WLP644 - S. brux. (formerly Brettanomyces bruxellensis Trois)

[philistine]

Hey dudes,

A mate is giving me a sample of WLP644 to bank and Im just wondering if I should be treating it with caution? As is often the case in biological taxonomy, B. brux has been re-calssified as S. brux and with a simple keystroke the fate of mankind has been irreversibly changed.

Ive have no experience using Brett. yeasts yet but as the legend goes:
'......and lo, the dark angle spoketh and said unto thee "they shall infecteth all your **** forever thus condemning you to eternal damnation and sour beers...." '

Is this true?
Have our Science Shamans saved us from The Dark Lorde by simply changing a name?
Will WLP644 infect my ****?

 

[hirschb]

In short, no.
Brett gets a bad rap for infecting everything, but if you use proper sanitation, it's actually not a big problem. The same things that kill sacch also kill brett, so in many ways brett is just as infectious as sacch. HOWEVER, many brett strains eat complex sugars that sacch cannot. The upshot of this is that if you have a brett infected beer, the brett are able to eat sugars that normally wouldn't be eaten by whatever sacch strain. This causes bottle bombs, etc.. If a roaming sacch strain infects your beer, you do not have this same problem. While 644 is a great attenuator, I do not believe it is capable of chewing through these complex sugars that some of the other brett strains can eat.
So, if you have decent/adequate sanitation, don't freak out about WLP644.... treat it like any other yeast. Well, maybe treat it a bit more nicely, it's a great/delcious strain!
..... also note that the "simple keystroke" was the result of genetic sequencing done at the behest of Lance Shaner of Omega Yeast labs, and then begrudgingly confirmed by White Labs. White Labs still sells 644 in low cell counts just like their brett strains, so if you're getting a vial straight from WL, you might want to use a starter.

 

[philistine]

cheers man, I thought this post had just disappeared into the ether.
Glad to hear a more realistic view on the matter... I've heard a range of cautions re: introducing brett. yeast into your system - some as extreme as suggesting you keep any gear used for sours in another room.
Im not overly concerned to be honest, I use glass and SS for everything post boil, so its pretty safe to assume that when its clean, its really clean.

 

[hirschb]

I have had some cross contaminations/infections before (once into a wooden barrel, twice through a star-san filled airlock).... but I'm brewing a lot of crazy sour/funky beers. At the time, the place I was living in must have been awash in funky micro-organisms. In my case, any plastics exposed to brett/pedio/lacto don't go near my clean beers, and storing clean beers away from the funk is generally good practice.