Litle experiment with B. Bruxellensis

[Zucker Bee]

I'm currently cultivating Brett in a carboy. I plan to transfer it in 2 or 3 Sankey and then top up those kegs with beer and an amount of unfermented wort.

Since Brett seems to reproduce better in aerobic conditions, I wonder if it will impart, over a long period, a definite taste on my beer since S. Cerevisae would ferment first and saturate the beer with CO2 AND pressurize the keg.

Any thoughts?

Zb

[Valleybrew]

If I understand your proposal, you wish to ferment wort in a keg using beer yeast as well as Brett? If this is a closed keg you will end up with an exploding keg bomb. I inferred this since you refer to the build up of CO2 pressure from the ferment. The pressure increase during fermentation would be very large. Brett is typically added to a finished beer (although a few full Brett ferments have been done, myself included). The flavor the Brett imparts is very pronounced and you should do a little research on Wild Brews if you intend to journey into this realm. Brett is a very slow "fermenter" but it is very thorough. It will ferment the beer to a finish gravity of 1.00 with no problem given enough time. Maybe you could explain what your intended project goal or what your beer target is and we can give you some more helpful input. Welcome to the Wild.

[Zucker Bee]

Steve

I know a litle bit about Bret, it's taste and on how it evolves over time, but as how much quantity of gas is released... I don' know exactly.

I've done regular ref-ermentation with S.Cerevisae in Sankeys with no problem, using proper amount of wort/sugar.

So, I want to do the same thing, but with Brett addded to it from my 5 liter B. Brux starter that has been fermenting for a week now. (BTW: how long does a Brett-only fermentation takes?)

I want to mix it with a Saison that has finished at 1,3 Plato. My guess is that if the B. uses the mere 0,3 Plato of residual sugar, it might no be enough for a proper carbonation (in a Sankey)

Why do I want to do this in a Sankey? Mainly because I don't want to contaminate my brewery! Also because I don't want to (possibly) ruin a 10hl batch.

Cheers!

Ben

[Valleybrew]

OK got the idea. You shouldn't see a problem with 1.3 Plato. I have targetted for a gravity of around 3 Plato on beers that I have bottled conditioned with Brett. Anything higher and you could run into overcarbonation problems. If you add it to the Saison at 1.3P you might want to force carbonate the Saison a little or add a little priming sugar to ensure target carbonation levels. The quantity of gas released by brett will be the same as if beer yeast had done the same fermentation. Same gas formulas apply. Orval uses Brett as its bottle conditioning "yeast". Really amazing change of flavor in an Orval fresh vs aged for a few years. I like both but really prefer the fresh.

Good Luck

[Zucker Bee]

Thanks for the tips, Steve.

I'll post my observations as things evole

Cheers!

[braupartner]

Thanks for the tips, Steve.

I'll post my observations as things evole

Cheers!

Hi Zucker,
Your whole setup sounds quite interesting. I know it's been some time. How have things gone with this fermentation?
Cheers!
Partner

[Zucker Bee]

We try to get about 2.5P residual sugars in our beer in order to have a decent carbonation. Just as Steve pointed out, over 3P is too much. I mean, nice carb for the first months, champagne-like, but after that it becomes a time bomb and flavour also becomes uniteresting. Some breweries simply wait utnil FG reaches 2P and package with no sugar. We, for instance, wait a bit longer and do add some sugar, just to kickstart

Ben

[braupartner]

Hey Ben, thank you! This solved my mystery.

[Zucker Bee]

you got good results (yet) ?

[braupartner]

you got good results (yet) ?

Hi ZuckerBee, thanks! I brewed a delicious Brett-IPA. With age it gets more and more funky. Nice batch. Cheers!