Yeast Bay--offering some Brett blends

[millhouse9]

I got mine in yesterday as well and the ice packs were melted but still felt cool. I had USPS hold on to it for me. Can't wait to get some Northeastern Abbey going!

 

[sredz]

I brewed a Pale Ale using the Lochristi Brett Blend for a 100% primary brett fermentation. Starting gravity was 1.063 and it dropped to 1.010 after about two weeks and pretty much held there. I brewed this on 6/21 and let it sit in primary for about two months then racked it to secondary on 5lbs of strawberries and 2.5lbs of rhubarb. I found the flavors this strain puts off to be very different. - strong earthy, mushroom funk with just a hint of berries. The rhubarb added some tartness and I’m hoping the strawberries bring the lingering berry flavor forward just a bit. It’s a really unique beer, but so far I’m not a huge fan of the overly earthy funk. I plan to carb it up and age it for a couple more months so I’ll be interested to see how it changes.

 

[geoffey]

I brewed a Pale Ale using the Lochristi Brett Blend for a 100% primary brett fermentation. Starting gravity was 1.063 and it dropped to 1.010 after about two weeks and pretty much held there. I brewed this on 6/21 and let it sit in primary for about two months then racked it to secondary on 5lbs of strawberries and 2.5lbs of rhubarb. I found the flavors this strain puts off to be very different. - strong earthy, mushroom funk with just a hint of berries. The rhubarb added some tartness and I’m hoping the strawberries bring the lingering berry flavor forward just a bit. It’s a really unique beer, but so far I’m not a huge fan of the overly earthy funk. I plan to carb it up and age it for a couple more months so I’ll be interested to see how it changes.

That's very interesting to hear. I bet it changes a lot in two months, especially under pressure.

I'm brewing a saison this weekend, will do 10 gallons and will be splitting it up using 5 gallons with the yeast bay Brett Saison blend, then splitting the rest into 5 one gallon 100% Brett beers using: Yeast Bay Amalgamation, Yeast Bay Lochristi, ECY Custersianus, ECY Dirty Dozen and Sacchrolicious Brett II.

Can't wait to see how these all turn out!



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Fermented_minds]

I brewed a Pale Ale using the Lochristi Brett Blend for a 100% primary brett fermentation. Starting gravity was 1.063 and it dropped to 1.010 after about two weeks and pretty much held there. I brewed this on 6/21 and let it sit in primary for about two months then racked it to secondary on 5lbs of strawberries and 2.5lbs of rhubarb. I found the flavors this strain puts off to be very different. - strong earthy, mushroom funk with just a hint of berries. The rhubarb added some tartness and I’m hoping the strawberries bring the lingering berry flavor forward just a bit. It’s a really unique beer, but so far I’m not a huge fan of the overly earthy funk. I plan to carb it up and age it for a couple more months so I’ll be interested to see how it changes.

Interesting. I've gotten a lot of fruit from it with some good funk using a pretty simple wheat base. It's been reported by coff that it takes a little more time to develop. Here's the review he did on the Beersel, Brussels and Lochristi blends:

http://www.alesoftheriverwards.com/2014/08/the-yeast-bay-brett-blend-review.html

 

[chad_]

Any one taste their farmhouse sour yet?

 

[Chub]

Any one taste their farmhouse sour yet?

I pitched without starter into low IBU, 1.052 saison, 30 seconds O2, fermented at 78 ambient for 8 weeks. SG was 1.004, with no sourness at all. Decided to throw a vial of the Lochristi Blend into it.

It had a great Saison flavor, but no hints hints of sour.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Fermented_minds]

I pitched without starter into low IBU, 1.052 saison, 30 seconds O2, fermented at 78 ambient for 8 weeks. SG was 1.004, with no sourness at all. Decided to throw a vial of the Lochristi Blend into it.

It had a great Saison flavor, but no hints hints of sour.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

The oxygenation will definitely work against the lactic acid bacteria being active early on.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[m00se]

Any one taste their farmhouse sour yet?

Mine should be carbed up and had a reminder to try it tomorrow. Will post back with results. Other half of batch is resting on peaches for a few more months.

 

[Coff]

I finally got around to ordering the Amalgamation, going to do a 100% Brett Pale to test it out.

