Help with cherry nut brown, with Brett

[mikelikesit2000]

I recently brewed 12 gallons of a Nut Brown. 6 gallons fermented with 007 English dry, and the other 6 with 005 British ale. I really like how clean the 007 batch came out( pre-carb) so I'm gonna keg it. The 005 batch has some residual base and attenuated not quite as low as the 007. All of this to be expected. I want to add about 4# of whole cherrries to this for a few weeks and then bottle condition. Just not sure if I should add Brett to carboy with cherries or let the cherries sit on the 005 cake and bottle conditon with the brett???

What do you all think?

 

[hopsalot]

hard decision.... I vote bottle condition with brett, I believe this is what orval does. Although I have not done this, I usually just age the fruit and brett together.
Cheers!

 

[Almighty]

Bottle conditioning with Brett is done on beers with a very low finishing gravities like Saisons because it is easier to control the carbonation. Remember that every gravity point drop is close to a volume of CO2. It is pretty easy to over carb a Brett conditioned beer.
Orval can do it because they have experience to know how low the gravity will drop and the base beer ends with a very low gravity.

So my vote would be cherries and Brett at the same time and let that go for a good time till the gravity levels off.

 

[Calder]

So my vote would be cherries and Brett at the same time and let that go for a good time till the gravity levels off.

A very long time; about 8 months or more.

You might just want to go with the cherries and forget the Brett. Chop/mash the cherries so you get the flavors and sugars out; especially let the beer get the almond type flavors from the stones.

 

[mikelikesit2000]

A very long time; about 8 months or more.

You might just want to go with the cherries and forget the Brett. Chop/mash the cherries so you get the flavors and sugars out; especially let the beer get the almond type flavors from the stones.

I'm kind of thinking about that. I dropped in the cherries yesterday. I am going to let them go for a couple of weeks. Then I will give it a taste and figure out what direction I want to go.

On a side note, the other 6 gallons that fermented with 007 is fantastic.

 

[Wernerherzog]

So, I'm doing a somewhat similar project and needed advice on the cherries. I wound up with an excessive amount of stout and decided to toss a WLP Belgian Sour Mix I into 5 gallons of it. I'm thinking of aging it with cherries and also some oak cubes and had a few questions.

1. At what point in the aging should I add the cherries?
2. At what point should I add the oak?
3. When adding the cherries and oak should I toss them on top or rack the beer onto them? I'm afraid if I put them on top the flavors won't absorb as well and I'm afraid if I rack it might break up any sort of pellicle formation (although last I checked there was no pellicle).
4. My beer has little tartness in its first few weeks, little sour, mostly just the horsy brett funk. Isn't the lacto supposed to have already kicked in? I bought a tube of WLP Lacto, should I toss that in?
5. Do you sour makers regularly monitor the pH with strips or anything?

 

[hopsalot]

1.i would in the beginning of the aging process
2. asap
3.no difference
4.wait, this s a long process, sample periodically
5.no

 

[Calder]

1. After 6 months
2. Anytime. The oak flavor will fade by the time you drink it. Oak is not a normal flavor component of this style. Often Oak is used as food for the Brett, or as a storage medium for reuse of the bugs.
3. Either. The pellicle will re-form. It is a protective layer from oxygen. If no oxygen, no pellicle.
4. I wouldn't add anything.
5. No.