100% Brett IPA

[AZCoolerBrewer]

At Brewers Bowl here is Scottsdale AZ 4 years ago I had a 100% Brett beer made by Dubina Brewery. I loved that beer and have wanted to make a Brett beer ever since. I have been scared off though because I am afraid that it will contaminate my equipment. Also it seems like Brett plays by different rules. Of the three strains commonly available that I’ve read about , I guess that I would go with the one that is least offensive. The description of what that Brett species tastes like is very much like what I tasted from Dubina. The thing that has kind of tipped me over the edge in wanting to try an all Brett beer is the Neomexicanus hop that I got from Yakima. The descriptions of the hop seem like it would be a great pair with an all Brett beer. Maybe I’m romanticizing this whole thing and an all Brett IPA with Sabro hops is just a recipe for disaster, but I’m sure that I’m not the first to tread these waters. Anyone? Bueller, Bueller, Fry?

 

[brownni5]

A couple things to remember with Brett:

1. It behaves very differently when it is the primary fermenter. When coupled with Saccharomyces it tends to get wild, but by itself, it's typically fruitier. You're unlikely to get horsey flavors if fermented alone. There will be variation though - see #2.

2. Brett is no different from Sacch in that different strains produce different flavors and other characteristics, even within species. Which strain you get will differ among companies.

3. Large pitch rates are necessary. Along the lines of lager rates.

4. You should be cautious, but not worry about cross-contamination. Brett is yeast - it's not that hard to kill.

I don't know anything about those hops though, so give it a try!

 

[isomerization]

One thing I will add is that Brett typically doesn’t like the starter to be cold crashed. Performance will suffer (experiences first hand and have read online)

 

[fourfarthing]

Look in the recipe section for Wild Fellers (I think under sours) Brett IPA. Its awesome.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Great advice guys!

Brett is a little slower. Allow a week for the starter and a few weeks for fermentation.

 

[Calder]

Don't be afraid of using Brett, no need for different equipment. Just make sure you properly sanitize equipment after use.

Brett as a primary yeast provides lots of flavors. It likes to be fermented hot (80 F + would be ideal). Recommended high pitch rates.

I have a starter going of some Brett I grew from a Bruery beer that I plan to use next week. I am not doing anything different than I would do for any other yeast, but I do plan to step the starter up one more time than I would for regular sacc.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Don't be afraid of using Brett, no need for different equipment. Just make sure you properly sanitize equipment after use.

Brett as a primary yeast provides lots of flavors. It likes to be fermented hot (80 F + would be ideal). Recommended high pitch rates.

I have a starter going of some Brett I grew from a Bruery beer that I plan to use next week. I am not doing anything different than I would do for any other yeast, but I do plan to step the starter up one more time than I would for regular sacc.

My house in the summer is 78 degrees, so that might work well for a Brett beer. I think that I will at least do dedicated blow off tubes. The other thing is that I’ve never done starters since I’m a small batch brewer. I might consider doing one in this case.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Just like Sacc, not all Brett strains are the same. Some will definitely give off-flavors fermented hot.

 

[Miraculix]

How is the flocculation of brett strains?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I always see Brett strains listed as low flocculation.

I don't use Brett by itself, so I can't speak from experience.

 

[plazola86]

I've made a couple all brett beers. Different bretts give off different flavor, just like different yeast. I'm not a fan of farmhouse/funky style bretts. I prefer omegas where da funk or bootleg biology's funk weapon #2. A large starter is recommended to get fermentation started faster BUT NOT necessary. Under pitching even helps stressing it out a bit to create more esters. Brett is a slow starter BUT will keep eating so give it plenty of time in the primary. Mash high to get long chain sugars in there.

 

[isomerization]

I've made a couple all brett beers. Different bretts give off different flavor, just like different yeast. I'm not a fan of farmhouse/funky style bretts. I prefer omegas where da funk or bootleg biology's funk weapon #2. A large starter is recommended to get fermentation started faster BUT NOT necessary. Under pitching even helps stressing it out a bit to create more esters. Brett is a slow starter BUT will keep eating so give it plenty of time in the primary. Mash high to get long chain sugars in there.

Are you gaining more character by mashing high? I’m assuming the Brett will breakdown these longer chain sugars, but maybe not if it’s 100% Brett?

 

[plazola86]

Are you gaining more character by mashing high? I’m assuming the Brett will breakdown these longer chain sugars, but maybe not if it’s 100% Brett?

Mash high to create longer chain sugars. Yes the Brett can/will eventually break them down but it will go through the simply sugar first then slow down, cold conditioning all but kills the brett. You should have no gravity movement if you keep it cold or just drink it in a reasonable amount of time. First all Brett IPA I used funk weapon #2 , no starter mashed at 156. Gravity was at 1.016 after 3 weeks. Last all Brett IPA I made used where the funk, made a starter mashed at 148 final gravity was at 1.005 after a week!