 

[MeanDeuce]

Mine should be carbed up and had a reminder to try it tomorrow. Will post back with results. Other half of batch is resting on peaches for a few more months.

I have a vial of this and planning to try it on some peaches as well. Real curious how yours turns out.

 

[TAK]

Just stumbled on this thread. I haven't really looked too hard (or at all), but I've kept myself isolated to Wyeast and White Labs to date. It's good to know there's other sources out there. Although it appears that The Yeast Bay is associated with White Labs, it's definitely something different than what I've seen before.

I'm about to do my first sour ale, and I was planning on using Roeselare + some extra Brett. Does anyone have experience with the Mélange - Sour Blend from The Yeast Bay? Is it something to be exited about? Should I consider special ordering the Mélange over the Roeselare?

Also, looking at their site and flipping through the first few pages of this thread, am I correct in assuming that their Vermont Ale is an isolate from Heady Topper?

 

[GutBaron]

Hey TAK I saw that you mentioned the melange blend and I have used it in the recently and I defiantly like the flavors and aromas that are developing in my oud bruen. I also have used the yeast bays brett blends with great results.

 

[TAK]

Hey TAK I saw that you mentioned the melange blend and I have used it in the recently and I defiantly like the flavors and aromas that are developing in my oud bruen. I also have used the yeast bays brett blends with great results.

How recently have you used it? I like an assertively sour beer, and really appreciate some funk. My SWMBO really likes up-front sour. Does the Melange deliver on acidity, or can you tell yet?

 

[GutBaron]

I was able to tell acid after 9 weeks also I believe the melange blend has 6 different brett types and lactobacillus brevis which is a quick souring lacto and hop tolerant.

 

[vauntedloveboat]

Funny, I just started an oud bruin with Melange, too! I've gotta say I'm pretty happy with it, it's only been going for five days and has already attenuated quite nicely (1.052 to 1.013) and has noticeable souring and the beginning of some nice funky notes. Obviously it's still MUCH too early to say how it will turn out -- and I'm only just now getting into brewing sours, so not particularly experienced with the process -- but it seems to be working well so far.

(I'll add that I took their recommendation and brought the temperature up to the high 70s once I saw active fermentation, which took about 24 hours to get visibly going, since I like my sours pretty assertive and acidic as well.)

 

[Fermented_minds]

I was able to tell acid after 9 weeks also I believe the melange blend has 6 different brett types and lactobacillus brevis which is a quick souring lacto and hop tolerant.

Had a similar experience with Yeast Bay's Melange blend in low IBU pale wort with good sourness and some funk when I sampled at about 7 weeks. Did a lambic-style turbid mashed beer a few weeks back and used the Melange blend in that as well. I haven't tried it yet as it's only been a few weeks, but I suspect the sourness will develop a little more slowly as a result of the turbid mash. We shall see!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[twistyboy]

Anybody tried to pitch amalgamation directly with no starter?i wanna do a 100 % brett IPA and i dont want to unbalance the bland. thank

 

[Fermented_minds]

Anybody tried to pitch amalgamation directly with no starter?i wanna do a 100 % brett IPA and i dont want to unbalance the bland. thank

The website indicates 2 billion cells/vial, so that's a massive underpitch for primary fermentation with no starter. I would definitely make a starter if you can. While it's a blend of multiple organisms, it's only Brett, so I'm not sure they will grow at terribly different rates anyway in the same starter, given the same conditions. If you're worried about proportions, don't. You'll be good. Build up that population and ferment away!

 

[Matteo57]

Soo many yeast & bacteria strains/blends and so little time to brew and drink them all!
I just got a starter going of the amalgamation that I'm going to do a "quick sour" type beer with pitching the lacto B from TYB in for a day or two then the starter of the amalgamation into that after. I'll be dry hopping it with something (haven't decided yet) depending on how it tastes.
I also picked up some malange which I'll be using to do a tart of darkness type thing. Looking forward to it!!!

