Working on a recipe for Brett

After trying a bottle of Sierra Nevada/Russian river Brux, I became really interested in brettanomyces. I have began exploring the world of brett and sours beers. I am reading American Sour Beers, and getting ready to start brewing my first experiment in this style.

I have worked up a base recipe for experimenting and would like to see what you guys think.

Target Gravity: 1.050
Finished volume: 5 G
10IBU from Hallertau 0.5 oz 40minutes
Assumed efficiency 68%
Grain bill: 10lbs Pilsner malt, 1lb unmalted wheat to be boiled 20-3-min in 3Qt H2O prior to mash for
starch gelatinization
Infusion mash in high 150s deg F to increase amount of dextrin
Sparge 170 deg F
Primary fermentation with either wy1056 or a lager yeast at room, I’m undecided on this.
Brett built up from SN/RR brux dregs

I plan to brew 5 gallons of this and then split a couple of gallon into 1G carboys to experiment with fruit additions or lactobacillus addition.

Any input on this process is appreciated. Because it is such an investment in time, I really don’t want to brew something that doesn’t turn out drinkable. In addition to this I have pitched the dregs from a bottle of Orval and a bottle of Baccus into a gallon of cider. I’m getting excited to see how that turns out.

Looks good to me.

You may have trouble getting the 1g lacto one to sour. Many of the commercial lacto strains are pretty weak and seem to not do well in the presence of alcohol. If you want that variant to be sour, I’d recommend pitching the dregs of a commercial sour beer, especially something like Jolly Pumpkin or a belgian gueuze. IME the critters that survive in the bottle are much more adept at souring already fermented beer (it’s probably a lot of pedio)

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately there aren’t many sour beers available in WV at this time. Maybe this will give me a good reason for a road trip.

What about Goose Island Lolita? It’s nationally distributed and you should be able to find it at any upscale grocery store I would think. Heck, they have it at some of the crappy grocery stored here in CLE.

[quote=“Wahoo”]Looks good to me.

You may have trouble getting the 1g lacto one to sour. Many of the commercial lacto strains are pretty weak and seem to not do well in the presence of alcohol. If you want that variant to be sour, I’d recommend pitching the dregs of a commercial sour beer, especially something like Jolly Pumpkin or a belgian gueuze. IME the critters that survive in the bottle are much more adept at souring already fermented beer (it’s probably a lot of pedio)[/quote]

He can do this, but he has to pitch the lacto first, then use an ale yeast. It will spit out some lactic acid in the first few days of fermentation then the ale yeast (Saison II/566 or a trappist yeast will work well given the alcohol/pH tolerance) will take it down the rest of the way, particularly if there is a good sized pitch. [Disclaimer: I have not yet tasted the results of doing it this way, brewed the beer about 9 months ago].

My question though is, if you want to get into wild ales, why even bother with the ale yeast? I would just direct pitch something (or a few things) like what these guys carry.

http://www.theyeastbay.com/wild-yeast-a ... -products/

I would also advocate for maxing out the mashing/boiling capacity of your system, then diluting down to 1.050 so you will have more beer in a year for drinking/blending or to account for a possible dumper. Your one-to-one-and-a-half-year-older self will thank you.

I’m pretty sure Tonsmiere says this, but if you are going for more sourness/complexity, maybe just pitch a blend of bugs and sacc yeast at the start and let them compete.

What about Goose Island Lolita? It’s nationally distributed and you should be able to find it at any upscale grocery store I would think. Heck, they have it at some of the crappy grocery stored here in CLE.[/quote]

Pretty sure Gooseweiser’s wild ales are pasteurized, so this wouldn’t help him.

I haven’t seen Lolita here, but I do occasionally see Matilda and Sophie. I will keep an eye out for it though.

I had planned to do the primary fermentation with a sacc yeast, because I had read that brett will metabolize some of it’s byproducts of fermentation to produce more brett character. WY1056 is just what I already have on hand and will wash from an IPA I have fermenting. I was considering a lager yeast due to the fruity esters that will be produced at room temperature.

I do like the idea of starting with a higher gravity and diluting to 1.050 to get a higher volume, but unfortunately I am limited on fermenter space. I only have one 5.5 G carboy and a couple of 1G carboys to dedicate to this project at the moment.