East Coast Yeast 03 Farmhouse Brett

[TNGabe]

Instead of starting another thread, I'm bringing this back.

Any notes on how your ECY03 beers have aged?

Anyone still using the same rinsed culture of ECY03?

I've done 4 beers with it so far and the latest went from 1.064 to 1.004 in 7 days, with about 10% sugar. The yeast was 1st or maybe 2nd generation rinse when I got it.

Consensus is that brett in the primary as the sole yeast doesn't generate the 'funk' associated with brett secondaries or brett bottle conditioning. I'm suggesting that it's possible the brett in this blend isn't neccessarily for funkiness, but for the attenuation. Or of course, I've ended up with very little brett left and a super attenuative and not very flocculant sacc strain.

 

[Sebas83]

How long have you conditioned this beer?

 

[TNGabe]

How long have you conditioned this beer?

Only a month and its got new school hops out the wazoo. That's why I was hoping some other folks who have had bottles longer could chime in.

 

[Sebas83]

A month won't give you much funk. Much fruit, a little leathery maybe. Give it six months and you'll see more funk. If you fermed warm (80+), the Brett will chew on those esters and give the funk a bit more presence.

Keep us posted!

 

[TNGabe]

A month won't give you much funk. Much fruit, a little leathery maybe. Give it six months and you'll see more funk. If you fermed warm (80+), the Brett will chew on those esters and give the funk a bit more presence.

Keep us posted!

Have you used this blend? The description is 'Produces a fruity and funky profile with some acidity gradually increasing over time.'

Doesn't lead me to think it will get much funk, ever. I did pick up on the acidity in the small saison I bottled this week. Really kicked up the the berry aroma of the hops. Beer was @ 1.000 when I bottled, and I capped 4 750s, hopefully I'll still have one in a year. The rest are in flip tops and won't see March.

The previous batch, with new school hops, has quite a few corked bottles, so hopefully I'll get to taste the fruit shift into sour/funk.

 

[Sebas83]

I haven't used the specific blend but I've used both the yeast and brett used to make this blend. Both are extremely high quality and unique. They LOVE warmth and time.

 

[smokinghole]

I had drank some of my saison with ECY03 that was made well over a year ago. The acidity doesn't come off as acidity to me but just dryness. The brett flavor is more of a musty flavor rather than a horsey flavor like the orval strain. As someone said in here I think the brett is more there for attenuation. I kept it pretty alive but I've gotten a little bored with the blend and decided to develop my own saison blend. The first fermentation is showing real promise.

 

[TNGabe]

I had drank some of my saison with ECY03 that was made well over a year ago. The acidity doesn't come off as acidity to me but just dryness. The brett flavor is more of a musty flavor rather than a horsey flavor like the orval strain. As someone said in here I think the brett is more there for attenuation. I kept it pretty alive but I've gotten a little bored with the blend and decided to develop my own saison blend. The first fermentation is showing real promise.

Thanks, good to know. I definitely got acidity from this strain combined with Belma.

 

[smokinghole]

I may have to brew with this again once I get the current saison bottled. That should be soon I hope. Then I will brew the same recipe with ECY03 to have a decent comparison. Of course I will have to add my hop tolerant lacto strain to be fair. That will be slot of bottled saison for me to drink this year if I get time to brew the recipe again within a month. The most recent batch will be close to 12 gal in the bottles.

 

[Coff]

After making the mistake of giving away all of my slurry of ECY03 from last year I just built up a culture from a bottle of my Saison during the BBB Funk swap.

Shaun and Dan from Hill Farmstead has some nice comments about the beer, thought I might have either under pitched or under aerated a little bit but overall thought it was a nice beer albeit slight one dimensional. 75 pils/20 wheat/5 munich, bitted with Magnum and late hopped with Citra.

One thing everyone noted was that the beer had a fuller body then expected, especially with a 1.003 FG. Something that I had always noticed but thought it was just me, Dan mentioned there may be a strain in the blend that produces some glycerol to help in a more full body. A little over my head but there is that.

