100% Brett Saison Questions

100% Brett should be done fermenting in 4 weeks tops (most strains). I did a 100% Brett Trios APA that was dry hopped, carbed, and pouring from the keg at 2 weeks (carbonation keeps creeping up, so Brett is still working). No need for secondary.

 

Two things here. First, if you want more funk, leave it in primary. If you want a cleaner / fruity brett character then rack to secondary. Check out oldsock's article in last months ( byo or zymurgy can't remember which). There are a LOT of tips and tricks in it. You may geet jumped by the anti-secondary crew here, but brett likes oxygen, so even a poor rack wouldn't "hurt" the beer like it would with an ipa. If you do secondary there is no need to add more yeast.
Secondly, if you do a mixed ferment with traditional sacc and brett you can pitch them both together at the same time, you can pitch the sacc first and the brett at high krausen, you can pitch brett into secondary after the sacc stops. The sky is the limit really. I pitched saison I and brett brux trois together recently and enjoyed the combo enough to make it my go to saison yeasts. It fermented down to 1.003 in 5 weeks too. Now I just get to sit on them and see what changes each month...

 

Are you pitching two yeast strains? If you're saying 100% Brett-L then it's technically not a Saison, however, if single strain is your plan make sure to have a big starter. Treat the beer like you would a normal ale. Brett can take longer to ferment then ale yeast although in my experience it's never been substantially longer and it might just be me worrying. Take gravity readings, you'll never know its done if you don't. If you are pitching Sacc first and then Brett, rack to a secondary and then pitch Brett and age for a few months. It really just depends on what you're planning on doing with your yeast. If using a single strain there is no need for racking to a secondary carboy.

 

My only reply is in response to your comment "after I reach a desirable final gravity". It's hard to predict what the Brett will do. Take gravity readings and don't bottle or assume it's done until the gravity is stable, regardless of where you think it should finish. Good luck!

 

yeah, after I was positive it was at F.G. (maybe 3 days in a row with identical gravities, and only after hitting something in the 1.008 or lower range) I would add priming sugar to a bottling bucket and put this beer straight into 750 ml champagne or sparkling wine bottles. Probably leave 'em in a "warm room" for at least another month, although probably ready in 2 weeks.

Now if I was dry-hopping I might rack to a secondary before dry-hopping, so as to preserve a clean Brett-L cake for further use...

second question you asked, I don't think there should be the need for any additional yeast addition at bottling. You'll pick up enough racking to the bottling bucket in my experience.

 

With a big enough starter (4L+) you'll finish in 4wks or less, I am normally slow with all my beers so they typically sit in the primary 4-5wks

nothing is necessary, racking to a secondary isnt needed unless you need the carboy it was in during the primary

Brett as a primary strain tends to act like sacch and will be fruity when young and slowly get funky with time, IME it doesnt go too low for an FG.

If you start with a sacch strain and then add brett, the brett will convert all the esters/phenols from the sacch to its own kinda funk

Personally I would run with just Brett L, Ive done this many times and as a primary strain its great

One thing I would suggest with Brett L that really makes the flavors pop is adding just a touch of acid to the beer. It doesnt have to be enough to even know its there (=not even tart), if you take a glass of a brett L beer and add a pinch of acid to the glass you'll notice that it really opens up the flavors and makes it much fruitier. (I'd compare this to a flabby wine, once you add acid/tannin it really opens up the flavors and tastes better)

I would suggest tasting in a glass after the ferment is done with a pinch of acid (my preference is citric/malic), if its better that way scale it up and add a tiny bit to the keg/bottle

 

I agree on it not really being a saison if you use just brett. For me, saisons need saison yeast.