questions

i4ourgot · Nov 13, 2013

So when a bottle of beer says brewed with brett does that mean it has other things like lacto and pedio? Also when you find a bottle of beer brewed with wild yeasts are all of them still alive generally and able to culture? Some one said brett doesn't make the beer sour then what exactly does it do and if you want a sour beer why not just brew with lacto? As you can tell I am trying to brew something just looking for a few answers.

badlee · Nov 13, 2013

I think if you were to throw some names out there, then some one may be able to tell you if that particular beer has harvestable beasties or not.

i4ourgot · Nov 13, 2013

AK alive, bam bier.

sweetcell · Nov 14, 2013

i4ourgot said:
So when a bottle of beer says brewed with brett does that mean it has other things like lacto and pedio?

nope. brett can be used without lacto and pedio. if the label only mentions brett, chances are very high that the beer only contains brett (and saccharomyces, if it's not a 100% brett beer).

i4ourgot said:
Also when you find a bottle of beer brewed with wild yeasts are all of them still alive generally and able to culture?

depends. usually yes, but some breweries pasteurize (flash heat) their beers to kill the bugs before they bottle.

i4ourgot said:
Some one said brett doesn't make the beer sour then what exactly does it do and if you want a sour beer why not just brew with lacto?

only under certain uncommon conditions, brett can make a beer sour. as most people use it, it doesn't sour beer. brett can add funk, or fruity, other other interesting flavors - but sour isn't one you should be looking for. why use brett? to get those funky or fruity flavors. if you want a sour beer, you should indeed brew with lacto (or pedio). brett won't sour your beer, but it's flavors are often perceived as complimentary to lacto and pedio (for the latter, you need brett to break down pedio's ropey protein globs). also, "wild yeast" is shorthand for brett + lacto + pedio.