Anyway, I built up a culture from the dregs of my beer and plan to re-use it soon. I may co pitch the slurry with a 4th generation pitch of ECY08, or I might pitch it alone.

Is this out again? I think it usually comes out sometime between now and mid spring.

 

[TNGabe]

Supposed to be out again next month or April. I'm eager to get a fresh batch and see how it compares to what I'm repitiching. From all the tropical notes I get and the up to 100% apparent attenuation I'm getting, I'm pretty sure the brett is more of the culture now than in the original blend. I just did a side by side of my ecy03 repitch with new ecy08. I guess 08 is more 'classic' saison, but I like the 03 much better.

 

[Coff]

I figured it would be soon, this is a must get for me.

 

[bovineblitz]

Must get for me too, but the chances that I can actually get it are about 5%

 

[smokinghole]

Just build your own blend. I suggest WY3726 (Blaugies) and Dupont with a mild brett like trois. You'll get some damn good flavors and incredible attenuation. If you want to get really crazy if you can't get ECY03, this is what I did. Due to the conflicting belief that Dupont is a mixed culture I bought both lab's liquid yeast samples. So 565 and 3724 then I also grew dupont out of a bottle. Then I mixed in the 3726 and some brett trois. Let it rip and I ended up with a nice spicy and fruity saison with 95% apparent attenuation by the time I bottled. The brett in there may take it a bit further. I also added a hop tolerant lacto strain to my mix because I was looking to make the mix as diverse and "old timey" as I could.

 

[flyingfinbar]

So I've got a vial of this stuff on its way to me. It will be my second Brett beer, with my first being a 100% Brett trois pale.

How does the flavor balance out between the spicy saison yeast and the brett culture? I wasn't thrilled with my Brett trois pale...incidentally, it was supposed to be a brett saison, but being 100% brett fermented, there's nothing saison-ish about the beer...just a fruity pale ale.

What kind of recipes are you using that get the most "brett" out of this blend? I've heard using crystal malts and unmalted adjuncts can give the brett something to chow down on long term for more funk.

How long are you letting this sit in primary? I don't really have a time limit, so I'm not against letting it sit in primary for an extended period.

Have you noticed anything unique about ferm temps with this blend?

Anything quirky, anecdotal, or interesting you want to share about ecy03 is welcome!

 

[smokinghole]

This doesn't get real funky to me. You will get some pretty kickass attenuation in the long run. The flavor is more musty than horseblanket to my tastes. It makes a good saison though. The first pitch might take a bit to duly attenuate, but the second and third are fairly quick.

 

[flyingfinbar]

This doesn't get real funky to me. You will get some pretty kickass attenuation in the long run. The flavor is more musty than horseblanket to my tastes. It makes a good saison though. The first pitch might take a bit to duly attenuate, but the second and third are fairly quick.

Thanks for the info

How long have you been primary'ing your ECY03 beers? Is an extended primary a problem with the sacch yeast cake?

Also, will adding some crystal/carapils give the Brett something to work on?

 

[smokinghole]

First one was about 4 months. After that the fermentation was 1.5 months and less to reach a comfortable bottling gravity. I wouldn't add any carapils/crystal just mash like 150-152 and you'll have plenty for the brett.

 

[secondbase]

This blend took my 1.060 saison down to 1.010 in 72 hours. Went with mostly belgian pils, a pound of munich, some cane sugar. Hopped with EKG and Saaz. Pitched at 65 and watched it form a small krausen. it was off gassing quite a bit but nothing out of the ordinary. I had a scare with my thermometer reading inaccurately, so when the krausen dropped I wanted to make sure it hadn't quit on me. Getting huge melon, orange, and passion fruit notes currently.

 

[Coff]

Wow, blast from the past. I actually still have some bottles of this from when I posted back in 2012. I havent had one in about a year but it was pretty minerally.