brett in my beer

[edecambra]

Hey folks,

I want to start off by saying that I am trying to get it into the beer. I tried fermenting the orval type beer in brewing classic styles using the wyeast trappist blend 3789 from their private collection, but I had some problems.

I made a starter with this yeast and let it sit in my kitchen for about 4 weeks (three after all activity faded) before I pitched. My kitchen is about 80 degrees and after two days I had absolutely no signs of fermentation ( I raised the temp by two degrees from 66- 68 after the first day.)

So by mid-day three I made a starter from some washed abby ale yeast and threw it in by that night. It is now day 5 and I have fine fermentation activity.

so finally my question... should I repitch a bret culture or do you think it is still vibing in the beer, waiting until the main yeasties floc out to do it's business?

If i do repitch should I buy some built up cultures from wyeast or white labs or should I pitch the dregs from a bottle or two of orval?

What would you all do?

 

[erikpete18]

I'd bet you've still got plenty of Brett around to take care of your problem. Unless there was something wrong with the initial starter/pack of yeast, its there biding its time until the sacc finishes up and it gets its chance to shine. Unfortunately, that time to shine is going to be a few months down the road (or more), so if it helps your peace of mind there's no harm in pitching some dregs in. I suppose you could buy a new pack, but dregs come with free beer .

 

[edecambra]

Yeah, The original starter was going like crazy. It just sat finished for about a month before I began my brew. I like the free beer idea, because unfortunately I am too damn cheap and I could use a good excuse to buy some tasty Orval!

 

[AmandaK]

I used this exact strain in my Orval "clone". I did not make a starter and it ended up just fine, tastes pretty great IMO. I used a small starter of Orval dregs at bottling time as well.

If I were you, I would let it ferment out, bottle and pitch the Orval dregs in your bottling bucket. That's the same time that the brewery introduces their Brett strain anyway.

 

[RJSkypala]

I did a tripel with this strain that is in secondary right now. The brett really seems to be doing some work. I am excited to see how this turns out.