How Hard is Bret to Get Rid Of?

[Fenster]

I'll be starting a kriek next month, and am wondering how paranoid I should be of the brettanomyces.
Do I really need to keep this completely separate from the other styles I brew over the next year?
How resistant is the bret to bleach and phosporic acid?

I like the lambics, but don't want the bret souring up my other brews...

 

[Ryanh1801]

Its not gonna jump out of your fermenter, if thats what your asking. I have two brett beers sitting right next to my other stuff in the same closet.

 

[NitrouStang96]

I'd say pretty damn hard. He flirts with retirement every year, but every year he comes back.

The bigger question: Why in the world would you want to get rid of him?



















Wait, what?

 

[Iordz]

I really think the whole "brett is a yeast killing, beer infecting, danerous bug" is a bit overboard. If you are fermenting in a glass carboy, or BB, you will be fine, a little bleach and starsan should work. If you are using a plastic bucket fermenter, it might be hard to get rid of the brett because it will make itself at home in the plastc. I do, however, use dedicated plastic tubing for my "sour" ales.

 

[Got Trub?]

From the few interviews I've heard with professional brewers experimenting with Brett they do so at an off-site facility. If they with their stainless steel and harsh chemicals are worried about cross-contamination I would be to - although they also have alot more at risk. I'm getting ready to start doing some Belgians and experiment with Brett and plan on using my older buckets in a seperate area for them and then retire the buckets when done.

GT

 

[Jesse17]

After loosing to the Giants, I thought we were talking about Green Bay too.

I'll just stay out of this one.

 

[Fenster]

I can see the logic of using different tubing as mentioned, but I have a little trouble imagining the brett (not Favre) climbing out of the airlock and riding the CO2 over to an adjacent carboy and then climbing down that airlock into my IPA.

Still, in light of the mixed replies I think I'll keep a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol in the brew closet and spray down the outside of the carboys occasionally.
I think the garage is out due to the summer temps in the 90's.

 

[iamjonsharp]

I'll be starting a kriek next month, and am wondering how paranoid I should be of the brettanomyces.
Do I really need to keep this completely separate from the other styles I brew over the next year?
How resistant is the bret to bleach and phosporic acid?

I like the lambics, but don't want the bret souring up my other brews...

My not so good friend Bret came uninvited to my Stout party a few batches ago, he proceeded to ruin the fun and make my stout taste like crap.

As others have said, the best advice is to use separate equipment for items that are difficult to clean, i.e., plastic. Plastic gets scratched easily, making it hard to clean the junk in the scratches. And if you can't get it clean, you may have problems with it being sanitized correctly, because you aren't going to be able to sanitize the junk in the scratches.

Bleach will pretty much kill everything, as long as your equipment is clean first. If you use bleach to sanitize and it doesn't work, its more than likely due to the equipment not being properly cleaned first.

 

[david_42]

It takes very little splashing, dripping, etc. for Brett to contaminate a brewing area. Do you sanitize your siphon immediately after using it or do you set it down somewhere while you move the new carboy? Once the surface dries, the Brett becomes airborne. Most of the pros I know won't touch the stuff.

 

[Ryanh1801]

Think of it this way, wild yeast is everywhere. When you are cooling your wort some wild yeast in Bactria is getting in their.. Even after sanitizing something, some bacteria and wild yeast will be on their, thats why its sanitizing and not sterilizing.

 

[bikegeek]

It takes very little splashing, dripping, etc. for Brett to contaminate a brewing area. Do you sanitize your siphon immediately after using it or do you set it down somewhere while you move the new carboy? Once the surface dries, the Brett becomes airborne. Most of the pros I know won't touch the stuff.

I wish I could get to the bottom of the brett tales. Most of the homebrew sites are constantly warning of the evils of the stuff. But then I hear from the brewmaster at a well-known mid-atlantic brewery that it's easier to kill than regular yeast and that it's the lacto you really need to worry about. I don't know what to believe.

 

[Brewtopia]

I can only pray that my entire brewery gets infected with Brett. :rockin:

 

[bikegeek]

I can only pray that my entire brewery gets infected with Brett. :rockin:

Seriously. With all the other crap growing in my 100+ year-old basement. I pray for brett over anything else.

 

[Scotty_g]

We're going to do up a lambic this year once my raspberry patch makes a pest of itself. We'll do the regular beer and grow the raspberries at my house, where we do all the brewing. Then when it's Brett time, we're going to haul it *across town* and use separate equipment, never to return to the Natural 20 base brewery.

Sure, if you sanitize well enough you shouldn't have a problem. But siphon tubing and plastic pails are a lot cheaper than potentially contaminating the next three batches of beer because you didn't know something was dirty.

 

[bikegeek]

...siphon tubing and plastic pails are a lot cheaper than potentially contaminating the next three batches of beer because you didn't know something was dirty.

For sure. Everything I use for brett is labeled "Brett Only" and kept in sealed containers far away from my regular gear.