Brett in a bucket

FWIW, I have brewed with Brett a couple of times (co-pitched with Brewer’s yeast). In both of those batches I used my fermentation bucket.

I then brewed regular beers in that bucket with no issues.

Cheers!

 

Depends on how long you are planning on aging the beer prior to packaging. If you are planning on leaving it for a long time I would recommend something that doesn't have as much oxygen diffusion as a bucket. If it's going to be quick then a bucket should be no problem. So it really all depends on what you're brewing.

 

The concensus seems to be avoid buckets for long term aging, my first sour is a few months in in a better bottle, seemed like cheap insurance for this much of a time investment.

 

I have had major issues trying to reuse plastic buckets for non-sour beers after making a Lacto beer. I imagine Brett would do the same thing. Use glass for sure.

 

Yes and no. Good sanitation practice should be able to allow you to use both if you're only using Brett. Most people usually buy separate equipment because it's a cheap easy way to prevent infection. I have two separate bottling buckets for that reason, but I've recently had to use my "sour" bucket to bottle a "clean" beer so we'll find out.

In other word you're right as far as bacteria is concerned, but Brett is just a yeast and assuming no scratches in your bucket you should be fine.

 

Better Bottles (or any PET carboy for that matter) or glass if you must. The bucket will let in too much O2, and this could lead to the Brett producing acetic acid which won't be enjoyable. On top of that it could convert it to ethyl acetate, a little is yummy, too much and your beer is ruined (nail polish remover).

 

I've reused a bucket after brett with no problems. Never done a sour before.

 

I like to break all the best practice rules of thumb when brewing. I ferment brett, lacto, pedio beers in buckets for a long time and no they aren't vinegar bombs and I have never infected a clean beer using the same bug gear. You won't believe some of those bug buckets actually have visible scratches, but they do. YMMV.

Sanitation practice is soak the fermenter in hot water with oxy clean or similar for a few days. Rinse, then Star San.

That said, it makes good sense to have a dedicated fermenter and bottling bucket for wild beers. I prefer to live dangerously.

 

One of my older brew buckets is now a dedicated sour bucket. With the extra oxygen permeability it supposedly has, I am hoping that the current batch in it will come out more sour than the one I did in glass last year. It's an experiment, anyway.

 

A couple of my best beers have been the ones accidentally soured by my Lacto-infected buckets. On the other hand, many of my WORST beers have been the ones accidentally soured by Lacto.......

 

@inchrisin no worries doing a primary in a bucket but I wouldn't go much more than a month or so. I recently forgot about a dark saison in a bucket with Brett trois and 3711. After 2 months in the bucket a subtle acetic note is apparent. It's not offensive, but in another few weeks or months it probably would have been.

As an edit to this I mix clean Ales and lagers in the same buckets that I use Brett in. I haven't had any infections or problems yet and I intentionally bottle some beer from keg at cellar temp to make sure I'm not infected.

 

I bet it will. Definitely will have more acetic acid anyway.

 

I had brett infect the next batch I fermented in said bucket. Awesome IPA that turned into gushers. LOL. So I took some bleach and cleaned my entire brewery. Problem solved.

 

I thought the below information from Chad Yokobson from a 2011 NHC presentation would be of interest:

“Brettanomyces is not a super organism, it is a yeast and can be cleaned and removed like yeast. Heat killing or sterilizing will do the trick.”

My personal take away from the above is that since regular homebrewing sanitation eliminates previous yeast from a previous batch of beer from fermentation equipment, it should do the same for a batch brewed with Brett.

Cheers!

 

While I agree for the most part, it does have to be observed that buckets with scratches can harbor Brett cells that are not killed by our typical cleaning and sanitizing procedures. If this indeed happens, the beer will be food for these cells to grow in, and thus become an issue in the batch fermented in it. While it is true that Brett is not a super organism and is just like other yeast when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing, it does still have some very large differnces. Mainly, if my bucket has scratches and is harboring 001, when I pitch a starter of Beglian yeast into that bucket any insignificant cells of 001 are quickly out competed for food, and have very minimal growth. 001 won't grow after primary is done feeding on the left over beer sugars and esters. On the other hand, Brett will continue to multiply slowly in a finished beer that is devoid of nutrients, feeding on remaining sugars and esters, and its effects will be noticeable in time.

 

I can only provide 2 data points: I have brewed twice with Brett in my buckets (both batches were co-pitched with Brewer’ yeast). I reused those buckets, with sanitation, for regular beers with zero signs of Brett in those batches (or subsequent batches).

I suppose the best I can state here is that what Chad Yokobson mentioned ‘works’ for me.

Maybe this is a time for YMMV?

Cheers!

 

my opinion:
long-term brett-as-secondary (i.e. greater than 6 months)? glass
short-term brett-plus-fruit? plastic (for ease of addition).
Lambic? I'd be fine with a bucket, esp if you're trying to replicate the O2 permeability of a wooden barrel. some may say I'm wrong, and i have no experience to back this up (i'll tell you in 1 year when my lambic is 18 months old), but that's my hunch. it will be a more tart lambic, and i'm fine with that.

i am at the point, tho, where i don't like to re-use my buckets. one and done. no matter what i do, i can still smell the previous beer in them.

 

For extra stinky buckets, I've found a 2-3 day soak in hot oxyclean followed by a 2-3 day soak in hot Saniclean gets rid of the odor. Saniclean is like Starsan, but it is also used for odor removal. It works.