PET, flat bottom, with a screw top and an airlock. Wort was about 1.055, then fermented with t58. Pitched the brett at t58 FG, about 1.012. last week it was down to 1.004 but only been 4 months so far (actually more like 3 1/2).

 

[RPh_Guy]

It should be pretty flavorful from the Brett at this point. Maybe the strain you used just doesn't provide the particular flavor you expected.

 

[tyrub42]

It should be pretty flavorful from the Brett at this point. Maybe the strain you used just doesn't provide the particular flavor you expected.

It was all brett brux in secondary, so I'm hoping for some of that Orval-style funk, although I don't usually like Orval the most until it's a year or two old at least, so that's probably a good indication of when I should expect to be satisfied with this. In the meantime I'll bottle in another month or two and then let the bottles sit ambient for the summer (don't really have much choice on that part, but hopefully the high temps are alright).

 

[RPh_Guy]

It was all brett brux in secondary

The vast majority of commercially-available Brett species are bruxellensis (and presumably also in dregs). There's a huge variety among strains.

 

[tyrub42]

The vast majority of commercially-available Brett species are bruxellensis (and presumably also in dregs). There's a huge variety among strains.

Ah ok, didn't realize that. This was propped up my a buddy, so I'm not sure which strain it is. He did do a bretted saison with the same strain a few years ago that came out with a perfect brett funk, but he said it didn't really develop in his until about the 1-year mark.

Thanks for the info; sorry about the newbie mistake