Brett Beer Saison Brett

[m00se]

I made a 1600ml starter of 3724 for the 1.060 wort. Tossed in dregs from Saison Brett, Rayon Vert, Anchorage Wit, and Orval. I wanted to really brett this puppy up as an experiment. I took another reading today and it's still at 1.030 9 days in. I've moved the carboy to the warmest room in the house that gets up to the high 80s during the day.

 

[Aschecte]

I made a 1600ml starter for the 1.060 wort. Tossed in dregs from Saison Brett, Rayon Vert, Anchorage Wit, and Orval. I wanted to really brett this puppy up as an experiment. I took another reading today and it's still at 1.030 9 days in. I've moved the carboy to the warmest room in the house that gets up to the high 80s during the day.

Hey I know I post a lot on this thread and I hope no one minds and I'm not coming off wrong to anyone. I just wanted to say as I have done many and I mean many Brett beers now to the point that I even have one that has been commercially replicated and sold........Brett works slow to get from 1.060 to 1.039 WITHOUT a Sacch strain is pretty darn good. Do no expect it to work the same it ferments out much slower and different than a standard yeast even though some will claim rightfully so that when used as a sole primary strain will work faster. This is sometimes true in my experience. FWIW I would leave it be maybe a comfortable medium like high 70's not high 80's unless I am missing something and your using a Saison strain in there too then hell yeah pump her up to 90 !!!! just my .02 and btw it all started with me at least with this beer right here !!!! also check me out on the AHA site I am brewer of the week this month !!!!!

 

[humann_brewing]

I brewed this or something very close. Didn't go quite so high on the gravity basically but split the wort between straight 3711 and WLP565 + Brett but I also cultured the brett from the boulevards bottle for 5 days so I had a good starter going when it was pitched.

 

[Gothic_Horror]

Hey I know I post a lot on this thread and I hope no one minds and I'm not coming off wrong to anyone. I just wanted to say as I have done many and I mean many Brett beers now to the point that I even have one that has been commercially replicated and sold........Brett works slow to get from 1.060 to 1.039 WITHOUT a Sacch strain is pretty darn good. Do no expect it to work the same it ferments out much slower and different than a standard yeast even though some will claim rightfully so that when used as a sole primary strain will work faster. This is sometimes true in my experience. FWIW I would leave it be maybe a comfortable medium like high 70's not high 80's unless I am missing something and your using a Saison strain in there too then hell yeah pump her up to 90 !!!! just my .02 and btw it all started with me at least with this beer right here !!!! also check me out on the AHA site I am brewer of the week this month !!!!!

Prost!

 

[Aschecte]

Prost!

Prost !!!! thanks for the read !!!

 

[Hoptimistic]

this looks promising. I have a bottle of Brett Saison in the fridge chilling now

 

[AmandaK]

this looks promising. I have a bottle of Brett Saison in the fridge chilling now

Quite promising indeed. Stan Hieronymus really enjoyed this beer. Said something to the effect of "the brewers at Boulevard would be happy to know this was made from their beer". He and one of the brewers at Perennial Artisan Ales (St. Louis funky beer brewery) gave it a 1st place in a comp earlier this year.

My version of this also went to the final round of Nationals in Philly. Got 1st in the KC Regional out of 68 entries.

Needless to say, I LOVE this recipe.

 

[studio1one]

I've got a Saison I made with 3711 that will be finishing in a while, you reckon I could pitch the wort onto that cake and then add some Brett dregs to it after?

 

[Hoptimistic]

OK so I have never ever fermented at 80° I have been told what to expect with this beer and the Saison yeast but it just seems so weird that the kraussen was so small then pittered out so quickly. it has been at 80° almost two weeks at this point. I've got three more days until the blankets come off and I drop the temperature to 70° in the house. its weird I feel like I'm a newbie again.

I'm just wondering when I can expect to see this start up fermentation again. does it kraussen a second time when the temperature is lowered and the Brett can become more dominant?

 

[dwarven_stout]

Quite promising indeed. Stan Hieronymus really enjoyed this beer. Said something to the effect of "the brewers at Boulevard would be happy to know this was made from their beer". He and one of the brewers at Perennial Artisan Ales (St. Louis funky beer brewery) gave it a 1st place in a comp earlier this year.

My version of this also went to the final round of Nationals in Philly. Got 1st in the KC Regional out of 68 entries.

Needless to say, I LOVE this recipe.

Hey, that's awesome! Stan's "ok" on this beer is pretty stellar. I haven't entered it in a comp since NHC 2011- maybe it's time to ship it off again.

 

[dwarven_stout]

I've got a Saison I made with 3711 that will be finishing in a while, you reckon I could pitch the wort onto that cake and then add some Brett dregs to it after?

