Brett B. to finish half my BPA?

[DPlan00]

I want to ask you all about your experience using Brett? I was thinking about adding Brett B to a secondary fermenter with one of the carboys (split 12 gallon batch) of almost-finished Belgian Pale Ale fermented with Wyeast 1388 (OG 1.055). Or, would it need to be done just before primary fermentation is finished? Would I need a starter? How long should I expect to wait for the Brett to actually impart a nice character?

Is this a bad idea? Was listening to Vinny of RR talk about Redemption (never had it), and it sounded like it might be a good time to experiment with a batch and Brett. He added it at bottling, could I just add it when it's finished and I'm kegging? This way, I could sample without disturbing the pellicle, and direct transfer when it's tasty.

Any information you could share would be great,

Dan

 

[Bheher]

Sour beers are a whole extra process in brewing. Its going to be difficult to just wing one. I would suggest listening to the Jamil Show - Flanders Red podcast as a starting point.

Primary fermentation needs to finish and you need to rack the beer off the primary yeast before you add Brett. The primary should finish higher than normal you could cold crash early to help this.
You do not need a starter.
The brett will take 6 months to a year to finish.
You could do it in a keg I guess but you would need to install an airlock on the keg.

This may not be the best idea, I would suggest maybe souring 1 gallon of the 5 gallon batch. This is a good read: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/easy-way-make-sour-beers-1-gal-wort-dregs-189748/

 

[Calder]

Add brett at any time; primary or secondary. When it is used as a secondary yeast (added either to the primary or secondary), it grows anaerobically and feeds off the dead sacc cells, so you would be better to rack to secondary early rather than later to leave some sacc yeast.

Brett will take up to a year (or longer) to fully develop it's flavors. Bottling early requires high strength bottles. But since you are kegging, you will be fine.

As a secondary yeast (again, added to secondary or primary ...... the sacc yeast being the primary yeast), you only to need to pitch a small amount. No starter required or recommended. A starter will grow the Brett aerobically and give different flavors.

Go for it. Brett gives an additional dimension to any beer. Experimentation is the only way to learn. Provided the original beer is decent, I don't think you can ruin it.

 

[DPlan00]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I really want to do this, and am very interested in souring more beers. The people at the LHBS today told me that the carboy or keg I used, the beer line, faucet, racking cane and hose, and anything else that came in contact with the Brett beer would only be able to be used with other soured beers in the future, because Brett is very resilient, and would infect all my non-soured batches. I counter pressure fill bottles, so it makes me think I would need another one of those, as well. This seems like a little more of an investment. One I am interested in.

What is everyone's experience using Brett and tapping soured beers? Have you had problems with infecting your other batches?

 

[Calder]

Brett will die like any other yeast. The problem with Brett is that it only takes a small amount of cells to survive to start a new colony and affect the taste of a beer. It does also take time, so I question what the issue would be with kegging equipment if properly sanitized.

If a beer is left in a 'contaminated' plastic fermenter for a couple of months, I could see a pellicle forming, and some changes to taste, but for keg lines, I don't see an issue since the beer doesn't sit there for too long.

I don't keg, but if you took the seals out and put them in 150F water for 10 minutes, I think you would kill any Brett that might be around; even if hidden below the surface.

Hope this help give you an idea of how it can affect beer. With decent sanitization practices, you can use equipment for Brett and regular beer. You just have to be more attentative to sanitation.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I used Brett for the first time on a Tripel a number of months ago. I used WLP500 and let it ferment out fully (I let it sit in primary for 4 weeks), and added Brett in secondary, let it sit for 4 more months (added Brett at 1.013, dropped it to 1.008). After 4 months it already had a nice Brett character, so I went ahead and bottled. I've been drinking the couple extra stragglers, but the two full cases I had I'm gonna let it sit for another 6 months or so. But I was really happy with the results doing it that way. YMMV.

As for cleaning and what not, I picked up an extra set of everything plastic that the Brett would touch, but according to JZ as long as anything glass or metal that the Brett comes in contact is given a good cleaning and sanitizing immediately afterwards, it shouldn't be a problem. Might even apply for plastic. I haven't reused that equipment for anything else (including the glass carboy I immediately hit with PBW and then StarSan after bottling), so I can't vouch for that personally.