I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on bottle conditioning a Saison with Brett. My fg is at 1.003 and abv 7%. I was thinking of using 4 oz honey as my priming sugar. Couple of question- Will I create a bunch of bombs sitting in my cellar? I've read that honey doesn't add a ton of flavors so is it just better to use priming sugar?
i too am looking to bottle condition with brett, as not to funk up my equipment. from what i read you often dont need any priming sugar if you use brett b/c the brett just eats residual sugars. is this true? will the FG make a difference?
You can rely on the Brett alone, but it is tricky. Ideally you'd have brewed the recipe before, pitched the Brett into secondary and know how much of a gravity drop to expect. You're looking for ~.003 drop after bottling. Depending on the base beer and Brett that may require priming sugar, or allowing it to ferment before bottling to reduce the carbonation. Even if you have things precisely calculated, you may be waiting six months for full carbonation. Better to dry the beer out and then prime and pitch Brett. That said, even at 1.003 you could eventually end up with over-carbonated beer once the microbes ferment the sugar and dextrins.
If I were to pitch the Brett in secondary do you think I have enough sugars for the Brett to be happy?
Brett doesn't "do" much with carbohydrates from malt. It'll make some esters, but not much else (this is why 100% Brett beers are so clean by comparison). When they really make their character is from scavenging other stuff -compounds from yeast, hop, oak, spices, fruit etc. Orval is Brett'd at bottling, and it gets plenty funky given time!
Whats the best strain of brett to use at bottling, ala orval style, and how much should i add to each bottle?
White Labs or Wyeast Brett Brux is supposed to be from/like Orval. Here's a post I did about bottling for Brett, and the tasting results of the five versions.