If you're pitching onto a cake, I would add Brett at the same time rather than later. That 3711 is a super aggressive strain. You can still get brett character without a change in gravity, but I feel that you retain more of the saison character if you give the brett a little more feeding opportunity.

I'm just wondering when I can expect to see this start up fermentation again. does it kraussen a second time when the temperature is lowered and the Brett can become more dominant?

It may show a filmy or dusty pellicle and increased bubble activity, but it will probably not krausen.

 

[chaseville]

This thread has been a great read and I'm excited to brew my first Brett B Saison this weekend hoping to get the same results ya'll have had.

I have a question regarding fermentation time. I've seen numbers ranging from the usual few weeks to over a half a year in primary/secondary. Is it okay to bottle when the gravity levels out? I plan to bottle condition in 750's at ambient Florida room temp of 77 degrees til next summer. Planning an OG around 1.056 so nothing wild. Thanks for the help!

I should mention that I'll be fermenting with Saison Brett dregs from a bottle of local Swamphead Saison Brett and WLP568. I'm currently stepping up equal parts of the dreg and WLP568.

 

[Hoptimistic]

If you're pitching onto a cake, I would add Brett at the same time rather than later. That 3711 is a super aggressive strain. You can still get brett character without a change in gravity, but I feel that you retain more of the saison character if you give the brett a little more feeding opportunity.



It may show a filmy or dusty pellicle and increased bubble activity, but it will probably not krausen.

wierd. there is definitely a second heady foam forming. The two weeks at 80 F were completely uneventful other than a VERY small kraussen, i mean were talking maybe a half inch thick. after inching the temperature down to 70 in the house I added another bit of saison-brett dreggs. (two bottles) at this point should I rack the beer off of the saison cake at the bottom and let the beer finish in secondary? or should i let the beer stay in the primary fermenter for 45 days then rack to secondary to clear?

 

[dwarven_stout]

I have a question regarding fermentation time. I've seen numbers ranging from the usual few weeks to over a half a year in primary/secondary. Is it okay to bottle when the gravity levels out? I plan to bottle condition in 750's at ambient Florida room temp of 77 degrees til next summer.

I typically do 2-3 months and bottle once the gravity levels off.

wierd. there is definitely a second heady foam forming. The two weeks at 80 F were completely uneventful other than a VERY small kraussen, i mean were talking maybe a half inch thick. after inching the temperature down to 70 in the house I added another bit of saison-brett dreggs. (two bottles) at this point should I rack the beer off of the saison cake at the bottom and let the beer finish in secondary? or should i let the beer stay in the primary fermenter for 45 days then rack to secondary to clear?

Huh. I rarely see krausen after adding brett to secondary. I guess I usually use fermcap in primary, though, so maybe that doesn't drop out (or is roused back up again). I'd just leave it on the cake, personally. My "house strain" of brett drops pretty clear once it is done (though there is residual activity in the bottle) so I skip the secondary entirely. YMMV.

 

[chaseville]

Thanks for the input.

Also, here is my recipe. Let me know what ya'll think:

1.056 OG, 29 IBU, 6 SRM

5.60 lb Pilsner
1.25 lb Vienna
1.25 lb Malted Wheat
12 oz Flaked Wheat
1 oz Roasted Barley (in the last 10 minutes of the mash for color)
1 lb Orange Blossom honey (at end of boil)

1.4 oz Styrian golding @ 60'
0.4 oz Saaz @ 15'
0.6 oz Saaz @ 2'

If I get down to 1.004 ish I get ~7% ABV.

 

[Hoptimistic]

Huh. I rarely see krausen after adding brett to secondary. I guess I usually use fermcap in primary, though, so maybe that doesn't drop out (or is roused back up again). I'd just leave it on the cake, personally. My "house strain" of brett drops pretty clear once it is done (though there is residual activity in the bottle) so I skip the secondary entirely. YMMV.[/QUOTE]

swett man. i was planning on leaving it in primary anyhow. good to know great minds think a like. im currently growing up some more brett. Im not sure if ill need it but i just feel skeptical letting a yeast packet do all that work (1.076 OG) without a starter. have you had any issues with not reaching your final gravity or the beer being too sweet?

 

[dwarven_stout]

swett man. i was planning on leaving it in primary anyhow. good to know great minds think a like. im currently growing up some more brett. Im not sure if ill need it but i just feel skeptical letting a yeast packet do all that work (1.076 OG) without a starter. have you had any issues with not reaching your final gravity or the beer being too sweet?

I like to stress saison yeast a bit. With the 3724 alone I often get stuck ferments, but with the brett I've never had it hang.

