Saison Cider, Brett, and Maltodextrin

[sacandagabrewing]

Hello All! I hope you had a happy holidays. I just had a quick question. I know our resident expert @RPh_Guy would be of use for this but this is open to anyone. I have been pitching C2C yeast in cider and have been getting some really good results but you cant get much with the brett. My thought was that the saison yeast gets to all of it before the Brett can get moving. I was thinking maybe some maltodextrin might help bring out some more of the Brett flavors. Any assistance is always appreciated!!

 

[Kickass]

I’ve never used that yeast, so...

How long have you been letting it ferment/age? Saison yeast seems to be fast acting while brett is considerably slower. It might take a while for the brett character to develop.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I have not tested adding maltodextrin to cider. That may or may not help, as Brett does not require fermentable sugars in order to produce flavor.

The Brett character I taste in cider is typically (but not always) more subtle compared to beers. I suspect this is a result of fewer compounds for the Brett to transform. It does develop favorably over time though, in my experience.

There are other ways to increase flavor complexity, such as wild fermentation, or perhaps creating a graf with some lightly aged-hopped wort for example. I've made some truly exquisite ciders with 100% wild fermentation, so that is something I highly recommend for intermediate or advanced cider makers.

Hope this helps.