Saison with brett

Yeah, I cracked a new bottle of Arthur the other night and immediately thought, "damn, these guys might have to go in."

@JackHorzempa I'm starting to think that just going for it and seeing what I get might be my approach, though it's obviously not the best bet for going in with a clear idea of what my product will be (or for sake of repeatability) . I'm also starting to think that the 670 blend might not be the best yeast for controlled experimentation, too, given its unknown lineage beyond "it's from Lost Abbey" repeated on numerous message boards. The nice thing is that I fully intend to focus much of my brewing energy on funky/tart farmhouse ales since they've become my favorite style over the last year or so. Since I have the yeast, I'll go for it and then start planning something with a mix of known saison & brett strains from different vials as I learn more about them (and brewing with brett in general).

 

/thread

 

Ok, I've been thinking about this, and here's what I'm working on so far:

60% Pilsner
20% Wheat
20% Munich

Mash around 154-155, target OG of 1.050. Contemplating whether or not I want to start with a rest at 113 as suggested upthread. A single infusion is my preference, though.

Hop to around 25 IBUs. I have the following on hand: Styrian Goldings, Perle, Fuggles, Nelson, Amarillo, & Simcoe. I'm leaning toward Styrian Goldings to bitter (I have a couple of ounces left in my freezer from my neighbor's harvest last summer) and an ounce of Perle/some more Styrian late. I've read that people perceive minty flavors from Perle when used as a flavoring addition, and I've found a bit of minty hop flavor to compliment funky/sour beers nicely. Cuvee St. Gilloise comes to mind, and I got some mintiness from de Garde's Imperial Hop Bu recently. Potential for dry-hopping depending on how things progress.

I'm also now thinking that a starter for WLP670 would be good, as I just noticed that the vial I have is 2.5 months old.

Questions:

1) Should I transfer to glass for secondary after a few weeks or just let it ride in the bucket? Several folks on wlp670 threads reported that they felt their brews with this blend were ready after 3 months.
2) If I should transfer, when? When primary slows to the point that sacch appears finished & the slower-working Brett hasn't started dropping gravity any lower?
3) HF dregs are a go (Arthur and E.). Primary or secondary? Also, do I need to step them up, or can I get good results from just pitching straight from the bottle (one of each) into my brew? Haven't done this before.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

I just had a thought. I'm also looking to do a low gravity pale (ie "Session IPA," flame on) hopbursted with lots of simcoe, nelson, and amarillo and all three as dry hops in the keg. I have a different grain bill that I've played around with for that beer, but I was thinking that I could do 10 gallons with essentially this grain bill (might tool around with it some more, maybe take it down to the 1.045 range, scale back munich, and add rye) and split the batch. Half would get Wy1056 and dryhops, and half would get the wlp670 and HF dregs. I'd get two beers for the price of one day's brewing.

My thinking is that the wheat, maybe some rye as suggested, and higher mash temps would maintain body for the session IPA. My worry is whether or not the huge hop flavor & aroma would work with the saison/brett blend and dregs. Also, how would the pilsner base work with the clean beer? Boil 90 minutes to prevent DMS?

I'd like to brew a lot this summer, as my taps are dry. Knocking out two brews in one day would get me going for sure. Talk me in or out of it.

 

Was thinking about this some more this morning. I believe that I will proceed but sub 2-row for the pilsner. I'll plan on getting much of my hop character for the hoppy pale with a hopstand after running half of the kettle off and chilling for the bretted Saison. Toss the hopstand addition in after half the wort is run through my CFC into my fermenter, let it sit while I aerate/pitch 670 and move that batch to my ferm chamber, and then I'll chill the hoppier half and pitch 1056. I've not brewed with pilsner but have read conflicting accounts of DMS presence even after a long boil, so I figure using 2-row will be a safer bet.

 

Haven't been on BA much recently...I ended up brewing a pils/wheat/munich saison with about 25 ibu of Perle. I kegged this in December (brewed last July). Haven't drank a lot because I had surgery in early January and was out of it/on meds/off beer for a while. I ended up pitching dregs from two HF bottles and one bottle of crooked stave Surette. It was a little boring in the early fall, and I wanted to get it tart. It's pretty delicious, came out very vinous, pleasantly tart up front with a nice dirty brett character lingering.