 

[Aschecte]

If you add brett to a beer I do not care what failure a sacch strain has or what it want to finish or crap out at ..... the Brett will give the Sachh strain the big ol' middle finger and eaat the sugars and then really get nasty and eat the Sacch strain too.... and yes I am serious Brett will eat the Sachh after it has died off zero chance of autolysis well almost zero.

 

[IslandLizard]

If you add brett to a beer I do not care what failure a sacch strain has or what it want to finish or crap out at ..... the Brett will give the Sachh strain the big ol' middle finger and eaat the sugars and then really get nasty and eat the Sacch strain too.... and yes I am serious Brett will eat the Sachh after it has died off zero chance of autolysis well almost zero.

Mmmm, yummy...Who's gonna eat the Brett? We do!

 

[Hoptimistic]

play so it did drop down to about 1.030 according to the eefractometer. I was smelling super good. very bretty (as it should have since I Frank a remaining 3 bottles of Brett Saison that I had and make a huge starter from the dreggs and pitched that sucker in the wort. after [thay it dropped down to 1.027 and was smelling delicious. but i came home today and all the sudden......rhinofarts what happened. dont tell me i used all those bottles of saison brett only to get an infection. i took a sample and it tastes okay, but i cant be sure this is supposed to happen or not. ive never used brettI][/I]

 

[Hoptimistic]

okay so i have decided that the smell i am getting could possibly autolysis. it smells similar to boiled eggs. so just as a precaution i have racked the beer off of the yeast cake into a secondary. This morning it the airlock already smelled better. I may have saved this beer. The odd thin is that it didnt tast all that bad. Mostly just really bretty. I am in the same LHBC as the number 1 BJCP judge in california so once this is done ill ask him what he thinks.

my question is What is everyone's theory on what happend here? If brett is supposed to be so strong and able to eat up all that dead yeast wouldnt the 2000ml culture from saison brett have prettymuch insured autolysis wouldn't be a worry.

question two is how can i continue drying out this beer as it stubornly remains at 1.027 even with the brett* at a happy 70 degrees.

*NOTE: i have no way of knowing how much brett was still in suspension, if any, when i racked into a sanatized carboy for secondary last night.

SERIOUSLY PLEASE HELP!!! I am willing to repay advice with brett cultures shipped from my yeast farm

 

[chrisdb]

If you are using a refractometer for FG the final number needs to be recalculated to get the true FG. I used this calculator

http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

given an OG reading of 1.056 (13.6 Brix) and a final reading of 1.027(6.7Brix) the true FG is 1.0087 and ABV is 6.12%
hope this helps

 

[chriscam]

brewing this wed. have a vial ea of 3724 and brett c. would i need a starter if using the 2 vials? if so, should i do a starter for both or just the 3724?

 

[Gothic_Horror]

brewing this wed. have a vial ea of 3724 and brett c. would i need a starter if using the 2 vials? if so, should i do a starter for both or just the 3724?

You'll need a starter to satisfy your OG wort needs. Pitch the Brett when you get close to your FG.

 

[Hoptimistic]

If you are using a refractometer for FG the final number needs to be recalculated to get the true FG. I used this calculator

http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

given an OG reading of 1.056 (13.6 Brix) and a final reading of 1.027(6.7Brix) the true FG is 1.0087 and ABV is 6.12%
hope this helps

YEAH............ about that. the beer was perfectly fine the whole time. just kegged this one last night. a little early im sure but the hydro sample tasted sooo great, i just couldnt resist. besides ill be brewing this beer for my wedding again soon, and ill let it age right up to the week before I leave for SLO. then its a quick clarifying treatment (if still needed at that point) and im off.


Thank you again everyone,
Alex

 

[humann_brewing]

this has been sitting in the closet after primary for about 3 months now. I am getting anxious. Haven't even taken a gravity sample yet

 

[Aschecte]

this has been sitting in the closet after primary for about 3 months now. I am getting anxious. Haven't even taken a gravity sample yet

Patience......now zen........ you can take a hydro sample it won; hurt to do that but your Brett won't really shine unti about the 8 month mark. Not that it won't be there before that but to really shine 8 months or so is a good mark.

 

[mistercameron]

I just hit the 8 month mark on my first brett sour... And it finally started turning the corner for the better. So... Take that as encouragement and look forward to something great

 

[hbr2547]

I'm making a starter to brew either tomorrow or tues. Do I pitch both yeast and Brett at the same time? Sorry first time using brett

 

[Gothic_Horror]

I'm making a starter to brew either tomorrow or tues. Do I pitch both yeast and Brett at the same time? Sorry first time using brett

Some say at the same time. I say let Sacc do its thing first, then pitch Brett.