Allagash Brett Strain

[ChugachBrewing]

They do not provide samples of their house yeast, it is the one strict rule they have. Top secret on all accounts. A cultured sample from Midnight Brett would be a blend of house and (hopefully) brett. I'm happy to share the one I've been culturing.

 

[ahpsp]

I'd share, too. It's a solid culture and has fermented out a beer (very low OG, so no worries) so one or the other of the Sacc or Brett is active. I'm using some for a secondary ferment right now, but no notes on that. PM me.

 

[TAK]

I was searching for some info on this yeast, and stumbled across this thread. Given that we're talking about Brett here, it seems appropriate to bring this thread back from the grave. Since 2014, have any of you gotten anything interesting from these dregs over the long term?

It sounds like there's house Sacc and likely rogue Brett. It also sounds like everyone who's cultured the dregs are reporting that it attenuates strongly, but is relatively bland. Has anyone maintained these cultures? Or has anyone stepped up cultures from old bottles, when the Brett has a better likelihood to be the more viable microbe over the Sacc?

I'd picked up some bottles of the 2015 Golden Brett and Midnight Brett while I was recently out in Maine, and I cultured up the dregs from one bottle of the Golden. I cultured about 100ml of dregs in 250ml of about 1.025 starter wort. I stepped it up to about 1250 ml a few weeks ago. It smelled good when I stepped it up, but I haven't smelled or tasted it since. So, I wonder if the quart of starter beer I have is interesting or not. I might have to taste it and see if it's worth refeeding or not.

 

[m00se]

I like their Brett strain since it tends to be on the fruitier side. I use it in a house Brett culture that I've propagated from any 100% Brett beer or Brett saison that was on the fruitier side. It's mostly drie, brett c, and allagash dregs. My house culture does well on 100% ferments and secondary. It pairs especially well with dry hops.

 

[Brewddah]

Maybe I have something to contribute here.

I recently isolated/cultured yeast from the dregs of Allagash Interlude. It is fermented with sacc and brett, and bottle conditioned. There were two distinct strains on the plate I made. One had perfect round shapes, and the other was more globular. Looked at both under a microscope, and the more globular colony resembled images of brett I looked up online. The cells were ovoid, but more elongated than the spherical shaped colony. The globular colony also formed pseudo-hyphae much more than the other colony. I also believe it to be brett since it took several days to appear on the plate. It is definitely yeast and not bacteria.

I cultured it up to a 2L starter and have since pitched it into a 5 gal batch. Again, there was some significant lag time. I know this is purely anecdotal, but the starter really smelled like interlude. Fruity, funky, and barnyard like.

Maybe I haven't actually captured THE Allagash brett strain, but we'll see. I can post updates if anyone is curious. Hopefully it forms a pellicle and the evidence will be clear.

After the initial plating of the bottle dregs, I replated the globular colony. This is that plate:

 

[TAK]

Maybe I have something to contribute here.

I recently isolated/cultured yeast from the dregs of Allagash Interlude. It is fermented with sacc and brett, and bottle conditioned. There were two distinct strains on the plate I made. One had perfect round shapes, and the other was more globular. Looked at both under a microscope, and the more globular colony resembled images of brett I looked up online. The cells were ovoid, but more elongated than the spherical shaped colony. The globular colony also formed pseudo-hyphae much more than the other colony. I also believe it to be brett since it took several days to appear on the plate. It is definitely yeast and not bacteria.

I cultured it up to a 2L starter and have since pitched it into a 5 gal batch. Again, there was some significant lag time. I know this is purely anecdotal, but the starter really smelled like interlude. Fruity, funky, and barnyard like.

Maybe I haven't actually captured THE Allagash brett strain, but we'll see. I can post updates if anyone is curious. Hopefully it forms a pellicle and the evidence will be clear.

I'd definitely be interested in hearing how that culture works out for you. I have a little bug farm I've wrangled up, and I'm hoping I can add this to my list. Just not sure if what I have will be a viable way to use it.

I was wondering to myself if plating is the only good way to get something usable from the dregs. What I have may have some Brett, but it definitely has Sacc, so as I step it up and feed it, I'm just growing Sacc too.

I've thought about getting into plating and slanting. Maybe this will give me a reason to.

 

[Brewddah]

I think plating the dregs is the way to go. It's better to know exactly what you're working with, in my opinion.

 

[Brewddah]

Update: I emailed Allagash and asked what yeasts Interlude is bottle conditioned with. They actually responded, and it is indeed bottle conditioned with the yeasts it was fermented with. So, there's brett available in that one! I'm excited to see how this brew turns out.

 

[Brewddah]

Update #2: Tasted some after 1 month of fermentation. It is very graham crackery, with some barnyard funk and mild sourness. It needs more time, but it's definitely brett!

 

[TAK]

The stuff I cultured from the Golden Brett is now starting to show a bit if a pellicle. So, there must at least be some Brett in there.

 

[MeanDeuce]

I threw some Tiarna into a BDSA on blackberries and its been slowly fermenting. No funky pellicles yet, so maybe just the champagne yeast working on the fruit.

 

[Brewddah]

According to their website, that beer also has two sacc strains in it. Could be that too. Also, sometimes it takes brett a while to make a pellicle. I've also heard from others on HBT observing no pellicle from brett in some cases. I wouldn't give up hope yet.

 

[Brewddah]

Maybe I have a pellicle here? If it is, it isn't much of one. Yet.

 

[troglodytes]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead instead of starting a new thread; hope now one minds.

