What's Brewing - June '17 edition

For the dates, he had broken up a 20# block in a bag for his Quad and not all of it got dissolved into the wort. I got the rest of what was left. I haven't tried any purees/concentrates before, this is the first foree.

I have BK Yeast C1, 2 & 3, 2 of the 3 Eureka Cantillon isolates, a wild Brett C from @CASK1, and Drie.

 

I shared it previously:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...w-are-you-drinking.508399/page-2#post-5460155

For this round though, I did a total of ~8lbs of fresh picked strawberries with the same processing method as described, and increased the mosaic to get to ~12oz (mostly at dry hop).

 

Interesting. So a B. anomalus species? Not familiar with the user, so you'll have to excuse my forwardness, but how'd he get confirmation?

 

I believe he works in the bio industry or has the background to do it. He has isolated a few Brett a in the past from wild catches. He pulled apart a wild catch I had done in the past and isolated a Pichia fermantans and Sacc cerevisiae.

 

Have you used this isolate? Interesting genera, Pichia. They tend to be a little problematic in beer fermentations, though, as they tend to be big ethyl acetate and mercaptan producers. They do much better in wine, FWIW.

 

Although not the same species, Eureka Brewing has some awesome descriptions of non-sacch, non-brett yeasts.

https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/hello-my-name-is-pichia-kudriavzevii/

 

I haven't. I might use it in a blend at some point. What I sent him for isolation was from dregs I built up from my wild. I had primed with wine yeast, so I don't know for sure if the Sacc strain is that or from my wild.

 

It seems from what I've seen for responses in this forum that it is dependent on individual sensitivities to the grassy flavors. I guess I'm not given that I have left them in for as long as 2 months with no issues. I see around a 50/50 ratio of people.

 

I'm doing academic research on Brett as a biologist. We ID by PCR of the 5.8S rDNA region, followed by RFLP analysis. It's not the gold standard, but close.

Our publication on this.

 

Was it, in fact, a B. anomalus variant?

Can you share some specifics of your research? Have learned a lot about Brettanomyces from sources like The Brettanomyces Project and Milk The Funk, but am always interested to read and learn more. Non-sacch. yeast genera are at the bleeding edge of finding out the capacity of beer fermentation, IMO.

Thanks for answering!

 

It is B. anomalus. We've had a pretty easy time isolating strains of this from fruit. We're currently interested in the PAD gene activity responsible for phenolic character. We've cloned the gene from one B. bruxellensis strain and can make large amounts of the protein in bacteria, where the enzyme is active. We're currently working on a version that we can easily purify. Ultimately interested in why some strains give smoky, spicy phenol character, while others give burnt plastic, medicinal, etc.

 

So, basically a genetic basis for the differences in strength of hydroxycinnamic acid decarboxylase and vinyl phenol reductase enzymes in different Brett. sp. or something different?

 

Thanks for that. And well stated! I had no idea how sensitive I was to Simcoe until I used a "healthy" amount in a batch and learned that I get a lot of rubbery/plastic from it. I thought it was a flaw in my brewing but I've had decent commercial examples (Old Planters Misery and just recently Hill Farmstead's Dharma Bum) and though tasty, I still get a rubbery, plastic and alcohol fumes from Simcoe. So if I left a Simcoe dry hop in for the duration, I'd probably complain but I probably wouldn't complain if I left a Citra dry hop in for the duration. Just my guess.

 

Yesterday, racked over my new IPA which I named “Somewhere in Neverland”…

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.009
6.2% ABV
100+ IBU

The recipe was purposely designed to be resinous, bitter, dank and pungent… At 100 IBU (200 theoretical) using of Chinook as a driving bittering hop to deliver a harsh, intense bittering quality.

A mix of all the dankest hops… Chinook, Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe and Nugget as a majority of the 18.5oz used between bittering and dry hop. A touch of Galaxy and Citra in dry hop just to add some fruity qualities, but only as an accent. Simcoe, Nugget and Columbus being the primary focus by that point.

The grist portion was to offer some malty backbone without being too intense… 2-Row primarily (around 80%) with Munich and Vienna to get a bit more flavor in there. Small amount of 60L just for color adjustment.

Chico ale for this one… Was getting burned out by all the NE IPA’s I have brewed recently, hence why I went completely opposite side of the spectrum. In-your-face west coast with a yeast strain that will allow the hops to shine in their pure form.

I had some leftover beer after filling the keg and enjoyed a full glass of this beer and this one will be special… Can’t wait until I tap it next Wednesday! It's so aromatic and pungent in flavor at this point already... Can't imagine it all carbonated up and at proper temperature!

 

Brewed up a Simcoe heavy Black IPA this morning for a club comp and then cracked the glass fermenter as soon as I filled it with the beer...luckily I was able to grab a smaller plastic fermenter and transfer most of the beer to save it. Looks like it's time to buy some new plastic fermenters.

 

I bottled 12 gallons of brett beer a few days ago. I was sore the next day. I'm getting old...

 

I ended up pushing most of my bottling off to this weekend. I only got a 3 gallon batch bottled. I still have 15 gallons of bottling in front of me.