Viability and stability of Brett

[davehenry]

Hi all. I recently purchased to white labs vials. One is Brett C and the other Brett Tois. I'm planning to do 100% fermentation a with them and I have read that I should pitch at between lager and ale pitching rates. The problem is that I can't find any information that would allow me to calculate the amount of cells in the vials based on their age. Also there isn't any information that I can find on their growth rates once in a starter.

How do we calculate proper pitching rates if we don't have a microscope?

 

[billl]

Totally non-scientific answer - just treat them like any other yeast with all the same assumptions. They are a remarkably forgiving lot. All the online calculators are just ballpark estimates anyway.

If you want to be more accurate, one easy thing to estimate cell counts is by volume. If you make starters all the time, you should be able to visually compare the volume of yeast to what you are used to. Make your starter in advance and then cold crash. Give yourself enough time to step it up if you come up short of where you usually are.

 

[m00ps]

The wild yeast vial from White Labs only have like 10% of the cell count of sacch strains. I got pissed off when I got my first vial of Brett Brux and thought I got a bad vial. I'd just step them up like any other yeast. Youll need to do it in smaller steps due to the low starting cell count. Brett should be a bit more robust in terms of viability since its a wild yeast after all.

 

[davehenry]

Looks like a microscope is in my future.