Gigayeast Sweet Flemish Brett GB144

[Gnomebrewer]

I'm just preparing to get into making some sour and funky beers after trying a few commercial examples and realising I've wasted 22 years of my adult life drinking 'clean' beer. I've ordered some Wyeast Roseleare to be delivered, to try making some Flanders Red/Brown ales, but also picked up a packet of GB144 at my LHBS. There's very little information online about it. Has anyone used it? Any tips or comments? Reviews?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I've wasted 22 years of my adult life drinking 'clean' beer.

My focus is on sour beers. I like a variety of clean styles but I just can't get enough Brett.

American Sour Beers is a great book to help get started.

Milk the Funk provides a very informative wiki, lots of science.
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Table_of_Contents

Swing by our Wild subforum (wild = anything not standard brewer's yeast)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/lambic-wild-brewing.127/
...Or the MTF Facebook group.

Sorry, I haven't used that particular Brett strain and can't find any reviews for it. It might be similar to the Brett in the Roeselare blend though, judging by the name. Every major yeast lab wants to offer a piece of Rodenbach.

Like any other area of homebrewing there are lots of different methods for brewing, fermentation, etc. I'm using a couple different processes; one is accelerated and one is more traditional.

My biggest piece of advice is to limit the amount of hops. If you want the beer to sour (with Pedio), use only 0.2-0.4oz per 5 US gallons (0.3-0.6g/L). If Lacto is your only souring agent, I'd suggest L. plantarum with no hops at all.

Happy to answer any questions! Cheers!

 

[couchsending]

If you’re into podcasts or even if you’re not I’ve found The Sour Hour to be so valuable. I’ve listened to every episode and a lot of them 2 or 3 times.

It depends on a few things but if you’re looking for a good level of sourness don’t rely on lab cultures for it. Dregs are the way to go. The souring bacteria you’ll find in great commercial bottles of beer is often times much much stronger than what you’re gonna get from Wyeast or White Labs or whatever.

Just did my first mixed ferment Sour where I pitched bacteria and Brett at the beginning of primary along with Sacch. I usually wait until a beer is done with primary before adding bugs. Anyways this was a blend of 3522 and some Jolly Pumpkin/Hill Farmstead dregs took a 35 theoretical IBU wort down to 3.5 in one month at room temp. Same dregs I used in an extended sour project that is sitting at 3.1 right now after about 9 months.

If you can get Jolly Pumpkin I’d highly recommend using their dregs. The souring bacteria are incredibly strong. Blend it with some additional Brett from a lab (highly, highly recommend the Brett’s available from The Yeast Bay) after a Sacch primary and you’ll pretty much be guaranteed to get a nice sour beer after a few months. Just do your best to limit O2 exposure as much as possible in secondary. Fill the carboy all the way to the top, if you do check on it fill the headspace back up with co2, etc.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

American Sour Beers is a great book to help get started.

Milk the Funk provides a very informative wiki, lots of science.
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Table_of_Contents

Swing by our Wild subforum (wild = anything not standard brewer's yeast)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/lambic-wild-brewing.127/
...Or the MTF Facebook group.

Thanks for this.
I'm on page 20 of American Sour Beers, so far it's an interesting read. I'll definitely check out the Wild subforum and facebook group.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

If you’re into podcasts or even if you’re not I’ve found The Sour Hour to be so valuable. I’ve listened to every episode and a lot of them 2 or 3 times.

It depends on a few things but if you’re looking for a good level of sourness don’t rely on lab cultures for it. Dregs are the way to go. The souring bacteria you’ll find in great commercial bottles of beer is often times much much stronger than what you’re gonna get from Wyeast or White Labs or whatever.

If you can get Jolly Pumpkin I’d highly recommend using their dregs.

Thanks for the tips. Where do I find that podcast?

Unfortunately, commercial bottles of sour/wilds are difficult to source locally, but I'll keep the dregs of whatever I find. I can get Jolly Pumpkin beers online, but at about $40 upwards plus delivery it might have to wait until Christmas! (I live in Tasmania - the island south of mainland Australia).

 

[RPh_Guy]

TBN Sour Hour
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/category/shows/sourhour/

Beware some of the pro-level info may not directly apply to homebrewing.
For example, in the second episode the guest (Lauren Salazar from New Belgium Brewing Company) suggests to always use a secondary vessel.

 

[couchsending]

Thanks for the tips. Where do I find that podcast?

Unfortunately, commercial bottles of sour/wilds are difficult to source locally, but I'll keep the dregs of whatever I find. I can get Jolly Pumpkin beers online, but at about $40 upwards plus delivery it might have to wait until Christmas! (I live in Tasmania - the island south of mainland Australia).

Ahh sorry, didn’t know you were in Australia. There actually is a very well respected sour brewery in Australia, La Sirene. I can get their bottles here, so I assume they might be at least a bit easier to find there??? Not sure about their process exactly but I believe they do a bit of spontaneous fermentation and I would almost bet the culture you could get from their bottles would be rather strong.

You can find the podcast on iTunes. Bunch of great Brewing Network shows there. Highly recommend Hop and Brew School as well if you’re into making hoppy beers. Some awesome technical info on hops in there.

 

[couchsending]

TBN Sour Hour
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/category/shows/sourhour/

Beware some of the pro-level info may not directly apply to homebrewing.
For example, in the second episode the guest (Lauren Salazar from New Belgium Brewing Company) suggests to always use a secondary vessel.

I secondary every wild beer I’ve ever made. Never experienced any THP or acetic acid production. I do purge the secondary vessel with Co2 while filling and try to fill it to the very top if I can. If not I’ll fill it later with a second beer.

 

[brownni5]

I like *some* of the Sour Hour podcasts - most have more irrelevant banter than I like.

I have used the Gigayeast Sour Cherry Funk blend. Nice Brett character, and I would assume that and the one the OP mentioned share at least one or two of the same strains. I get nice cherry (am I being tricked there?) and leathery flavors from that blend. Not really any horsey flavors, but the acid is a bit overwhelming in that one. I need to figure out how to make it behave better.

I have never used the Roselare blend from Wyeast, but all reviews seem to be the same - pretty tame the first time around, but if you repitch the blend again and again, it gets more aggressive and better flavors.

Not sure of it's availability Down Under, but if I had to choose a new blend to start a sour program with, I'd go with Melange from The Yeast Bay. I've heard only amazing things about that.