Wild beer (experimenting with brett)

[Pauldoc1031]

So I was going to try and experiment with a batch. I planned on trying to make a sour with no lacto or bacteria pitched with some brett character. I planned on mashing at 160 degrees to make sure there was some complex sugars left in the wort to allow the brett to do its work. I'm still working on the recipie bit as far as fermentation I was going to allow the yeast, most likely an English ale yeast, ferment whatever it can for the first primary fermentation. Because of the high mash temperature I'm hoping it stalls at a higher gravity. I was then going to pitch a brett strain to complete the fermentation. I'm going to mash with some acid malt as well to bring the acidity down to get the slight sourness I'm seeking. If anyone has any feedback or has attempted this I'd love to hear about your results. I also plan on splitting the batch when the FG has stabilized and adding fruit to one of the batches.

 

[Aristotelian]

I may be wrong here but I thought 160 was the upper limit of temperature for sacchrification. That might be a little overkill for what you are trying to do.

I was listening to a Jamil podcast the other day, and he suggested adding a handful of all purpose flour to the mash to give the brett something to eat that can't be fermented by the sacc. Never done it myself so I can't say which method is best.

 

[Pauldoc1031]

I've never heard of the flour but I'm curious now. I was reading the American Sours book and one of the techniques described was high Sach rest to allow the brett more complex sugars to eat.

 

[m00ps]

just FYI, the idea that brett and bugs need some extra gravity points to "chew on" has been largely discredited by pro brewers like Chad from Crooked Stave

Gotta say I agree too. I've had several beers that were at or below 1.000 before I added brett, bacteria, or both and ive never had an issue getting that wild character

 

[Pauldoc1031]

I understand that brett does not need to have gravity points to give off its wild character but I'm more interested on a partial brett fermentation. I want to see what the outcomes of an almost half brewers yeast, half brett fermentation produce.

 

[Pauldoc1031]

I also what to see what happens when I take a very full bodied beer and add brett to see if it thins out. This is pure experimentation to see what happens.

 

[BrewDawg79]

Go for it and let us know how it turns out. Would be interested in some kind of side by side experiment with a similar wort produced by lower mash temps.