The Minstrel - A crazy, funky 100% brett fermented beer

[Bsquared]

I was catching up on my basic brewing pod casts today, and the interview with Sean Paxston got me thinking of trying this out, This thread has a wealth of good info. I have another thread asking about pitching rates for Brett C.

From that PDF posted in this thread, I read found this from Sean Paxtion:

Brewer: Sean Paxton, Sonoma, CA
Beer: Sonoma Pale Ale
Strain: Anomolous
Starting Gravity: 1.060
Finishing Gravity: 1.007
Sean is a professional chef in the San Francisco Bay area with 14 years of brewing under his belt.
He is currently working with Vinnie Cilurzo in preparation for the 2007 Northern California
Homebrew Festival Friday night dinner. The beer he doled out, Sonoma Pale Ale, used all
Amarillo hops and only Brett Anomolous (no O2 or culturing). The result expressed a very strong
character of pineapple and other fruits.
N8: I'm curious to taste a pineapple beer
Tomme: Our Mo Betta Brettas was a pineapple bomb
AlB: Yes, tartness, cascade, and fruity pineapple
Tomme: Mine looks and smells good...although there is some chlorophenol thing that is
like pineapple and Brett based. It very much leads off smelling like Hommel bier
with a funky side to it.
Cisco: …and peachy! Apricot and peach come from amarillo hops - I've tasted it many
times here.
Sean Paxton: I was thinking a lot about wine, all the flavors we taste in a zin, but no raspberries
or black peppercorns.
SteveG: This seems more classical for what I would expect from Brett C. Ferment temps,
O2, pitch rate?
Sean Paxton: Pitching rate of just a pack, opened and pitched right in. Fermentation in 2 days.
FG, last time I checked was 1.007.
Mike T: Dryer than it tastes.
SteveG: Wow, really!

In the Interview in Basic Brewing, he mentions this batch, and that he used a 1LB Amarillo late hop addition in this batch, and its a 5 gallon batch.


I thought that was cool, but my question is what is the pitching rate people are using with Brett C: Standard,over or under pitching?

 

[dreadnatty08]

"I thought that was cool, but my question is what is the pitching rate people are using with Brett C: Standard,over or under pitching?"

Like others have said, you need a huge starter, around lager sized. WL brett tubes are likely smaller pitches than Wyeast, but I can't guarantee that. I'd do multiple steps from 1L to 3-4L.
To Saq, I'd recommend using Brett L as a primary, I've found it to turn out two fantastic beers, one a dry stout, the other a fruit beer base with red wine, vanilla and oak.

 

[Bsquared]

WL brett tubes are likely smaller pitches than Wyeast, but I can't guarantee that. I'd do multiple steps from 1L to 3-4L.

Sounds good, I'll pull down the 6L flask for this one.

 

[saq]

My next beer in my all-brett series is going to be all Brett L, still theorizing what I want my recipe to look like. I'm thinking less crazy spices and no rye, something to focus on the brett.

 

[saq]

I placed Silver with this beer in the Arizona Society of Homebrewers as a 23A. People loved it but said there were a lot of flavors going on with the spicy rye, chocolate malt, dates AND brett. Its true, but in a good way

 

[scray24]

Well done! Congrats on the medal!

 

[saq]

Thanks, I'm interested in seeing how The Muse comes out and how it will do in competition. It doesn't have so many flavors going on and its more of a funkified belgian pale.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Awesome!!!

 

[thorongil]

Got to try this at olllllo's yesterday... very well done. Will be thinking about doing something like this once I get the little barrel... That thing'll be perfect for sours.

 

[saq]

Thanks! Did you guys get into any of the others in the 6pack I left him?

 

[thorongil]

Thanks! Did you guys get into any of the others in the 6pack I left him?

We tried the RIS (forget your name for it). Also very good... We were sampling quite a bit, so my memory might be foggy on if we had any others...

 

[bigcitybrewer]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am going to try this recipe over the weekend with some slight variations. WL645 was a special release yeats so I am using WL650. I am using dried Heather instead of Elderberry. I also am not sure whether to add a puree of dates or palm sugar to the fermenter after 2-3 wks.

I'll reply back when it is done to let you know how it turns out.

 

[saq]

WLP645 Brett C is not a special white labs platinum release, it is just the same release as WLP650 Brett B, which would make a completely different beer.
I drank my second to last bottle of this a few weeks back and it was very tasty. It got quite a bit tarter since WLP645 Brett C has a small amount of lacto and pychia in it and was a very enjoyable beer, gonna have to brew this one up again soon!

 

[bigcitybrewer]

Obviously, you were right about the yeast not being a limited release. Just some bad advice from the HBS.

I brewed this last week and ended up with a lower OG than expected because of poor mash efficiency (I am just starting AG brewing). It was 1.060. It's turning into a very different beer that the recipe intended, but that's ok. I'm just going with the flow.

Any advice about adding dates after 3 weeks of primary fermentation? I was planning on boiling dates and blending them into a puree then, after boiling them a bit more, adding them directly to the brew bucket.

I have some other threads about dates and am excited to throw them in there with the brett and see what comes out the other side.

 

[bigcitybrewer]

Forgot to do my temperature adjustment -- my OG was actually 1.064. Still not very good, but better.