Couple quick questions regarding brett. I’ve made a few belgians with brett added with yeast, but I’m planning an all-brett Saison for my next brew. Plan to do a simple saison recipe (8 lb Pale, 1 Lb Vienna, 1 lb sugar, Saazto bitter, Saaz at 20 and Stry Gold at 5 min) and pitch a packet of Wyeast 5151 Brett. Claus. Here are the questions:
Will the packet be ok or should I do a starter (which also relates to second question)?
Does brett form a yeast cake? I know it will multiply in a starter, but will it drop out so I can decant or do I need to pitch the liquid. I’m making the low grav saison as a large starter for a BDSA pitched directly onto the brett. and am wondering if the brett will ‘floc out’ per se like yeast?
From my (limited) experience Brett will floc out and form a cake. If you want a cleaner and faster fermentation then make a starter and add O2 at pitching. If you want more Brett character, just use the pack and don’t add O2. The fermentation will take longer but produce more “funk” and such. Be patient and let it finish out if you take the second option, but it is worth it in my opinion.
Here is a link to a ppt by Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River which has some info about all Brett beer.
Thanks for the link. Very helpful. I think I’ll do a small (1L) starter a week out just to get the bugs a little excercise but not oxygenate the wort and pitch the whole starter.
Today I opened my first bottle of an all-Brett Saison made with the Wyeast 5151 (carbed for two weeks). I did make a starter. I pitched to 1.5 liters of ~1.040 made with 80% DME and 20% dextrose. It dropped clear after 5 days, and I decanted and repeated the 1.5 liter starter. I vigorously aerated both starters, and the starter had a clean, fruity, pineapple heavy aroma, with little Brett funk. I did a limited aeration of the 5 gallon Saison (splashed while siphoning from kettle to fermenter, nothing else), and the finished beer has less fruit and more funk, but is nicely balanced. It’s vaguely reminiscent of a young Orval. It took three days to see any noticeable fermentation activity, and you will (probably) have less visual evidence of fermentation. The brew dropped its krausen after a couple of days, but there was still plenty of bubbling through the blow-off tube. Total fermentation took 4 weeks, and finished at 1.003 (1.058 O.G.). It did drop pretty clear, and formed a nice cake, although it took longer than a typical ale yeast. I’d say the Bretts are very unpredictable, no two beers will ever be alike, and no matter what you do (starter or no starter, aerate or no aerate) you’ll get an interesting brew in the end. Good luck and have fun!