Bottling Brett Beer

[user 108580]

Hey all,

Been awhile since I've posted here. About a year ago I brewed a DIPA. I fermented in the primary for about a week with Gigayeast Golden Pear Belgian Yeast. I then racked to secondary and added WLP650 Brett Bruxellensis. It sat in secondary for 6 months then I added chardonnay soaked oak cubes. It's been about 6 months since I added the oak cubes (1 year total secondary) and I'm getting ready to bottle. I'm just not sure how to proceed......

I know I need to add a yeast to aid in carbonation, but how much? I would love to use a champagne yeast so that I can get an effervescent carb. Any tips for avoiding bottle bombs would be great. I'm not too worried about the brett over carbing the bottles as it seemed to be VERY slow in doing anything (got mostly aroma than taste).

I don't have my notes in front of me (at work) but I can get an OG/FG later if needed, but it was a normal fermentation. I was trying to clone Anchorage Brewing Co. Bitter Monk.

Thanks!

 

[user 108580]

Bump!

OG was ~1.083
FG was ~ 1.017

 

[MaddBaggins]

I haven't bottled any brett beers yet, mostly because I haven't found a definitive answer and I'm scared of bottle bombs. I just have a dedicated keg and party tap for the brett beers.

That FG does seem a little high in my experience with brett.

 

[Oldsock]

As far as I'm aware the yeast strain really doesn't change the character of the carbonation. CO2 is CO2. The classic amount to repitch is ~10% of the primary pitch. 2 g of yeast, rehydrated would be fine. Extra and you'll just have more sediment (not more carbonation - well maybe a little more because as the Sacch dies a sugar is released that Brett can ferment). Speaking of which, Brett will likely carb the beer without extra yeast, it may just take a few months.

As long as the gravity has been stable for a month there really isn't a risk of excess carbonation developing. That said, 1.017 is a pretty high FG for a Brett beer. What was it after primary fermentation finished?

Adding fresh dry hops before bottling would be a great idea if you want to freshen up the aroma.

 

[Double_D]

As far as I'm aware the yeast strain really doesn't change the character of the carbonation. CO2 is CO2. The classic amount to repitch is ~10% of the primary pitch. 2 g of yeast, rehydrated would be fine. Extra and you'll just have more sediment (not more carbonation - well maybe a little more because as the Sacch dies a sugar is released that Brett can ferment). Speaking of which, Brett will likely carb the beer without extra yeast, it may just take a few months.

As long as the gravity has been stable for a month there really isn't a risk of excess carbonation developing. That said, 1.017 is a pretty high FG for a Brett beer. What was it after primary fermentation finished?

Adding fresh dry hops before bottling would be a great idea if you want to freshen up the aroma.

2nd this. It's pretty much all you need to say

 

[user 108580]

That said, 1.017 is a pretty high FG for a Brett beer. What was it after primary fermentation finished?

Adding fresh dry hops before bottling would be a great idea if you want to freshen up the aroma.

Sorry! That FG was a little misleading. The 1.017 was after PRIMARY fermentation before I racked to secondary and added Brett. I haven't tested it since (was just kinda letting the brett do its thing as I know its a slow poke). I can test it this afternoon when I head over to my parents house and update this thread with some more info.

And yes, I plan on dry hopping for 3-5 days with an abundance of some sort of floral/tropical hop (citra, amarillo, etc.) before bottling.

Thanks for all the info thus far!

 

[user 108580]

Took the gravity reading: 1.010ish

Curious if I should proceed? It looks.... active. The most active I've seen it anyways. Noticed the bubbler was moving for the first time in months and I'm starting to see sediment on the bottom/sides of the carboy. Also a small pellicle on the top. It smells/tastes great. Big pineapple and lychee. Some barnyard funk. Almost like a tropical farmhouse.

I went ahead and bought my dry hops, 2 oz each of citra and Amarillo. Also got some dry champagne yeast, priming sugar, and two cases of 750 ml bottles.

Any and all info is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[butterpants]

Russian River waits until 1.008 to bottle. 1-2 gravity points can carb a beer. Are you going to consume it quick? Store it cold? Makes a difference

 

[user 108580]

I was gonna let the beer decide how I drink it. Bottle condition for about 4ish weeks and crack one open see how it tastes... Any more info before I think about proceeding?

 

[m00ps]

I doubt the gravity is going to drop any more especially after a year.

I've bottled 3 brett beers so far and here's my advice:
- calculate your priming sugar level to maybe 0.2 vol below what you'd want
- use HEAVY bottles. Most 12oz bottles are 195-205g. I consider anythign above 220g as heavy (Stone and Deschutes have heavy bottles). A lot of Belgian and other European beers come in even heavier bottles. Orvals weigh like 350g!

I havent had any brett bombs yet

 

[xico]

I've been having trouble getting by Brett beers to carbonate properly in bottle. The first I bottled was 4.75 gallons at FG 1.008 with:
250 mL slurry of vigorous brett starter
3.0 ounces of dextrose
12 weeks later and the carbonation is enough to detect a bit of carbonation but nothing more.

The second I bottled was 6 gallons at FG 1.004 with:
250 mL slurry Wyeast 3711 (French Saison) starter
4.0 ounces dextrose
5 weeks later and the same issue arises.

I've read from Toensmeier and the folk in forums that 4-8 weeks is about the time to develop appropriate carbonation depending on target volume of CO2. They are stored in a closet that fluctuates between 55 and 72. The second one I suspect needs more time. Should I store them and forget them or should I be thinking about alternatives (removing caps, dropping a few mLs and closing again)?

One anecdote to add for bottling with brett, I've been able to drive down my sour wheat and blackberry/cherry bruin batches to ready them for bottling (and liberating three fermentors). For two months they seemed to stay at 1.010-1.012 and I added 250 mLs of WY3711 started to each and they were down to 1.000-.998 and 1.005 respectively in two weeks. I cannot detect the flavor profile of the yeast this late in fermentation, and I suspect what it produces will be converted anyway. In case some of you are getting impatient, this might be a worthwhile method.

 

[Oldsock]

I've been having trouble getting by Brett beers to carbonate properly in bottle. The first I bottled was 4.75 gallons at FG 1.008 with:
250 mL slurry of vigorous brett starter
3.0 ounces of dextrose
12 weeks later and the carbonation is enough to detect a bit of carbonation but nothing more.

The second I bottled was 6 gallons at FG 1.004 with:
250 mL slurry Wyeast 3711 (French Saison) starter
4.0 ounces dextrose
5 weeks later and the same issue arises.

I've read from Toensmeier and the folk in forums that 4-8 weeks is about the time to develop appropriate carbonation depending on target volume of CO2. They are stored in a closet that fluctuates between 55 and 72. The second one I suspect needs more time. Should I store them and forget them or should I be thinking about alternatives (removing caps, dropping a few mLs and closing again)?

Those drops to 55F certainly aren't helping anything.

Your priming rate is also very low. Assuming your beers peaked at 75F, you barely added enough priming sugar to reach 2 volumes. Maybe that's it?

You can certainly try warming them up, giving a swirl, and seeing what happens in the next month or two. Next batch I'd aim for higher on the CO2, 2.5 volumes or more.

 

[xico]

Yeah I figured this would be the problem. The first I was so concerned about bottle bombs that I aimed low. The style was a take on a gose, which I wanted to be tame as far as CO2, so the cayenne would come through. I wasnt sure if a couple points of gravity would continue to drop in bottle but based on what sone are saying here, qhen it stops for months it wont go much lower.

Any thoughts on adding a couple mLs of dextrose solution to each bottle?