How Long On Brett?

[Swinging Beef]

I made a Belgian Trippel with the Wyeast Canadian belgian blend.
It tasted ok, but I decided to rack 10 litres off and add thr dregs of two Orval bottles to see what it would do.
After one month on the dregs it tastes awesome.
Original beer went from 1.083 to 1.015, and that is when I added the Orval.
Its now sitting around 1.012 and Im damn near ready to drink the lot it tastes so bloody good!

Will bottling it now be a problem from the perspective of carbing it up?
This is my first time using the Orval dregs to finish off a beer and I would be really sad to lose the lot to bottle bombs.

 

[Stuster]

I think you'd be better off waiting another month or so. One month is not that long on brett. Give it a test (and taste ) in a month and see how if it's dropped any more.

 

[Quintrex]

I made a Belgian Trippel with the Wyeast Canadian belgian blend.
It tasted ok, but I decided to rack 10 litres off and add thr dregs of two Orval bottles to see what it would do.
After one month on the dregs it tastes awesome.
Original beer went from 1.083 to 1.015, and that is when I added the Orval.
Its now sitting around 1.012 and Im damn near ready to drink the lot it tastes so bloody good!

Will bottling it now be a problem from the perspective of carbing it up?
This is my first time using the Orval dregs to finish off a beer and I would be really sad to lose the lot to bottle bombs.

I'd probably be inclined to bottle it and drink it while it's at the sweet spot of brettiness for your tastes. If you do that you might want to be slightly conservative on the priming however. or just smash it while it's at it's peak.

Otherwise if you love hardcore brett you could leave it longer, however I prefer moderate brett flavour from the Orval strain. I find it can get a little too far for my liking. I'm still exploring how to halt it's attenuation/flavour.

Hmm you've reminded me, I might crack my keg of b. claussenii amarillo saison for my birthday tomorrow. :icon_chickcheers:

Q

 

[kevo]

Try to bottle in orval bottles or champagne bottles might be good too if you're concerned.

Anything I make that has Orval dregs in it goes back into an Orval bottle.

Kev

 

[kabooby]

As Stuster said it is best to leave it a bit longer. Another thing to think about is the amount of alcohol in the beer already. At 9% the brett may struggle a bit.

I added some Brett B and Brett L to a Belgian Dark strong I made. It has been 7 months and I still need to vent the kegs every few days.

The beer has changed, but only has a subtle brett character. I put this down to the 9.3% ABV of the beer.

Kabooby :icon_cheers:

 

[Swinging Beef]

The beer reminds me of Piraat a lot at the moment.
This is one of myfinest brews and will be repeated asap!

 

[kevo]

Something else I forgot to mention.

I bottled a brett batch into Orval bottles over a year ago after a couple of months on the brett.

I didn't prime the bottles and they have carbed up very nicely over the year.

If you're happy to give it time, let the brett keep munching and carb itself that way.

A little imprecise, but can lessen the bottle bomb prospect with no new sugars.

Kev

 

[Justin T]

I didn't prime my brett brew at all and it now has heaps of carbonation on it. One month is definitely not enough time for the brett flavour to develop.

 

[marlow_coates]

A little off topic,

but do you wait for primary to be finished, rack off into another vessel, and then add the Brett?

Does the Brett come with an estimated attenuation? So could you estimate where it might end up?

Or is the beauty in the ever-changing characteristics or such a yeast, and the difficulty in getting it just right?

Marlow

 

[kevo]

What I've always read/heard about brett is to start with a neutral yeast, but under pitch so it will knock out the majority of the sugars.

Once this conks out, add your brett. This way there's less sugar for the brett to chew through and a little more 'control' of what you end up with.

As far as I know, Brett can continue to chew through sugar until there's either a) nothing left or B) alcohol reaches about 8% I think.

The beer I used Brett in, I added more carapils than I normally would to a pretty ordinary extract beer of average strength. This way, once the us ale yeast had run out of puff, there was plenty left for the brett and not enough alcohol to stress it. (that's my thinking/understanding anyways)

I left it in a glass fermentor for a few months and bottled into Orval bottles.

Has been happily aging since - carbonation is great.

Kev

 

[neonmeate]

ive used brett in a few beers above 8% and it didn't seem too daunted.... in fact used it in a 12% barleywine and it was CErtainly active (a bit too much...)

i would expect it to get your tripel down well below 1010 with a bit of time... but as others have said, why not bottle with no priming or only a bit. you want a tripel with lots of carbonation anyway.

to limit brett flavour mash low, use sugar and an attenuative yeast (3724/565 for instance) and then the brett will only be subtle. or use a different brett strain. the orval one is pretty full on.

 

[kabooby]

If you are after a full on Brett strain, try a bottle of Mikeller "its Alight"

Much funkier than Orval :blink:

Kabooby

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Mikkeller "its Alive?" sounds like you've had a few tonight already!

 

[neonmeate]

If you are after a full on Brett strain, try a bottle of Mikeller "its Alight"

Much funkier than Orval :blink:

Kabooby

where'd you get this one from kabooby i want to get some!

 

[Tiny_Tim]

Mikkeller "its Alive?" sounds like you've had a few tonight already!

Mikkeller make an 'It's Alive!' and an 'It's Alight!', the latter is a sessionable 4.5% brett ale, while the Alive is the intense strong Belgian.

 

[kabooby]

Can't actually remember which one I had. The bottles are very similar. I remember reading that it was Mikkeller's answer to orval.

I got it from Platinum at Strathfield

By far the funkiest beer I have had

It keeps you going back for more to try and figure out if you actually like it :blink:

Kabooby

 

[reviled]

Definately leave it longer!!

I did an Old ale that stopped at 1030, and I pitched brett into it, 3 months later it had dropped down to 1029, I thought nothing was going to happen, left it another month and was talking to a mate who said brett loves it at warmer temps, so I put the cube into the hot water cupboard...

Man, did she crank! Got down to 1014 over the period of a good few weeks, so even tho it seemed like it was cranking hard, it was still fermenting quite slow!

The old ale is sour to say the least 16 grav points of Brett funk :icon_drool2:

Another thing I noticed, is the Brett stripped out some of the colour of the beer, at 1030 it was quite dark, but came out alot paler.. Wierd