Yeast Bay updates

I think there are so many variables, that any strain can put out a very wide array of character. Yeast health, pitch rates, water & mash chemistry, fermentation temps and conditions, interaction of ingredients, etc.

 

Has anyone had any experience with the Brussesls Brett Blend? I brewed a wheat pale ale and am fermenting it with 100% with this blend. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it; temp, time frame, etc.

Thanks!

 

Did you end up using the Vermont Ale yet? If so, at what temp? I had 2 vials from 3/10 that I did a 1L starter with and pitch into a 1.066 IPA. I'm holding at 67/68 right now and until at least day 3. Was going to bump by 1 each day after until 71 but no higher. Was wondering if you held at 68 and what you got for attenuation. I mashed at 148 too to go for a low FG. Love them dry.

 

Brewed a DIPA with Vermont Ale.

GP 78%
Munich 17%
Flaked Rye 6%

Mashed @ 154°
Fermented @ 68° for 7 days, 72° for 7 days. Kegged on day 15

OG 1.078
FG 1.019

Apparent attenuation: 76%

I designed the recipe for 1.015, after much deliberation as my wife likes sweeter DIPAs, but did not quite get that much attenuation. Designed with Brewcipher, and with a similarly attenuative yeast...as Vermont Ale is not included in the drop down. I'm not sure the cause for the lower attenuation, most of my beers finish right around target when using Brewcipher.

When I received my vial it was pretty warm. It was packaged in a sealed bag with a cold pack, but the cold pack didn't quite last to my doorstep. The vial was easily in the 90's when I opened the package, as USPS had it all day in the back of one of their delivery vans...it was in the high 80's and sunny outside. So I'm not sure if that affected the yeast adversely or not. I elected to make the yeast starter that night, as I wasn't sure how stressed the yeast were...and didn't want to cool them down to fridge temps, and then warm to pitching. I pitched 36 hrs after the starter had finished, and did decant.

For what it's worth, the sample I had while kegging tasted great...just a little sweeter than I wanted.

 

I ended up with about 84% with mine but that was with 8 0z of corn sugar added too. Still sounds like your warm delivery might by the culprit. Very happy with the results after about 3 weeks in the keg.

 

I have accidentally gotten the clove note from cultured Heady yeast, repitched a bit warm. John has been quoted as saying that Conan can ferment as cool as 50F; I've fermented a pale ale as cool as 56F with no issues, so keeping it cool is probably best for IPA's, and I'd not repitch more than 2-3 generations to be safe, unless you have a micro lab at your disposal.

 

Subtle bookmark - There's a HBS in the UK who are importing this company's yeast so I'll be interested to read all the responses

 

Looks like they're both still available for preorder on the site. I ordered both of those plus the Amalgamation on Friday - going to pitch the Amalgamation into secondary for a saison, make a rye sour with the Melange, and a pretty basic 80% Pils/20% Wheat saison with the Farmhouse Sour. I've got a couple ideas for the new Dry Belgian Ale strain but my brewing schedule is pretty packed for the next couple months so I held off on ordering that one for now.

 

Bah... got around to placing an order, and Amalgamation is sold out. Got two of the Melange and 1 of the Farmhouse Sour's though.

Not interesting in the belgian stuff, but figure I can probably get another sour blonde or two going with the melange, maybe another simple saison or something to sour up and blend with my ECY brett saison at some point in time.

Amalgamation sounded pretty good though.

 

In that case, @JackHorzempa my assumption is that Dry Belgian Ale is the Bruery's house yeast, for a few reasons:
1) The Yeast Bay description says it was isolated from a brewery that regularly uses it to ferment beers up to 12 - 16% ABV. There are a pretty small number of breweries that brew many beers up into that range on a regular basis and the Bruery is probably the best known.
2) Nick commented in a Reddit thread that it's "a Belgian strain with Belgian origins" - there's some inference there on my part, but it seems that he didn't directly isolate it from a Belgian beer (especially since no Belgian breweries regularly brew beers in the 12 - 16% ABV range). The description also mentions that it's isolated from a unique golden strong ale - easy to guess that means Duvel. In American Sour Beers, Mike mentions in the section on the Bruery that their house yeast is a derivative of the Duvel strain, so it fits the high ABV criteria as well as the clues about its origins (page 121, third paragraph).
3) I spoke with a homebrewer who had the opportunity to use the Bruery's yeast a few years ago, and he had told me that their yeast had incredibly high attenuation - fast forward, and this strain that Nick is pitching has incredibly high attenuation to the point where people do a double take when they see the stats for the strain.

Perhaps there's another brewery who would fit all of those clues, but I've yet to come up with a potential origin that has as much evidence as the Bruery.

 

Thank you for taking the time to make that thoughtful post.

Cheers to you!

 

Interesting... It would fun to taste something simple side by side, except they don't make anything simple.

Has me interested in doing a big Autumn Maple like beer and aging in bourbon barrels with it, but alas, I didn't order any this go around.

 

Mischief is probably the closest they have to a simple beer (in bottles anyway), although the dry hopping covers up some of the yeast character.

I've been thinking about doing a White Chocolate inspired beer for a few months - 10 - 12% ABV wheatwine with cacao nibs and vanilla beans, aged on some bourbon-soaked oak cubes, which I'll probably use this yeast for. Also going to take it for a spin on a Belgian Golden Strong to see how it compares with the Duvel yeast at some point. Too many ideas, not enough time to brew.

 

That is correct. It's The Malt Miller in the UK for anyone on that side of the pond.

Cheers!

 

Got my vials of melange and sour saison saturday. They were delivered in 2 days which was nice. Brewed up a blond Sunday and pitched melange. Already having airlock activity. Will report back in 1-1.5yrs

 

Yeah, I got my vials on saturday as well. I was waiting for them because I knew the package would be warm as heck. I was I right, but got them into the fridge quickly.

Now I need to get some recipes together for them.

 

I was planning to do an 11gal split batch between Melange and Farmhouse Sour with 1.050 wort split 80/20 Pils/Wheat shooting for about 10 IBU. I'm wondering if a starter is necessary for the farmhouse sour since it's listed as 53B cells. Would it be smart to make a no aeration starter to bump up the count? @Biobrewer

 

I did a 70/30 pilsner/wheat base for the Melange on Monday and let it cool overnight. I pitched it yesterday morning and this morning I had a good couple inches of krausen.

I also picked up a Saison Brett and a Brevis. Going to to a dry/mash hopped (Sorachi Ace) no-boil Berliner with some harvested 3711 next week and then a combo of the Brevis, finished up with the Saison Brett and fruit next month. Looking forward to it!

 

Prove it

 

Ill probably transfer it to a carboy soon for long term aging, Ill throw up a picture Curious to see if there will be a pellicle in the bucket. Probably unlikely due to the c02 blanket.