What to expect from a 100% Brett Beer

Forgot to add--really liked the Brett I've gotten out of dregs from Logsdon's Seizoen Bretta -- but then again, that is a mixed culture of Sachs and Brett ( and it has been changing each time I pitch, of course, as things get into a new proportions).

 

Yup, I pitched everything into fresh wort in primary. The Mélange has a couple Sacc's in it, as well as whatever is in the dregs. Sacc was active in about 12 hours after pitch and is bubbling away right now.

 

Head space is only a major concern in barrels where the dry wood at the top becomes more porous. In an impermeable carboy having a gallon or two of empty space at the top just provides more opportunity for a bit of oxygen to get in when the airlock is removed, not something that is usually to blame for above-threshold acetic acid.

Yep, dosing slurry into secondary is an interesting idea. Jester King talked about their experiences with "the last barrel filled" a bit in their Sour Hour appearance.

 

Ya I may be overly concerned about oxygen. I seem to remember Jay talk about filling to the necks of carboys on The Sour Hour, but now I remember that was specific to 1 gallon carboys that were being stored for a long amount of time. Regardless, I have a couple empty 5 gal's destined for aging sour beer. I think I'm hooked now...

 

I've only done two 100% brett beers so far and both using brett brux. The first one was a wheat beer with raspberries, somewhat of a take on GI Lolita. After fermentation the beer was very clean tasting. I bottled this batch and tasted one after a month or so and diacetyl was grossly present, which I'm suspecting was caused from the refermentation in the bottle. After aging for another 2-3 months diacetyl is gone and has a good amount of the typical barnyard horse funk character. The second batch was an IPA. Again, after fermentation was complete this was a very clean beer. Decided to keg this one and very glad I did. Hardly any funk, a decent malt presence, and the dryness of the beer really let the hops shine.

 

I bottled my Peach Brett Blonde on Saturday, it smelled incredible. Peachy and funky with some tropical notes lingering. However, I took at reading and sampled a little bit (tasted), now I know this is before it's carbed but it still has me a bit worried.

It tasted a bit like Chlorophenol, not overly so, but just a bit. I didn't use any type of chlorine treated water or sanitary equipment. Hopefully it just needs some time to go away? I've never had a beer with this flavor. Could it be a Brett issue?

 

There is the potential for Brett to throw medicinal phenols on its own, but that is typically strain dependent.

 

From my research I read that a few times as well. I've typically never picked up on the taste from Brett L or B before. We shall see in the next couple weeks!

 

Using the same amount of priming sugar would be correct.

Make absolutely sure fermentation is complete to avoid bottle bombs. Both of my batches the final gravity ended up at 1.000 even though the predicted FG was around 1.006-1.010. I think it took roughly 4-5 weeks for my batches to ferment out completely (consistent readings of 1.000).

 

As long as the gravity is stable, bottle as usual!

 

That sounds about right. I have had my IPA go from 1.062 to 1.008 in less than a week, and it stayed there. I wouldn't expect 100% app att, but then you do have quite a few strains. I would keep it in the high 70s for another week or so and see what it does. 100% Brett acts much more like Sacc, so if it is in the mid 80% app att to mid 90% and not moving for 2 consecutive hydrometer readings every other day, then you should be good to go. It might not move any further from the 1.004, or it might, I haven't used there blends. I use a three strain blend in my Saison, starts at 1.039, and finishes at 1.004, and that is with 10% table sugar.