Burgs
Well-Known Member
I'm resolving to make 2012 a year where I make brett beers. Having never done one, naturally I have a couple of questions.
Buying a fresh Wyeast or White Labs culture makes the price of entry a little bit higher than just buying saach strains - in the case of Wyeast it's like $10 a pack vs. $7-ish. To make the most of my money, is it possible/common to either save and re-use brett slurries and/or build up the dregs from my bottle-conditioned beers into new starters? How much does the strain tend to change when you do this over a few generations?
I've also read about people using bottle dregs from commercial sours in various ways, and the one that I think sounds really cool and would like to experiment with is adding them @ bottling time. What effect can I expect this to have on my beer - extra carbonation/effervescense? Souring over time (if there are bacterial strains in there as well)?
If I choose to do the above, should I segregate that bottling wand/bucket away from the one I want to use for 100% brett beers? I ask because I'm not really interested in making sour beers really, more so in doing just 100% brettanomyces fermentations - mainly due to the fact that it sounds like a 100% brett beer has a faster turnaround time than waiting on something to sour (please correct me if I'm wrong there). Most of the commercial sour/wild beers I can get around here are probably going to have lacto, pedio, etc. in them a la Jolly Pumpkin - and that's what I'd likely be using as my bottle dregs. (Is Orval 100% brett in the dregs or are there other bugs in there too)?
I am excited to go down this route! If I brew some gross beer then hey, at least I'm experimenting & that's what this hobby is all about, right? I guess I'm just tired of playing it safe and brewing stouts and pale ales and stuff that I can easily go out and buy a six pack of. I'm not discounting the opinions of people who enjoy doing that, but in the words of Workaholics' Adam Demamp - I'm ready to get WEIRD!
Buying a fresh Wyeast or White Labs culture makes the price of entry a little bit higher than just buying saach strains - in the case of Wyeast it's like $10 a pack vs. $7-ish. To make the most of my money, is it possible/common to either save and re-use brett slurries and/or build up the dregs from my bottle-conditioned beers into new starters? How much does the strain tend to change when you do this over a few generations?
I've also read about people using bottle dregs from commercial sours in various ways, and the one that I think sounds really cool and would like to experiment with is adding them @ bottling time. What effect can I expect this to have on my beer - extra carbonation/effervescense? Souring over time (if there are bacterial strains in there as well)?
If I choose to do the above, should I segregate that bottling wand/bucket away from the one I want to use for 100% brett beers? I ask because I'm not really interested in making sour beers really, more so in doing just 100% brettanomyces fermentations - mainly due to the fact that it sounds like a 100% brett beer has a faster turnaround time than waiting on something to sour (please correct me if I'm wrong there). Most of the commercial sour/wild beers I can get around here are probably going to have lacto, pedio, etc. in them a la Jolly Pumpkin - and that's what I'd likely be using as my bottle dregs. (Is Orval 100% brett in the dregs or are there other bugs in there too)?
I am excited to go down this route! If I brew some gross beer then hey, at least I'm experimenting & that's what this hobby is all about, right? I guess I'm just tired of playing it safe and brewing stouts and pale ales and stuff that I can easily go out and buy a six pack of. I'm not discounting the opinions of people who enjoy doing that, but in the words of Workaholics' Adam Demamp - I'm ready to get WEIRD!