Growing a Brett Starter – questions

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Lukass, Nov 12, 2015.

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  1. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    With a cold crash and decant in between?
     
    #21 inchrisin, Nov 22, 2015
  2. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    Brett often doesn't respond well to crashing, so I just step it up. Say .3 L to 3 L.
     
    #22 OldSock, Nov 22, 2015
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  3. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Do you mean you do not cold crash brett starters at all? Or would you cold crash, once you had a 3 liter starter, but just not after the first step?
     
    #23 pweis909, Nov 22, 2015
  4. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    I normally won't crash Brett at all. You can, but I'd rather just let it sit at cellar temperature for a few days and not try to fully decant it.
     
    #24 OldSock, Nov 24, 2015
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  5. Lukass

    Lukass Pooh-Bah (2,891) Dec 16, 2012 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah

    So if I don't have a stir plate and just do the normal swirling/agitation, then dregs from one bottle would still probably take 4+ months to reach peak cell density then? Assuming I build it up from small amounts of wort. It's kind of a side project I'm doing just to see if I can even do it. If it hasn't reached it come spring I'll probably just pitch a white labs tube to make sure I have enough.
     
    #25 Lukass, Nov 24, 2015
  6. BeanWolf

    BeanWolf Initiate (0) Mar 1, 2012 Maryland

    Check Milk the Funk or Mad Fermentationist for some good info on brett starters. Each step takes about 5-8 days (I am using a stir plate and the starter and each step usually finished in 5 or 6 days) and the general consensus is that you want to pitch at lager rates. You probably want to crash the starter and decant off the acetic starter wort. You may not want to aerate the wort as much (limit acetic acid production?) as you would for a normal sacc beer. I have had excellent results with just the O2 from a splashy spihon and a little shaking. If I repeated someone my apologies, didnt read the entire thread.
     
    #26 BeanWolf, Nov 25, 2015
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  7. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    Still shouldn't take that long, it'll just mean a few more steps to make a bigger culture. Nothing wrong with getting a smaller batch going for four months to test out the microbes then repitch if you like the direction.
     
    #27 OldSock, Nov 29, 2015
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  8. Lukass

    Lukass Pooh-Bah (2,891) Dec 16, 2012 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah

    Following up on this thread from a few months back. OldSock was right in that brett dregs do not take as long as I was anticipating to build up. I've got a decent looking cake on the bottom of a starter of Brett C that I built up from dregs around a month ago (200-400-600 mL step-ups and increased the wort OG from 1.040 to 1.060). I also bought a vial of Yeast Bay Amalgamation that is finally showing signs of a good fermentation with a 1L starter of 1.036 wort. Considering doing one more step-up by adding an additional 1L of wort to the flask, and putting it on a stir plate before finally pitching into a saison wort this coming Saturday.

    I guess it's just hard to tell if I have enough or not. Sure looks like a decent amount though. Milk the Funk explains that the cell density of brett can be around 4-5 times that of sacch, so have we been wrong in thinking that we need to pitch brett at lager rates? Considering that brett is 4-5 times more dense than sacch. Just kind of thinking out loud here. Looking forward to when Omega Labs comes out with a pitch rate calculator for Brett. That'll be the day.
     
    #28 Lukass, Feb 8, 2016
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