 

[Austin_]

I did a no-boil beer the other day from my second runnings. I ended up with a wort that was around 1.031. I pitched a vial of Melange on Saturday. It's been at 69 since then. I just checked up on it and took a whiff from the airlock. It smells terrible. I've brewed a lot of beer, and I have never smelled anything like this. It wasn't gag-inducing, but it wasn't something I wanted to sit there and smell like some other fermentations. I think my no-boil is likely the culprit and not the fault of the yeast. I'll give it a little more time and see what happens.

 

[Biobrewer]

I did a no-boil beer the other day from my second runnings. I ended up with a wort that was around 1.031. I pitched a vial of Melange on Saturday. It's been at 69 since then. I just checked up on it and took a whiff from the airlock. It smells terrible. I've brewed a lot of beer, and I have never smelled anything like this. It wasn't gag-inducing, but it wasn't something I wanted to sit there and smell like some other fermentations. I think my no-boil is likely the culprit and not the fault of the yeast. I'll give it a little more time and see what happens.

I would say your no boil probably is the cause of that wretched smell. The Melange Blend will typically give a fruity and funky aroma blowing off the fermentation. I've only made a no boil once (no boil berliner, using a berliner sour blend) and the smell was akin to bad vegetables. Took a long time for it to discipate too. Not sure I'll ever do a no boil again, as I'm not sure there was a huge benefit to it aside from keeping the color a little more straw-like and super light.

Hope the beer comes around for you! We've been really happy with the blend performance thus far.

 

[Austin_]

the smell was akin to bad vegetables

This is pretty much spot-on for the way mine smells. It was an experiment, so I'm not real bummed if it doesn't work out, but ti would have been nice to get two batches from a single brew day. How long did yours take to dissipate? And did it ever truly go away?

 

[joshrosborne]

No boil is fine as long as you get it high enough to pasteurize the wort. Otherwise you get all the nasties that were on the grain.

 

[Biobrewer]

No boil is fine as long as you get it high enough to pasteurize the wort. Otherwise you get all the nasties that were on the grain.

From a perspective of potential infection of the wort by unwanted organisms, that's true. However, without a rigorous boil you're not driving off things like DMS, which can lend a pretty foul aroma. Here's some info on DMS from the BeerSmith site:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/10/dimethyl-sulfides-dms-in-home-brewed-beer/

 

[joshrosborne]

From a perspective of potential infection of the wort by unwanted organisms, that's true. However, without a rigorous boil you're not driving off things like DMS, which can lend a pretty foul aroma. Here's some info on DMS from the BeerSmith site:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/10/dimethyl-sulfides-dms-in-home-brewed-beer/

I'm familiar with DMS. I've just never had it be a problem in a no boil beer, even using upwards if 80% Pilsner malt.

 

[secondbase]

How are everyone's Melange and Farmhouse Sours doing?

 

[MeanDeuce]

Farmhouse Sour is only two weeks in. Looks like every other clean fermentation so far. Going to wait a few more weeks before taking pH and gravity readings

 

[joshrosborne]

My Melange smells awesome but isn't the slightest bit tart. I brewed it in August and it's been between 60 and 70 the whole time. I used 4oz of debittered hops in the boil, so I wonder if that's the issue.

 

[Biobrewer]

My Melange smells awesome but isn't the slightest bit tart. I brewed it in August and it's been between 60 and 70 the whole time. I used 4oz of debittered hops in the boil, so I wonder if that's the issue.

Might be a combination of lower temperature and hops that's preventing the LAB from kicking off too quick. I typically find myself using very low quantities of Sazz or the like in a lot my sours now and a temperature in the low 70's and see fairly quick sourness develop when using the Melange Blend (1 month it's definitely detectable). I moved away from the debittered as I personally haven't had great success with them. I only ever tried the conventional 0.8 oz debittered hops/gallon (twice) and the both beers had an awfully astringent bite to them that I did not enjoy at all and never experienced before using debittered hops. They also developed little to no acidity. I've moved back to low quantities of noble hops in the same beers and find that astringent character is absent and the beer develops sourness quite a bit faster.

 

[joshrosborne]

Yeah, I might do the same. I bought a bunch of them cheap to use with sours and I'm not pleased with them.

I'm not concerned with the temperature because I can wait for it to sour. No rush. If the hops are going to stop it from ever souring, though, I may just rack off and pitch a low/no hop wort onto the cake.