Brett C Update

4/30/13
Six weeks since I brewed this beer

SG = 1.008

Aroma : Same as above.

Flavor: Very dry with a slight acidity. Pleasant tartness due to some acidity. Citrus fruit (pineapple) coming thru. Some clove.  Brett funkiness is there, probably meaning that the brett C wasn't acting as a primary fermenter. Definitely has rye crispness, probably too much although I'll see what its like when its carbed. Time to keg this.

When I make this again, I probably will use wheat instead of rye. Other than the rye, this beer has a delicate flavor profile and this much rye is overpowering. Could use some aroma hops as well to balance it out.

Brett C Rye Saison update

I took a hydrometer sample of the Brett C Rye Saison this morning. Its been 16 days since I pitched the 3711 yeast. The hydrometer reading is 1.003. Looks like the 3711 did its job!

I took the beer from 68deg F up 2deg per day to 80. Held it there for 4 days then cooled it down to 72deg F. Its been sitting at 72deg since.

Color:  Straw yellow. Very cloudy.

Aroma: Definitely phenolic. Cloves maybe some citrus fruit.

Flavor: Very dry. some acidity, a little tannic. Maybe some citrus fruit coming thru.

This is definitely a different beer. Doesn't taste like a saison. Not sure what it tastes like right now. I will let this sit for a few more weeks in the bucket before I cold crash and carb it.

Sour Baby Won Gold

As I mentioned before, Sour Baby, our sour project won the Gold Medal for Belgian Specialty at this year's Peach State Brew Off.  I am very proud because Belgian Specialty is a catch-all category and very difficult to win.

We actually entered two versions of this beer into the PSBO, one plain and one dry hopped with Amarillo.

We entered the plain version under the saison category which turned out to be a mistake. Sour Baby isn't hoppy enough, too malty and has sour characteristics that just don't fit as a saison. The judges said it was a good beer, but missed the style guidelines. It scored a 24/50. Its a problem when you enter a beer that doesn't conform to an exact style. It may be a good beer, but it won't do well.

We got the Amarillo version right by entering it into the Belgian Specialty category. It scored a 39.5 / 50 and took the Gold!

Here are the Judges' comments:

Judge 1:
Very interesting beer. Very complex but balanced. Brett character really complements rest of the beer. Hops are assertive but not overwhelming. Might try a bit warmer fermentation temperature to produce more esters. Increasing dry hops would be OK as well. Nice.

Judge 2:
Very complex beer. I am a sucker for Brett! A lot going on in this beer but overall well balanced. Excellent job! Send me your recipe.

Kreusen!!

Well it looks like the 3711 really is an "11". Got a crazy kreusen going on and the SG is down to 1.042!

Brewing the Brett C Rye Saison and Trouble

Brew day for the Brett C Rye Saison was 3/17/13.

Everything went well. Hit all my numbers. Got a crazy efficiency.
My targeted starting gravity was supposed to be 1.056. My actual starting gravity was 1.064! Thats an efficiency of 81%. Not a big deal, just a little stronger beer in the end with a predicted ABV of 7% instead of the planned 6%.

Got the wort cooled down and pitched the flask of Brett C starter and put into the ferm fridge at 70 deg F. Brett C likes warm temperatures, but I wanted to keep the phenolic flavors under control so I decided to ferment at a cool temperature. Phenolic flavors in beer are clove and spice flavors. These are the trademarks of Belgian styles of beer and brewers who brew those beers use yeasts bred to produce those flavors. Phenolic flavors come out at higher fermentation temperatures. In fact, some Belgian breweries ferment their beer at up to 90 deg F to bring out those flavors.

For this beer, I wanted a more subdued profile, so I wanted to ferment at a colder temperature.

Regular ale yeast ferments best for me at 68 deg F. Thats a little low for Brett C, so I scoured the interwebs and settled on using 70deg F as a fermentation temperature that would control the spiciness of the beer.

After 2 days, the fermentation went wild. In fact, kreusen blew out of the airlock. After the kreusen fell, a pellicle started to develop. The first few days, the beer smelled horrible. Kind of like vomit and cat shit. Believe it or not, thats supposed to be a good sign. So far so good.

The SGs went as follows:

3/17 - 1.064
3/21 - 1.052
3/23 - 1.050
3/30 - 1.050  STUCK!!!!

The damn yeast stopped working. I wrote an Email to Michael Tonsmeire, "The Mad Fermentationist "(you have to check out his blog about brewing wild and sour beers - he is a guru on this subject). He suggested that I bump up the temperature to 80 deg F. So I did. I also gently swirled the fermentation bucket to try to rouse the yeast.

After a day, the same gravity. Still stuck. Was my yeast bad? I know it was old, but it did grow up in the starter.  Maybe there's something about Brett yeast that poops out when its old, I dont know.

Anyways the all Brett experiment is a bust.

So in order to save the batch, I decided to grow up some Wyeast 3711 Fench Saison yeast. Ill just turn this brew into a funky saison. Who knows, it might even taste good.

Now for those of you not familiar with 3711, "Its just like 3710, but one better. It goes up to 11". Just like in Spinal Tap.  Its a super fermenter. It goes gangbusters. It'll finish a stuck fermentation. It goes up to 11!

Pitched the 3711 on 4/3/13 at 68 deg F. I'll ramp it up 2 degrees a day until it gets to 80 degrees, my standard saison temperature regimen.

Making the Brett C starter

In order to properly ferment with Brett C, I had to make a starter.

I made a  simple sterile starter wort with 1200ml water and 120g light DME boiled for 15 min and cooled.

I pitched one vial of WLP654 Brett C.

Brewmasters Warehouse was out of Brett C in their yeast fridge but they had a couple of bottles in their outdated fridge. One vial was 1 month out of date so I went ahead and bought it thinking that it really didn't matter because since I'd be making a starter, I'd be able to tell if the yeast was viable or not.

Starter flask went on the stir plate at room temperature ( ~ 70 deg F)

After a couple of days, started to see activity:

I let the starter go for two weeks. I didn't use the stir plate after the kreusen settled.

After two weeks, the yeast developed a nice pellicle:

As nasty and hairy as a pellicle looks, for Brett yeast, a pellicle is a good thing.  The pellicle is a protective coating over the yeast, protecting it from oxygen when its going thru its anaerobic phase.

The yeast is ready to pitch.

Brett C Rye Saison - The Plan

My first all Brett beer was a simplified version of the Sour Baby Recipe. The goal of this brew was to experiment with Brett and see the flavor profile I could get with an all Brett fermentation.

So instead of using a traditional strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, this batch would be fermented with Brettanomyces Claussenii (Brett C). Apparantly when pitched at high enough volume, Brett will ferment wort similarly to Sacc but with different flavor characteristics. Beer fermented with Brett C are supposed to be fruity, with some hints of pineapple and cherry.

Here is the recipe that I used for this brew:


Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP645 Brett C
Yeast Starter: 1.2L 
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 26
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 4.7
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 4 - 6 weeks at 70 deg
Additional Fermentation: None

8 lb Continental Pilsner
3 lb Rye Malt
0.5 lb rice hulls

Mashed at 150 deg F for 90 min

90 min boil

2oz Styrian Goldings at 60 min ( 26 IBU)

1 lb sugar at 10 min

Cooled to room temperature
Pitched 1.2 L of Brett C Starter