Brett in a bucket

This is what I always tell people that are afraid of Brett. The only time I've ever had an issue using plastic interchangeably was due to laziness and I knew it could be a concern but I accepted the risk.

I think people's fear stems from the fact that it doesn't take a large Brett cell count to have flavor or aromatic affects on a beer as stated by @jbakajust1 . It really just comes down to personal choice. Is it worth the risk when you can avoid any issues by having separate equipment or do you trust your sanitation practices?

The concern with scratches is that Brett cells are on average I think 3 times smaller then Sacc cells, which can give them the ability to fit into small scratches, but I think that is also overblown.

 

This post reminds me of a story. I was brewing a batch with a friend of my wife’s in attendance. He is very familiar with fermentation processes; he formerly was in charge of fermentations in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.

I made the statement to him of: there is a fine line between conscientiousness and paranoia when it comes to sanitation in homebrewing. He nodded in agreement.

Cheers!

 

done it all. doesn't get rid of the smells.
my rhubarb all-brett beer stained the bucket. that's a bad sign. i.e. it is porous.
my cider stunk the bucket up.

nothing got rid of the smells, so i tossed them.

 

first, we're talking about microorganisms, so scratch size is irrelevant.
the different between brett and sacc is that there is nothing for sacc to eat if accidentally introduced to a beer. brett has lots to eat, so it will grow.

second, most people sanitize with StarSan. that won't really kill brett (5 Star or OxyClean or bleach will be more effective).

i brew with brett. yet to have an infection in my sacc beer. and i use the same hose and wand for bottling. go figure. i just make sure to rinse the hose immediately, soak in oxyclean, let dry, and starsan it after.

 

I'm not saying that is specifically what will happen, but it is a concern most people have and like I said I think its over blown. It's the porous nature of plastic that is more of a concern when you're talking cell size. But yea I think most of the fears of Brett are just folklore and can be easily avoided.

I'm sure anyone that brews with Brett often gets the same looks from people in their homebrew club when you describe your process that I get, fear and confusion.

 

I can personally relate to that!

Before I brewed my first batch using Brett I sent several e-mails to Michael Tonsmiere (@OldSock ). He very kindly responded to my multiple queries and with his guidance my fear was diminished so I brewed using Brett.

I can report that just 'regular' conscientious sanitation is the 'answer' for me. I suppose that I should relate that my sanitation method is old school: bleach & water.

Cheers!

 

Where did you hear that? Simply not true. PBW and OxiClean are cleaners, not sanitizers. You should always be cleaning with a cleaner, rinsing, and then sanitizing with sanitizer.

 

Not sure what to tell you since it works for me. Oh, I know. I don't use oxyclean. It's just easier to say.

I use Seventh Generation powered laundry detergent which contains oxyclean and enzymes. Maybe that's the difference? It removes the odor from regular beers very well. I only need to use the Saniclean for the extra stinky bug buckets. I haven't had to throw away any buckets due to odor.

 

Why wouldn't StarSan kill Brett? Never heard that before and find it hard to believe.

 

Five bucks says your Walmart PET carboys are going to make a fine brett beer, not a vinegar marinade.

 

which i do. as i said in another post.
Oxyclean solution soak. rinse well. starsan.

 

i'm referring to trub that may be stuck to a carboy.
i'd use oxyclean to ensure the trub layer's broken down and then use starsan.

 

I'm confused, but I am used to that

We all agree that brett is yeast and StarSan kills yeast, right?

 

But then that's is the case for any microbe (including brewer's yeast). Sanitizers are only effective on clean, scratch-free, non-porous surfaces.

 

i'm not disagreeing with anything you're saying!

think that, due to my poorly-formed answers, there is a disconnect between my brain and my Post Replies.
i'm trying to say that there's a risk of brett infection if you don't clean well. oxyclean soak to get rid of any yeast cakey goodness. otherwise, a small amount of viable brett left behind is more detrimental than a small amount of sacch left behind. would you concur?

 

depends.
we talking about brett brux trois?

 

100%

 

Brettanomyces is yeast, brett trois appears (based on recent posts) to be a form of saccharomyces which is also a yeast. I think people often forget that brett is yeast because it is frequently lumped in with bacteria like Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Acetobacter.

StarSan kills yeast, so StarSan kills brett. StarSan also kills bacteria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brettanomyces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces
https://www.wyeastlab.com/com-lambic-brewing.cfm
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/star-san-does-it-kill-pedio.193534/

 

Agreed. Although it seems that some brewers think that means they don't need to be any more cautious dealing with these microbes than other brewer's yeast strains. The issue is that it takes far fewer Brett cells to create issues (flavor, over-carbonation etc.).

 

I'll defer to you for that. My take away from everything I have read is that if you do a good job cleaning and sanitizing, you should not have problems with brett. Of course, defining good cleaning and sanitizing might be problematic