Search results

Autolysis is certainly starting by 6 months. Yeast cells die at a rate of approximately 25% a month even under ideal conditions (commercial yeast culture in the fridge), so it'd likely be even quicker for a sour beer. However, I'd guess they'd be some Sacch still alive until maybe a year or so?

Autolysis releases sugars and fatty acids, not phenols. You’ll get capr- variants, while will be turned into fruity esters by the Brett… eventually. Sucking some yeast up will lend a little of this character, but not nearly as much as sitting on the entire yeast cake. However, at 6 months some...

I rack most of my sours after 2-3 weeks, when the Saccharomyces settles down. Using a reasonably fresh yeast cake like that there is no reason to pitch more brewer's yeast. Not a bad idea to augment with additional brewer's yeast if you are using an older yeast cake. Pitching everything...

No major drawbacks I can think of. I mention in the book the Remi Bonnart - NHC Brewer of the Year winner for a Flemish Red takes that approach for his sours. Trillium Brewing is doing that for their sours as well. As long as the Brett is alive it will continue scavenging oxygen and develop...

Why wait? Get a batch going now, and another one once you finish reading the book!

Cheers! If you made it through Chapter 4, the rest is less technical and more fun to read (well write anyway).

Glad to hear! I've been floored by the response. So far it’s got 26 reviews on Amazon, 25 are 5-Star. The only one lower is 4-stars, starts “Great book,” and doesn’t contain any complaints. Almost enough to convince me to write another one, maybe in 10 years or so.

For my most recent "lambic" I allowed about 24 hours of open cooling in the kettle before transferring to a carboy and pitching a starter built-up from a few choice bottles of 3F gueuze. It was very sulfur-diaper young, but turned out beautifully with two years of aging. Brett can turn many...

I'm sure that Brett produces alcohols other than ethanol. It may be that some strains produce fewer fusels than certain Sacch strains at a given temperature. Brett does have a tendency to clean up fermentation by brewer’s yeast to a certain extent. It may be producing esters with some of...

I've never found re-yeasting to be necessary with 12-18 month old sour beer. Give it a few more weeks, then take a taste and check the gravity. The fermentation isn't going to look particularly vigorous.

There is no issue getting funk in a mixed-fermented cider. The Brett really doesn't require complex carbohydrates to do its thing. Not saying a 100% Brett cider isn't a great idea, it just doesn't address the acidity issue (if a sour cider is your goal).

Any results from the Oud Bruin Blend yet? Sunday I brewed five gallons of 1.055 stout-ish beer with it. My first extract (rye LME and wheat DME) sour, steeping some dark grains (roasted barley and chocolate rye) and crystal malts (CaraMunich and Special B). Took 24 hours to see any activity...

Certainly one option. Alternatively you could pitch Lacto first to get the pH down, then follow it up with Saccharomyces. Haven't tried either... yet.

Cider doesn't have many complex carbohydrates, so not much for the bugs after the primary fermentation. Brett will add some funk, but you won't get much acidity. Just talked to the good people at http://cidercraftmag.com/ Friday for a story on weird homebrewed ciders (ice cider, funky cider...

Agreed, and if your goal is to keep your beer 100% Acetobacter free, adding dregs from 10 different barrel aged sour beers isn't a good way to go about that anyway. I used to add dregs more frequently. These days I tend to add a couple bottles-worth early on, and only add more if I have a...

Why not both? I've brewed and tasted some delicious wine-sour-beer hybrids! I've got a funky saison on tap now with loads of New Zealand hops, plus a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc wine from Marlborough.

Not crazy, but I'm not aware of any possible candidates.

Here is the quote from Vinnie's slides from his NHC presentation on sour beers: "Lacto is lighter on the palate and is more tart and tangy than sourness derived from Pediococcus." Wouldn't Brett softening the acidity mean that Pedio-driven beers would be mellower as beers with Pedio are more...

A lower starting pH does mute the production of some esters according to Chad Y's research. Also drinking the beer young and loaded up with hops will obscure some of the varietal Brett character. However, there will always be some differences based on strain!

Brett does great in bottles with very little oxygen (think Orval). So many more beers are ruined by too much oxygen than too little. Oyxygen allows Brett to generate more energy from carbohydrates, but to produce acetic acid instead of ethanol. A little acetic acid (or the ester Brett creates...