Question about Brett & Wilds

This is what I have learned over the years.

In "Wild Brews" by Jeff Sparrow there is the following definition:

Wild Beer - any beer fermented or matured with yeast and/or bacteria other then those belonging to the genus Saccharomyces.

 

Brett can also produce Lactic acid. Wild Brews pg 108.

 

I suppose I would.
In my everyday beer vocabulary I don't really use Wild Ale to describe any beers at all, I'd use "sour" or "beer w/Brett" to describe the two different flavor profiles OP is questioning.

 

Sanctification, Brux, & Ommegeddon don't use any other "souring agents". Wild =/= sour.

 

Sanctification (according to Vinnie's past interviews) uses 70% brett strains, 30% 'funky bunch' (the RR house yeast with souring bugs).

 

Ah. Their website just mentions they do primary with 100% brett.

 

Yeah, bottle says it as well. I'm guessing he adds the funky bunch mix in secondary.

 

Yeah man, that sounds real epic...

 

This is an interesting topic, and one that happens to be fairly topical for a change that I suggested to two different beers over the weekend. To me, "American Wild Ale" has always been sort of a catchall for American-made sours that don't follow the specific recipes/techniques that your traditional sours follow (like gueuze, lambic, berliner weisse, flanders red, flanders bruin). The reason for this catchall can't possibly be illustrated any better than with the two beers I recommended changes for:

Yola's Artisan Ale (was classified as an American Amber/Red Ale prior to my recommendation)

Morningwood Breakfast Stout (was classified as an American Double/Imperial Stout prior)

The reason I recommended these changes is because, after having tried both beers, while I could see/smell/taste the elements of the amber and stout base beer, the fact that the brewer in question uses ample amounts of Brett, Lacto and others to "sour" the beer makes the sour component a more defining characteristic than the traits we (I) typically associate with ambers or stouts. Calling either an American Amber or American Imperial Stout would only confuse people as to what exactly they were going to be getting with a bottle of either beer.

It's for beers like these that I think the term "American Wild Ale" is necessary at all. To me, it describes an American or hybrid beer that utilizes souring agents or "wild" fermentation. Even though there is a lot of variance between different American Wilds, it still helps someone get a better feel for what to expect.

 

Seems like people are under the (false) assumption that Wild Ale implies that it is sour. A wild ale is an ale brewed with primarily with wild yeast strain and/or bacteria for fermentation.

To answer the OP's question, I don't think the presence of Brett necessarily implies it is a wild ale. Brewers will use multiple strains of yeast to ferment a beer, but it is when the primary fermentation occurs with wild organisms, that's when it should be considered "wild". At least that's my take on it.

 

Brett tastes like a Reuben with notes of Protien. IMHO

 

Platt platt platt

 

With your brother?
This got weird.

 

I see the term most commonly used with brett beers but also with American sours. Sorry, I don't see how using lab-cultured yeast or bacteria harvested from an isolated yeast bank counts as wild. The process of isolating and testing the strains for desired results is domestication. It is the exact opposite of "wild" regardless of whether it is a sacc strain, brett, pedio, lactobacillus, or any other bacteria or yeast that may be present. It's sort of like saying our pets are wild animals because at some point in the past they were not domesticated. That doesn't make any sense.

 

The bugs and critters are more like a pet wolf.

 

I believe the first batch was just brett, then after that he used lacto with the brett.

 

The funny/sad thing is those beers were not originally brewed to be wild/sour/anything of the sort.

I think he just decided all his beers would be "farmhouse" because of brewery hygiene issues.

 

Oh, really? I didn't know that. Well, the Yola's was fantastic, intentional or not. The Morningwood was a bit on the strange side and makes more sense in that context.