Allagash Brett Strain

[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.

 

[couchsending]

Did you take a gravity reading? I just did a small starter of TYB-184 that was from December. It was on a stir plate for 3 days with zero signs of activity, then I gave up and turned the plate off. Day 4 I had full Krausen. I've only pitched Brett into secondary, never even made a starter until now so I have no idea what is "typical". That being said I've heard each strain can be very different in regards to growth especially.

 

[cegan09]

I'm by no means an expert, but I've read that brett doesn't like stir plates as much. You either want it spinning much slower, or you want to use an oscillating shaker table.

 

[Brewddah]

I have not taken a gravity reading of the full batch. It's in a carboy, and I can see that nothing is happening. No airlock activity either. I did take a gravity reading of my starter, and it had gone to 1.010.

For the stirring, I had it on a much slower speed than I would for sacc. It also only spent a day there, and the rest of the week I would shake it occasionally. Then I cold crashed it for a couple days before pitching. It was 2L, and I only decanted 1L since it wasn't 100% flocculated.

 

[Biobrewer]

Brewddah, How did the Brettanomyces Bruxellensis - Strain TYB207 shake out for you?

 

[Brewddah]

Brewddah, How did the Brettanomyces Bruxellensis - Strain TYB207 shake out for you?

Badly it never fermented and the wort got moldy. Had to dump it.

 

[Biobrewer]

Badly it never fermented and the wort got moldy. Had to dump it.

Ah shoot! I assume you didn’t make a starter with the vial?

 

[Brewddah]

Ah shoot! I assume you didn’t make a starter with the vial?

I did, so I really don't understand what went wrong. The starter took off eventually, although it took a while.

 

[Biobrewer]

Yeah, the vials have about 2-4 billion cells, WL doesn’t (yet) concentrate Brett. If the starter took off, I’m curious and wondering why it wouldn’t get rolling on the main batch.