Imperial Yeast Suburban Brett Trouble. Help please

[Abk]

A bit of backstory, a few months ago I attempted to brew a beer using Suburban Brett. Here's the recipe:
12lbs marris otter
5lb Munich
2 lb of honey malt
1 lb of victory

1 oz hallertau at 60
1 oz at 30.

Imperial Yeast Suburban Brett

The water I used for mashing got way too hot and like an idiot I just figured I'd combine some cold water with it to bring the temp down. For some reason I didn't check the temperature before mashing in but I know the water was at 183 before I added 1.5 gallons of cold water. I went about the brew like normal, pitched the suburban brett and waited 4 or 5 days until realizing nothing was happening. Around day six it was visibily infected. I figured the mash water was too hot and I made non consumable sugars it sat around unfermented and got the infection.

On Friday I decided to try it one more time. Same recipe being sure to hit a mash temp of 145F. It's now Monday and still haven't seen any krausen. I checked the gravity and it hasn't moved at all. However, there is a encouraging smell. The batch smells like what you'd expect a sour style beer to smell like. Ik this is not a sour beer recipe but sub Bret is wild yeast. The first batch never had this smell it just smelled like unfermented wort. What is happening? Their website says that the yeast can be used as a primary so I am not sure why it isn't fermenting. Should I pitch some extra yeast? Is this one going to get infected? Does anyone have similar experience with this brand of yeast? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[brownni5]

All Brett beers are reportedly slow to ferment. It will likely be fine, but you'll need to wait. I haven't done an all Brett beer, but you may not see much of a krausen either. With good sanitation, it shouldn't get infected.

On a side note, I have a farm-housy beer on tap right now that I brewed with Omega Jovaru and Suburban Brett. Lovely beer, exactly the Brett character I was looking for: a nice funky fruitiness that plays a supporting role.

 

[RPh_Guy]

1. Did you make a starter? If yes: How? What size? How long? Was it visibly fermenting?
You NEED to make a starter. At least a week.

2. What is "visibly infected"?
You "infected" your wort with Brett, which can form a pellicle.

If you didn't make proper Brett starters, everything you're describing sounds normal.

 

[Abk]

I did not make a starter. Imperial advertises on their website that unless you are brewing more than 5 gallons, at a higher gravity than 1.070, or using an older pack ,there is no need for one.

By visibly infected I meant a pellicle had formed. I did not know Brett could form a pellicle. This is normal?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Yep.

 

[Vale71]

By visibly infected I meant a pellicle had formed. I did not know Brett could form a pellicle. This is normal?

It can also form a nice biofilm where it can hide and infect all your future batches. You better have a very good cleaning and sanitizing procedure if you'd rather that not happen.

 

[goodolarchie]

Was this a 100% brett primary? A straight packet pitch of Brett can take a long time to start. I've had some strains take even 4-5 days to pick up activity even in a starter. A vitality starter will speed it up quite a bit. Pitching Brett into a sacch beer in just about any amount or condition will eventually get there.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Starter! Starter! Starter!

 

[Abk]

So, should it form a pellicle should I dump it or is this natural and ok?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Think of the pellicle sort of like kräusen.

You don't dump your batch when it forms a kräusen after "infecting" your wort with Saccharomyces, right? No, because it's a normal sign of activity by that particular microbe.

 

[Abk]

Gotcha, great analogy I appreciate the help!!

 

[goodolarchie]

I like to think the pellicle as mom tucking the beer in for the long cellar-temp night. More than anything, it's a signal that there is some oxygen present in the headspace. If you ever have an airlock go dry, for instance, you may have a mighty one by the next morning...

 

[brownni5]

Embrace the pellicle! Not a sign of anything good or bad. Just a thing.