Will Brett Win Against A Medicinal Infection?

[Swinging Beef]

This might have been said to me in jest, so, after reading the Butters and the airlock thread, I thought I might check anyway.

I had an infection in one of my fermenters and it made me three brews that went off and band aid flavour after a coupple of weeks.
A commercial brewer said to me.. chuck some brett in there and leave it for a couple of years, cant hurt.
Sure.. it cant hurt.. the beer is undrinkable, but will it actually do something good?

I have 30 long necks of a mild APA and 10 bottles of a strong belgian golden ale sitting around that have the mouth watering flavour of elastoplast.

 

[WarmBeer]

Yes, but it took a little help from a rather pretty nurse, a frighteningly large needle, and the miracle of penicillin.

But thanks for asking.

Brett.

 

[Adamt]

If you end up doing this, just make sure you have a good plan on keeping the Brett away from anything else.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Yes, but it took a little help from a rather pretty nurse, a frighteningly large needle, and the miracle of penicillin.
But thanks for asking.
Brett.

Tbhats cool, mate. Glad to hear things are on the up.
I was just keen to know, but I did try to warn you... stop trying to do your own proctology examinations at home!

 

[Kai]

Sounds to me like there might be brett in there already...

 

[eamonnfoley]

This might have been said to me in jest, so, after reading the Butters and the airlock thread, I thought I might check anyway.

I had an infection in one of my fermenters and it made me three brews that went off and band aid flavour after a coupple of weeks.
A commercial brewer said to me.. chuck some brett in there and leave it for a couple of years, cant hurt.
Sure.. it cant hurt.. the beer is undrinkable, but will it actually do something good?

I have 30 long necks of a mild APA and 10 bottles of a strong belgian golden ale sitting around that have the mouth watering flavour of elastoplast.

Are you guys speaking in code? What is Brett? Any idea where the infection was hiding in your fermenter? Was it a plastic one? I've had a similar problem. Fermenting in glass now to see if it makes a difference. Do we know what bug causes the slow infection ? Most documented infections are the ones that are obvious and show up quickly. This one seems to come on slowly and masks the hops and malt with a slight medicinal flavour.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Are you guys speaking in code? What is Brett? Any idea where the infection was hiding in your fermenter? Was it a plastic one? I've had a similar problem. Fermenting in glass now to see if it makes a difference. Do we know what bug causes the slow infection ? Most documented infections are the ones that are obvious and show up quickly. This one seems to come on slowly and masks the hops and malt with a slight medicinal flavour.

Code? No.
Brett? Brettanomyces
Infection was hiding in a hairline crack in the base of a plastic fermenter... I since threw the prick out.
Not sure what the bug is, but my beers were good straigt from the fermenter, but went stinky about one or two weeks in the bottle.

 

[neonmeate]

why not give it a go. but if youve had an infection the bugs you have will have probably attenuated it right down already and the brett won't get that far. but hopefully youve got some autolysis too and the brett will chew on the dead yeast. try chucking in wyeast lambic blend perhaps so the pedio and lacto can have a go too.

ive tried leaving infected beers for years to see if they miraculously come together into a beautiful lambic but they never do. they usually just stay like that. but i havent tried adding more bugs.

 

[eamonnfoley]

Code? No.
Brett? Brettanomyces
Infection was hiding in a hairline crack in the base of a plastic fermenter... I since threw the prick out.
Not sure what the bug is, but my beers were good straigt from the fermenter, but went stinky about one or two weeks in the bottle.

Cheers - i reckon this was my problem. THe beer i just kegged was fermented in glass - if that is ok I will throw out my plastic buggers!

 

[kabooby]

Personally I would chuck it. All of the commercial beers that use brett are good beers to start with. On top of this everything is in bottles so adding brett at this stage will only give you bottle bombs, unless you empty them all back into a fermenter and then you are just going to oxidise your beer.

Tip it and put the effort into your next batch

Kabooby

 

[Swinging Beef]

Tip it and put the effort into your next batch

Way ahead of you, mate.
It met its demise yesterday.