Brett Starter Patience

Ingredients
1

Last year I made my first sour beers, and did a typical starter with my brett. They didnt seem to do much. After studying Chad Yackobsen’s Brett Thesis, I saw that he found brett needs more time. He states that it goes through growth phases, grows, stops, grows, stops, grows again. Seven days is what I got out of it.

So I pitched Wyeast bret lambicus on the evening of July 9. Peeked in on it every day. After 24 hrs it had a slight powdery cloud at the bottom. After 48 hrs, no change. After 72 hrs the powdery cloud seemed a bit thicker. Here it is at day 4.

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I’m going to let it go the full 7 days. I’m curious to see if that third growth phase is a dramatic as the second one.

2

I have read Chad’s reports as well, and why I do not disclaim what Chad has observed, I have never had issues with brett starters going through variety of growth phases.  Maybe because I have always typically given these starters around 7 days to make sure they were fully fermented.  If you prefer a small amount of acetic acid production (which some brett strains can do) you can put them on a stir plate which provides more oxygen for the brett to produce this compound (in small amounts) while speeding up the starter process.

I half wonder if Chad’s observations were more for long term fermentations via direct growth of brett strains in starters?  I have to go back and re-read his project as it has been a few years for me…

3

Ya, I get lost in the weeds on that scientific stuff pretty easy, but I’m convinced that Brett starters deserve at least 4 days if not 7.

4

Agreed.  Although on a stir plate they can almost be done as fast as normal yeast strains.

5

Probably true. By the way I didn’t see much change between day 4 and 7, but that’s just naked eye. When I swirled it to pitch it was full of CO2. Nice clean Brett aroma. No off odors. Anyway, I think I’ll stick with this method

6

+1.  It is my preferred method as well.  No need to add any additional acetic acid character unless I am looking for it, which I never really am unless I am brewing a flanders red.

7

I realize this is an old thread.

How does one calculate a brett starter?  I’m assuming cell count matters on this.  I will be using WLP 645 by itself on this one and I have one vial- why does White Labs still use the vials on brett?

Thanks in advance

8

My guess on WL is to avoid contamination from brett in their clean packaging lines.

If you are using brett as a secondary fermenter I wouldn’t worry about a starter at all. The vial by itself is enough for a 5-10 gallon batch. If you intend to use brett as a primary fermenter I have always used yeast starter calculators targeting lager volumes and not had problems.

9

Thanks- its a 100% brett fermentation