BR-8

Ingredients
1

It’s been out for a while now — anybody got any results to share on BR-8?

One of my best batches to date was an ersatz-lambic brewed with PhillySour for primary with secondary on farmers-market plums with Bootleg’s Funk Weapon Brett blend.  Thinking about switching to BR-8 for this summer’s batch when the farmers markets open.

2

I’m curious about BR-8 as well…also I’d love to hear more about your recipe and process for the above mentioned brew.

3

So the recipe was:

Adjust water to Brewfather’s “Balanced” profile

50% Rahr Pale Ale Malt
40% Raw Wheat
10% Sugar

For a 1.040 OG

30 min boil

7 IBU Styrian Holdings @ FWH
3 IBU Strisselspalt @ 5 min

90-day primary w/ PhillySour @ 68-72F

Rack onto 250 g/l of 50/50 mix of tart and ripe local plums (frozen and then thawed)

Add Brett culture and age another 90 days

Bottle with priming sugar for 2.5 or 3 volumes.

Came out really well and held up well in the “cellar”. I drank the last bottle about 2 years after bottling.

4

Thanks.  Might have to try this

5

I will probably significantly shorten the primary when I do batch #2.  The Philly Sour should do its work in reasonably normal ale timelines.  It’s the Brett I want to give time to develop.

Edited Edit:  Also, I recently read that to actually boost the sourness of Philly Sour, you need to use glucose rather than sucrose.  So my 10% table sugar addition probably didn’t actually change the sourness much.  So, since I liked the sourness that I got, I will probably omit the sugar, adjust the grainbill to maintain the OG, and just mash low for a more fermentable wort. I will use corn sugar to get glucose and mash high to leave dextrins for the Brett.

6

So here’s what I’m thinking now:

Hoi Polloimbic (v. 2)

5.3% / 11.2 °P

All Grain - 75% efficiency

Batch Volume: 10 L
Mash Time: 30 min @ 70°C
Boil Time: 30 min

Vitals

| Original Gravity: 1.045 | | | Final Gravity: 1.005 |
| - | - | - |
| IBU (Tinseth): 12 | | | BU/GU: 0.27 |

Malts (1.62 kg)
1.08 kg (60%) — Rahr Pale Malt, 6-Row — Grain — 2.3 °L
540 g (30%) — Raw Wheat — Grain — 2.3 °L

Other (180 g)
180 g (10%) — Corn Sugar (Dextrose) — Sugar — 0 °L

Hops (14 g)
14 g (12 IBU) — Styrian Goldings 3.5% — First Wort

Miscs
3 ml — Lactic Acid 88% — Mash
2000 g — Plums — Secondary

Yeast
1 pkg — Lallemand WildBrew Philly Sour 75%
1 pkg — Fermentis BR-8 SafBrew Brett 90% — Secondary

Fermentation
Primary — 22°C — 30 days
Secondary on Fruit — 18°C — 120 days

7

I wound up with about 15% sucrose because a comedy of errors led to me having to make up some spilled wort and I didn’t have any DME on hand; and I used Willamette because it’s what I had; but iteration 2 is in the fermenter now.

8

Just as an update: both batches using BR-8 have been in bottles a bit over a month. Brett character is restrained but present. I’m hopeful that it will continue to develop over time.

I’m really quite pleased with how these came out. They are, to my palate, as good as the commercial wild ales I’ve had recently.

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