all brett; crazy fermentation activity

Brewed my first 100% brett beer yesterday (pale). Wlp645.

I pitched the yeast slightly more than 24 hours ago and am getting a ridiculous amount of activity. Somewhat comparable to the San Diego Super I used a couple of months ago.

I remember reading that brett is a 'slow mover', multiple times. Is the activity going to slow down pretty quickly, or keep pushing bubbles out the air lock like the San Diego Super mentioned above?

I think the 'slow moving' term is what's confusing me; is it because its the only/primary yeast? I put an airlock on it and I came home to it pushing foam out the top and all over the floor. A nice problem to have, I suppose.

 

It's probably contaminated with Sacch. Brett is most definitely a slow mover. 24-72 hour lags are normal and even when activity is at its peak with a 100% Brett fermentation, it's never nearly as vigorous as a Sacch fermentation.

 

You think so? Ive never had a contaminated/infected batch, so id like to think my sanitary regimen is half way decent. Where do you think the sacch could have come from? I was under the impression that wlp645 was all brett..?

I did make a starter a little more than 3 weeks in advance and I believe I stepped it up around the 1.5-2 week mark, ill have to check my notes. Do you think if I had an appropriate pitch rate, it could help helped with the accelerated activity?


with that said, I put an air lock on it and its still bubbling away (every 5-8 seconds). I know it's not a good indicator for fermentation activity, but i can still clearly see activity in the carboy. I plan to take a gravity sample tonight. I'll report back with some numbers.

 

White labs has been suffering with contamination issues with sacch yeast in their vials. So there's a decent chance that there's brewer's yeast in their lacto and Brett vials. My understanding is that this is one of the big reasons they have moved towards their pure pitch packaging, as the contamination was being introduced on their packaging line.

 

Damn! That is a bummer. Thank you for the info though.

Did a gravity/ taste check a couple of days ago. It was still fermenting at 1.015 (OG is 1.058).

Lots of belgian taste. More than the saison I brewed a couple of weeks ago, none of the fruity-ness I've read about. Although, I think it's a bit too early. Going to let it finish and then split 4 ways and dry hop with 4 different hops!

 

I dunno about the whole if its vigorous, there must be some sacch in there. Here's the last all-brett IPA I made. Starters went through the roof. Definitely only has brett in the final beer
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=569834

 

I dunno, in these matters I tend to believe the guy that owns the yeast company.

 

a quick taste of a sample should give a pretty good indication of whether you inadvertently made a mixed fermentation
bracing tartness = brett & sacch
very fruity = brett

 

Brett and Sacch does not make for bracing tartness. If you have bracing tartness, that is an indication of an LAB being present. Brett can produce acetic acid, but it takes a lot of oxygen to do so and if you're introducing that much oxygen regularly into your fermenting wort, you'll have other problems (i.e., oxidized beer).

100% Brett beers tend to be phenolic in a medicinal/bandaid sort of way as well as fruity, in an overripe fruit sort of way.

 

Well, it's been a week since the last gravity sample (1.015), sample I took was 1.012. Activity is slow, but there is still some.

I am still getting a crazy belgian taste from it. Nothing like what I read.. hoping it goes well with the dry hopping xbeeriment I have planned for it..

 

Read in American Sours that the Belgians add Sacc at about the point you're at to get the beer down quicker and have a clear flavour

 

Sorry if I'm going off topic slightly... I tried a fantastic beer from Quebec recently called Derniere Volonte, fermented with Belgian yeast and then "refermented with brett". It's a fantastic beer and I need to try brewing something similar. I appreciate if someone can point me towards some of the better brewing with brett threads.