Priming An Orval Innoculated Saison At Fg 1000

[Doogiechap]

Hi all,
I brewed a Saison about 18 months ago which stuck like a good Saison should <_< and I split the batch and innoculated it with the dregs from a couple of Orval bottles.

• OG 1053
• Still stuck at 1028 still after 5 months.
• Added Orval Dregs
• 13 months later 1000 :icon_cheers:

Tastes Sensational. Some nice sour notes coming through but has not overwhelmed the light phenolic notes originally present.
My question posed to those who funk things up on occasion.
Will there be any point in trying to bottle prime this in a typical fashion ? I have a batch of Champagne bottles ready to go but would hate to write the batch off with a pointless addition of sugar in something that wont respond.
I'm a bit pensive about kegging it with Brett being a feisty bug to shake when you no longer want it.
I'm not expecting a finite answer but am interested in other peoples experiences.
Cheers
Doug

 

[reviled]

I was a bit reserved about kegging the Old ale i inoculated with Brett, but at the end of the day I didnt want the headache of bottling, so I designated a keg for sour/funky beers, I figure if I have 6 kegs, aiming to have 1 sour beer on at all times is a pretty good goal as it still leaves me with up to 5 normal beers...

Besides, having a keg of something interesting like a Bretty beer is allways a good conversation starter Not to mention the looks on peoples faces when they try it!

 

[neonmeate]

think about it this way - 1000 is the lowest your yeast will go - add sugar at bottling make it 1003 - it goes back down to 1000 again with a bit more co2 and alcohol. should work fine, but in my exp brett beers take a while to carbonate. then sometimes they REALLY get carbonated...

 

[kabooby]

You are safe to carb as normal. Brett can be slow to carb so you may want to add another yeast for bottling.

Kabooby :icon_cheers:

 

[newguy]

think about it this way - 1000 is the lowest your yeast will go - add sugar at bottling make it 1003 - it goes back down to 1000 again with a bit more co2 and alcohol. should work fine, but in my exp brett beers take a while to carbonate. then sometimes they REALLY get carbonated...

It actually can go lower than 1.000 and that's the issue. If the beer is bottled as is it will probably keep fermenting but whether that's enough to carbonate to a reasonable degree is the question.

FWIW I'd try using about 20% of the normal sugar amount - about 1/4 cup of dextrose at most.

 

[kabooby]

It actually can go lower than 1.000 and that's the issue. If the beer is bottled as is it will probably keep fermenting but whether that's enough to carbonate to a reasonable degree is the question.

FWIW I'd try using about 20% of the normal sugar amount - about 1/4 cup of dextrose at most.

True, it can go lower. But I would think that after 13 months it would be done.

You could also leave it another month a test the gravity again just to be sure.

Kabooby :icon_cheers:

 

[Doogiechap]

Many many thanks chaps,
I'll leave it for another couple of months and see if anything has changed. If it is stable I'll take a bet both ways and maybe add enough priming sugar for around 2.4 volumes which should give some leeway for safe overcarbonation in the Champers Bottles. Reviled I do like your idea and I do have a 'special' blue topped keg which may become my 'funky' one if I get lazy
Cheers
Doug

 

[reviled]

Reviled I do like your idea and I do have a 'special' blue topped keg which may become my 'funky' one if I get lazy
Cheers
Doug

You know you want to lol, reason I did it with mine was cos the handle unglued itself, and it was a pain using it regularly as every time you have to gently drop the full keg into the freezer it was a massive PITA, so I figured wat other type of beer will stay in the keg for months at a time!

 

[neonmeate]

It actually can go lower than 1.000 and that's the issue. If the beer is bottled as is it will probably keep fermenting but whether that's enough to carbonate to a reasonable degree is the question.

thought someone might think i thought that from my post (1000 is the limit)- i mean this beer in particular (i've had beers crack the 1000 barrier too).
what i was trying to say was that after 13 months you could be pretty satisfied knowing that the brett has gone as far as it is going to. (although it may well drop another 1 gravity point over the next year or something...)
It's always a lottery to bottle before your terminal grav is reached but once you're sure it has, i usually just prime as normal and it works.
sometimes i've been conservative priming brett beers in the past hoping it would just keep on going to give some more co2 but been disappointed with the level of carbonation.

imperial stouts and barley wines etc that have lots more fat to chew on are dangerous like this, where an FG of 1025 pre-brett could get to 1008 with brett or it could get to 1012, which makes a big difference. but if it's 1053 OG and 1000 FG, it's not going to get down to 0091 i don't think!