Brewing with Brett Strains - methods

[tjashing]

I love Brett & sour beers, and been diving into brewing with Brett, and different ways of brewing these tasty funky beers. Has anyone done any of the following methods, and if so, which one and how did they turn out? What type of flavors did each produce? Feel free to comment on any additional methods/styles that have proven to be successful!

1. Co pitch saison yeast & brett yeast to primary. Ferment for 4-6 weeks. Bottle.
2. Pitch farmhouse ale yeast to primary. Rack into a secondary with fruit and brett. Ferment for 4-6 months. Bottle.
3. Pitch saison yeast to primary. Ferment for 1 week. Pitch brett yeast to primary. Ferment for 4 months. Rack into secondary with fruit, allow to sit for an additional 1-2 months.

Thanks!!

 

[hottpeper13]

Many ways,this is mine.
1- 70% wheat 30% barley, mashed at 160*
2-primary WY 2565 for 3 weeks, FG 1.020
3- into a 25 gal barrel that has at least one beer aged in it.
4- pitch 1 Omega All the Bret and Lacto -B
5- after ~ a year(taste and see if funky enough) rack 15 gal on fruit , top up barrel,and let on fruit up to a year.
6- bottle and enjoy.
I maintain the barrel for 4 of us and we each get ~ a 12 pack of each flavor. Something about this barrel makes good bret beers. The first RIS was outstanding then we put a Uber Bock in for a second run and it was infected,but tasty,so we figured it would make a good Solara barrel and guess what?

 

[Dgallo]

I love Brett & sour beers, and been diving into brewing with Brett, and different ways of brewing these tasty funky beers. Has anyone done any of the following methods, and if so, which one and how did they turn out? What type of flavors did each produce? Feel free to comment on any additional methods/styles that have proven to be successful!

1. Co pitch saison yeast & brett yeast to primary. Ferment for 4-6 weeks. Bottle.
2. Pitch farmhouse ale yeast to primary. Rack into a secondary with fruit and brett. Ferment for 4-6 months. Bottle.
3. Pitch saison yeast to primary. Ferment for 1 week. Pitch brett yeast to primary. Ferment for 4 months. Rack into secondary with fruit, allow to sit for an additional 1-2 months.

Thanks!!

my favorite method has been 1. 2 becomes a lot of work because you have to constantly knock the fruit down, once or twice a day, so that mold doesn’t Develop. I prefer to add fruit with 2 or 3 weeks left before bottling

 

[couchsending]

I ferment with a non diastaticus strain in primary. Preferred is 3522 but other POF+ non diastaticus strains are fine. Let primary fermentation finish, and ideally let as much yeast flocc as possible (hence 3522) then transfer to a secondary vessel (either keg or glass carboy) add preferred Brett strain or strains, and leave until FG is stable or longer if you desire. Longer duration in secondary will potentially create different flavor profiles due to potentially micro oxidation (depends on your vessel) vs. the profiles Brett will create under pressure in a bottle. They can be very different.

I find that if you use a non diastaticus Sacch strain most Brett strains won’t take beers all the way down to 1.000 or below, they usually stop around 1.004ish. I tested this with 5 or 6 different strains from the yeast bay over a year and only one got below 1.004. I prefer the body and texture that this slightly higher FG tends to give.

I will then transfer to another keg, add yeast and priming sugar and beer gun off that keg into bottles and let the bottles condition until they’re ready (usually 2-3 months before they’re totally clean and free of any potential issues created by bottle conditioning.

For fruit I’ve only ever done it one way and that’s after leaving the beer for 2-3 months in secondary with Brett I’ll transfer to a keg that I’ve added fruit to and purged as well as I can. I use the dip tube screen that Scott Janish made popular. I will usually dose with a small amount of Brett as well. I’ll leave the beer on the fruit for 3-6 months in the keg with no concerns of mold. I attach a blow off for the first few weeks then pull it and let the keg sit, every now and again checking the PRV to make sure too much pressure isn’t building up. Then transfer to another keg, add sugar source and yeast and beer gun into bottles for conditioning or keg condition.