Experiences with Brett C Solo

dinnerstick · Feb 12, 2015

While dicking around with some brett strains (and strains formerly known as brett) I wanted to test WLP brett c (645) in some hoppy beers, i had never used it before but had some gorgeous 100% c ipas, and in doing so start to grow up a big pitch for a collaboration brew with a small nano nearby which we will serve at a festival this year. One idea was to ferment a big IPA with trois and brett c together. I grew up a good starter of the C, split a batch between trois and c (first just to gauge the character of a c ipa in my own hands), and let them go, i ferment brux, lambicus and trois in the 24c range so i fermented these at 24. The pitches were about equal in slurry volume, whatever that's good for. the c beer was off to the races, violently fermenting the next day and after 2-3 days calmed down and was starting to drop. the trois was from a slightly old pitch, took longer to get going, was dropping pretty clear within a week, that's normal in my hands. but the c beer was really cloudy still. no problem. i gave them a few weeks before touching them, dry hopped for a week, and then crash chilled at 2c for about 2 weeks, under pressure. the trois beer was as expected, slightly hazy but beautiful. the c beer was pea soup cloudy. checked the gravity, whoa... trois: 1.009, c: 1.021. from 1.066. (yes i checked the gravity only after carbing... and degassing. i'm like that sometimes.). Who has had similar experiences? I have had fermentations with other brett strains finish a bit slowly, but never hugely vigorous start an then just totally petering out. Is it overly hop sensitive? This was ~70 ibu beer. The collab is going to be 100% trois by the looks of it, if anyone's in holland in may...

fermentology · Feb 12, 2015

I've brewed two beers with Brett-C. One was a pale ale, so on the lower side of the IBU scale and the other was a wheat beer to show my homebrew group Brett is not "scary." The pale ale was hazy but after some time it cleared up brilliantly. The wheat beer on the hand didn't because, well, wheat. Both of them finished out dry. The pale ale finished at 1.008 and I don't recall the wheat beer's FG but I'm pretty sure it was sub 1.010. The two other Brett (different strain) beers I've brewed both finished out at 1.014 and 1.012.

tagz · Feb 12, 2015

I brewed a blonde with C and like yours it took off for a few days and then slowly chugged along. Finished in 8-10 days iirc. Tasted like a kolsch yeast, slightly fruity and clean, but nothing too mind blowing.

dinnerstick · Feb 13, 2015

thanks both. i remain quite befuddled as to why mine never attenuated. i have a big starter growing as well, which after a few days stirring i capped with an airlock, it's been sitting there either slowly ticking over or just degassing for weeks, still as cloudy as you like

bovineblitz · Feb 13, 2015

I did a grisette with 100% brett C a few years back. Pitched a 1.5L starter into a 4.25 gal batch. Came out quite fruity, went over really well with beer connoisseurs and the less-initiated as well. Finished at 1.007 when I bottled it after 4 months in primary.

I have a saison with C and B trois going right now, I'm gonna give it more time but it's coming along nicely.

Calder · Feb 13, 2015

I have a Brett-C 'experiment' going on now. I've never used it before. I brewed up 11 gallons of Brown Ale (1.050), and split it between 4 yeasts. the cakes will be used for larger beers.

I used PacMan, and Thames II, both left at room temp of about 62 F. The other two were Chimay and Brett-C, started at 68 F, and slowly ramped up to 78 F after a couple of days. All 4 had similar sized starters.

It is now 2 weeks on and they are still at 78 F.

Like you, I found the Brett-C got off fast (first one), it also had the biggest karusen. Now 2 weeks on, it still seems to be working slowly, I can still see bubbles coming to the surface, well past the time the others have stopped. I'm planning on taking gravity samples of all 4 later this evening. I will update with what I find.

Edit: Checked the gravity of all 4 at 13 days. Seems Brett-C has attenuated similar to he others. PacMan, Thames, and Brett-C were all at 1.011, with the Chimay batch at 1.012. Not a lot of flavor from the Brett, both the Thames and Chimay batches had more flavor.