Brett techniques: Share your experience

[trentm]

I think anyone who has brewed with Brettanomyces (Brett) would agree it is a wonderful curiosity. Different fermentation environments and genetic variations within species can elicit a wide variety of flavor and aroma profiles, ranging from goat to tropical fruit with a cornucopia between these extremes. After reading "American Sour Beers", related blogs, and other internet posts it seems the understanding of the roles played by the combination of genetic and environmental factors is not completely understood. Tonsmeire and others have pointed out many of the environmental factors that are known to effect the flavor and aroma of Brett influenced beers including (but not limited to): Wort gravity, temperature, pH, composition, degree of fermentation at Brett pitch, available oxygen (or lack of), interactions with other microorganisms, and time. This literature also includes the genetic influence of different species and strains thereof. It seems likely that different combinations of environmental factors and genetic diversity would yield varying results on the profile of the finished beer. These combinations could be endless and far to complex for any brewer to explore on their on. Therefore, you are invited you to share your brewing with Brett experiences (positive and negative) on this forum in an effort to brew better beer and increase the knowledge base for brewing with Brett.

There is a great post here on HBT that gives insight to all Brett fermentations using different Brett strains in a similar environment: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/great-brettanomyces-experiment-401898/. It's interesting how some of the comments indicate how different profiles can be achieved using the same strains.

If you can contribute to this post, please include the Brett species, strain, and supplier used as well as the environmental details of the fermentation and of course tasting notes. Also any other details you feel may have influenced the outcome.

 

[trentm]

So I will reply to my own post with hopes of encouraging other replies. Something like Orval is what I have been shooting for with varying results. Using a recipe for a medium body saison, Brett is added in the secondary. Best results have been achieved by cold crashing after the primary fermentation has been completed using a Saccharomyces yeast I isolated from Orval (commercially available as WLP510). The beer is brought up to 65 degrees F, transferred to a 5 gallon glass carboy and a well oxygenated culture of WLP650 (Brett b) is pitched at 1.5 million cells per ml. Two days after pitching the Brett, 1 oz of pelleted hops (usually Saaz) are added. For some reason, the addition of hops seem stimulate the yeast and with 12-18 hours of the hops addition obvious fermentation signs appear as CO2 release eventually creating a small krausen around the edge of the beer surface and the clear beer changes to cloudy. Slowly the temperature is reduced to 60 F and is allowed to ferment to apparent completion, typically 6-8 weeks. The beer is then re-yeasted (with the same Sacc), primed with table sugar, and bottled.

Concerning the hops in relation to kicking off fermentation; I have done this on 5 different batches. Originally it was just to add hop flavor and aroma but each time the same results regarding fermentation were observed. I have speculated that the pelleting process traps air in the pellet and is released upon saturation resulting in stimulating the yeast (comments please).

Using the method described above results in subdued Brett aroma and flavors with the most notable Brett effect being an aroma of hay. I grew up on a farm with most of my summers spent baling hay. The aroma is very reminiscent of that upon morning arrival at a freshly cured hay field, ready to bale but waiting on the morning dew to dry. Other esters and phenols are apparent in this beer but difficult (for me) to determine which are those of Brett influence or Sacc influence (wonderfully balanced).

 

[sweetcell]

hi trentm!

there are hundreds of threads on this board relating to the use of brett. if you're not getting many replies, it's likely because most people tend to post in topic-specific threads, as opposed to a more general one this like one. for example, there is an awesome Brett Trois thread that covers that specific strain. if i had experiences to share about Trois, i would do it there...