 

[isomerization]

Mash high to create longer chain sugars. Yes the Brett can/will eventually break them down but it will go through the simply sugar first then slow down, cold conditioning all but kills the brett. You should have no gravity movement if you keep it cold or just drink it in a reasonable amount of time. First all Brett IPA I used funk weapon #2 , no starter mashed at 156. Gravity was at 1.016 after 3 weeks. Last all Brett IPA I made used where the funk, made a starter mashed at 148 final gravity was at 1.005 after a week!

Gotcha, didn’t realize you were “stopping” fermentation. The real question is, did you not like the 148F mash beer? If so, too dry?

 

[plazola86]

Gotcha, didn’t realize you were “stopping” fermentation. The real question is, did you not like the 148F mash beer? If so, too dry?

It wasn't bad in any (no odd flavors) way but yeah it was a little to dry even for me. I like my IPAs crispy at around 1.010 but this one was over 9% ABV and had not body. It literally just washed down your throat. It was on brut IPA level of dry to me, again not bad just not what I was going for.

 

[isomerization]

It wasn't bad in any (no odd flavors) way but yeah it was a little to dry even for me. I like my IPAs crispy at around 1.010 but this one was over 9% ABV and had not body. It literally just washed down your throat. It was on brut IPA level of dry to me, again not bad just not what I was going for.

Cool, thanks for sharing the observations. I’m wondering if you had scaled down IBUs if it would have been more enjoyable. I’ve had some terrible BRUT IPA that was clearly bittered at regular IPA level.

 

[couchsending]

I’d highly recommend the Brett strains that the Yeast Bay offers, specifically TYB-184 and TYB-207. Keep in mind that Brett doesn’t produce Glycerol so to me “Brett Only” beers tend to have a totally different texture regardless of gravity.

Brett grows slowly. Like someone said give the starter at least a week and aim high for pitch rates. I personally don’t like fermenting Brett super hot, mid to upper 70s is the sweet spot for me.

 

[Calder]

In my experience there is lots of wrong information here. Brett likes high temps to ferment; depending on what you classify as off -flavors, it may give some, but there certainly will not be any funky or barnyard flavors in a 100% brett beer. Brett only gives them when used as a secondary strain. I find the flavors are mostly fruity.

Do not mash high to get longer sugar strains. A 100% Brett beer will not break them down; again, that is the product of using Brett as a secondary strain and the stress of anaerobic growth. Mash low or you will have a high FG and a sweet tasting beer.

Yes you want to pitch at a high rate. If you don't use Starters, you could make a small beer to start with and then pitch the bigger beer (larger volume or higher gravity) on the cake. It also likes lots of aeration at the start. I usually aerate a second time about 12 hours after pitching.

I made a couple of dozen 100% brett beers and never had 'funky' flavors. I've used White Labs Brett-B and Brett C, and 3 different Bretts harvested from commercial (100% - Brett) beers. I had problems with the White Labs Brett-B in getting decent attenuation. I ended up pitching a secondary sacc yeast in a couple of the beers to get the gravity down.

 

[fourfarthing]

I agree that you don’t get funk from 100% Brett fermentation. Just awesomeness and juice.

OP just do it. F up something. Learn. Do it again. Have fun.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

In my experience there is lots of wrong information here. Brett likes high temps to ferment; depending on what you classify as off -flavors, it may give some, but there certainly will not be any funky or barnyard flavors in a 100% brett beer. Brett only gives them when used as a secondary strain. I find the flavors are mostly fruity.

Do not mash high to get longer sugar strains. A 100% Brett beer will not break them down; again, that is the product of using Brett as a secondary strain and the stress of anaerobic growth. Mash low or you will have a high FG and a sweet tasting beer.

Yes you want to pitch at a high rate. If you don't use Starters, you could make a small beer to start with and then pitch the bigger beer (larger volume or higher gravity) on the cake. It also likes lots of aeration at the start. I usually aerate a second time about 12 hours after pitching.

I made a couple of dozen 100% brett beers and never had 'funky' flavors. I've used White Labs Brett-B and Brett C, and 3 different Bretts harvested from commercial (100% - Brett) beers. I had problems with the White Labs Brett-B in getting decent attenuation. I ended up pitching a secondary sacc yeast in a couple of the beers to get the gravity down.

This is really good information. Thanks for posting. It gives me some confidence going in. If/when I do this, I think I can ferment it at room temperature. My house in the summer is 78 degrees. My batch size is 1.75 gallons packaged so I rarely worry about pitch rate. I enjoy big bold flavors in my beer and the fruity esters combined with this Sabro hop sounds really fun to me. Is Brett sensitive to hops like some other bugs or since it’s a yeast will aggressive dry hopping be ok? Also I was thinking of using a coffee filter rubber banded over my fermentor to allow “open” fermentation durning high krausen to allow more aeration during that stage, then changing to an airlock after it settles down. The problem I see with that is that my Sach fermentation’s almost always have a healthy blow-off. Does Brett have a lower krausen and therefore I could employ “open” fermentation during the active phase?

 

[fourfarthing]

I wouldn't be able to speak to open fermentation, but Brett is not bacteria (aka lacto) and will be just fine with hops.