100% brett ipa

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luvbeer

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Hi all, I'm keen on making a American ipa fermented with only brettanomyces brux trios. I've found a little bit of information on this though it is still a very new style. Just wondering if there is anyone that could lend some advice. Cheers
 
Brett will eat dextrins and other stuff that saccharomyces won't so don't get too hung up on mash schedule or adding carapils etc.
You could add a few % of oats to your grist for body.
 
Try a bit of rye in the grist to keep some body and match the trois pineapple characteristics with your hop bill. I have one of these in the keg now and the trois version blitzes it's brother fermented with SO5.
 
Remember to make a big starter, the White Labs brett come with barely any cells.

And it will keep chewing, I left mine for 4 weeks in primary and it still overcarbed in the bottle.
 
Yep, as above. I left mine for 4 weeks too, and raised it to 25 degrees for the last couple to give the trois it's best chance at finishing out. FG was in the order of 1.010. I kegged and fridged mine so no chance of over carbing.
 
I've made a couple with Trois and can highly recommend it.

Tilt is spot on with his remark about the hop bill. Go for something aromatic but not overpowering - you want to smell the brett's too! My best was cascade and simcoe - with the last additions at 5 minutes and no dry hopping. Had a pine/citrus/tropical/splice thing going on. Wish I had one now...
 
I haven't brewed one yet but I will in the next few weeks, there is a great article may -june 2014
BYO magazine about 100% brett beers a good read. But what the others have said echoes whats in the article

Adz.
 
I had no success with the WHite Labs Brett Bruxelles Trois. I tried it in an APA, a Belgian Golden Strong, and a Saison. They all came out very thin bodied, tasted unpleasant, and did not develop the strong fruity aroma that the yeast is famous for.
 
Hey Aaronp what was your mash temp? And did you use any other malts like wheat, rye or oats ? As it says in the BYO article that you need to mash high as the Brett will dry out the beer , also a good amount of alternative malt to try and keep the body there and not dry it out too much.

Adz.
 
The thing with Brettanomyces is that it does not produce glycerol, which sacc does. Glycerol is mouthfeel in a beer. The recommendation to counteract this is to add in body through proteins by using rye, or flaked/naked oats. This will leave the beer feeling like it still has a decent body in it, despite the yeast getting down to 1.006-1.010 or wherever it gets down to.

I'm just about to pitch a starter that I've been culturing up for the past two weeks and I'll be sure to get back here with my results. I've been taking advantage of my micro biology class at uni and have done cell counts from straight out of the vial to now.

I've done plenty of research and reading up on the topic and I'll have a lengthy post on my blog about it all when it's done.
 
There is a really interesting two part video set on youtube by Chad Yakobson from Crooked Stave talking about brett fermentation.
If you have the time, watch it. Or at least listen to it. This guy really knows brett. If you don't have time, make time.
Here is part one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjVOzBtE27Y
 
Are you guys just fermenting these in separate plastic fermenter? Do you get any oxidation issues?

Have you tried brewing a normal beer after it without it being infected with Brett?
 
No need for a separate fermenter. Brett is a yeast and dies like a sacc yeast. No oxidation issues in plastic for me with my experiments so far. In fact Brett is an anti oxidant and will do well at keeping your hoppy beers fresher for longer. It's beneficial though to refrain from oxygenating your wort before pitching. Brett will take the O2 and produce more acetic acid. If you want a clean beer with no funk or sourness but plenty of that Brett fruitiness (talking mostly Brett Brux Drie/Trois) then keep oxygenation to a minimum.
 
Did an IPA last week and used white labs Brux Trois for the first time. Opened the fermentation chamber and was literally smacked in the face with over-ripe tropical fruit aromas! Really can't wait to try this one!
 
hey folks - fermented an IPA with the beersel brett blend from The Yeast Bay last week - didn't oxygenate the wort, pitched 2 vials. OG was 1.058, used 10% rolled oats for body.

after 2 days lag, 3 more days of hardcore fermentation (ambient Brisbane summer temp) the yeast dropped out at SG 1.010

taste is nice & fruity (used citra & vic secret in cube), going to keg it now because I'm impatient. Bloody ripper though, I'm really impressed with how vigorous brett is as primary strain - kegging 7 days after pitching and awesome flavour.
 
I'm keen to do a 100% brett porter with rum soaked oak dominos after Xmas. I'd like to just use brett c. Should I make a large starter then just pitch ??.
 
I would be inclined just to leave it be for a few more weeks Liam. It will get a little more funky with the hot weather. It won't get funky in a keg cold.
 

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