I've currently got the dregs of one bottle of Allagash Hive 56 and one bottle Coolship Red in with about 200 mL of 1.015 wort. I see activity after a loooong lag period. Was going to pitch into a mixed fermentation, but now I'm wondering if the Coolship actually has the lacto I want or is it really only going to be brett and sacch in that bottle. Anyone have experience with these Allagash brews?

 

[Brewddah]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead instead of starting a new thread; hope now one minds.

I've currently got the dregs of one bottle of Allagash Hive 56 and one bottle Coolship Red in with about 200 mL of 1.015 wort. I see activity after a loooong lag period. Was going to pitch into a mixed fermentation, but now I'm wondering if the Coolship actually has the lacto I want or is it really only going to be brett and sacch in that bottle. Anyone have experience with these Allagash brews?

I think Coolship definitely has lacto. I think it's too sour to just have sacc and brett in it. The brett strain is laggy for sure. I didn't see activity with it for a few days after pitching their brett. That was in a 100% brett beer, and I had made a starter from a plate with multiple step-ups.

 

[couchsending]

If you want Allagash’s Brett strain I believe it’s TYB207.

Anyone have any experience with this Brett in secondary. Did a clean ferment with Imperial Rustic that I mashed high and short. Finished at 1.012 and split that batch into two carboys. One got TYB184 (I believe HF) the other got TYB207 (I believe is Allagash). Both have fermented down to around 1.006 after a month and the 184 has already added a lot of character. The 207 not so much. I’m going to leave them for two more months regardless.

 

[Brewddah]

Interesting! I'll have to give that strain a try. I thought I remembered resding that Allagash isolated their Brett strain in the brewery, like it was a contaminant that proved to be useful. Can't remember where I heard that...might have been in the "American Sour Beers" book. I'll do some searching. It would be great though if I could just buy that type of Brett rather than deal with plating it from bottles.

 

[couchsending]

In American Sour Beer's the brewers at Allagash say their strain has a "fruit tarts" ester profile. If you read the description of TYB207 among other hints it also states that the yeast produces an ester profile similar to "sweet tarts"... Doubt that's much of a coincidence, never know i guess.

 

[troglodytes]

Well, we'll see how it goes. I've made a mini starter from both the Hive 56 and the Coolship and will be pitching warm with 3711 in a light farmhouse ale (0 IBU). Excited to see what becomes of it.

 

[Brewddah]

I'm going to give TYB207 a try. The recommended fermentation temperature on the website is 70-82F. Any insight on this range, if it's accurate? I want to make a Little Brett "clone" of sorts this weekend.

 

[Brewddah]

I am a little concerned though...it arrived looking like this:

I'm used to yeast being a little less dark...think it's okay? There's no MFG date, just an expiration date of 4/22/18. I'm going to make a starter, hopefully it takes off.

 

[troglodytes]

I could be wrong, but I have heard that the brett and lacto blends only contain 1/40 the cell count as the sacch. I think you're fine and the cells are just in suspension. For a Little Brett style beer I would ferment first then just pitch this as is, not worrying about a starter.

The lat brett farmhouse ale I made, I pitched what I estimate to be about 2B cells into a finished farmhouse that was sitting at 1.010, and it took it down to 1.004 over the course of 6 months with a strong brett character.

 

[Brewddah]

Little Brett is a 100% brett beer though, so I wouldn't be pitching any additional yeast.

 

[troglodytes]

Oh wow, completely disregard what I said, then. I had no idea. Yeah, definitely make a starter.

 

[cegan09]

A few points:

Any coolship will not be their house strain. The coolship beers are left exposed to the air while they cool and then ferment off whatever lands in them while cooling down. I don't know for sure if they add anything to ensure carbing up, but you'd have a mix either way.

For their sacc beers, all are bottle conditioned with a specific bottle conditioning yeast, not their house strain. White is the only beer that goes out without this bottle condition strain. If they say they are using a sacc strain to bottle condition the brett fermented beers then it is very likely this secondary strain, not the main house strain, that they are using.

 

[troglodytes]

For the coolship, that is what I was hoping for. I wanted the microbes for a mixed fermentation, and some additional brett from the hive 56. My sacch is 3711, so I really was hoping for minimal sacch from the allagash bottles and maximum lactose, pedio, and brett.

 

[Brewddah]

I really want to plate coolship dregs someday...even though it will be a mess!

 

[Biobrewer]

I am a little concerned though...it arrived looking like this:

I'm used to yeast being a little less dark...think it's okay? There's no MFG date, just an expiration date of 4/22/18. I'm going to make a starter, hopefully it takes off.

Nick from The Yeast Bay here, For Brett/wild stuff, WL mfg. date is 6 months prior to the expiration for vials. The cell count is 2-4 billion cells/mL, though I think they have plans to potentially start concentrating the Brett propagations. Perhaps not as concentrated as the Sacch strains, but more concentrated none-the-less! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Also, regarding the color, many brett strains will make the propagation media darker compared to most Sacch strains (though some Sacch strains do this as well). It is super noticeable in our Brussels Brett Blend.

 

[Brewddah]

Thanks! I may have made a starter that was too big for that concentration of cells, but it has taken off and I've since done a second step-up. I've never actually purchased Brett, I usually steal it from commerical beers. Seems active to me, hope to use it in a week or so.

 

[Brewddah]

Despite the starter seeming healthy, I have not seen any signs of fermentation of the full size batch in four days. If nothing by tomorrow, I think I'll have to dump it...I'm moving in a couple months, and if I add sacc to it, I'll have to wait for the Brett to re-awaken and work on it slowly. I cold crashed the starter...maybe that was the problem? I feel like it shouldn't be. Guess I'll go back to plating yeast from bottles since that seems to work better.