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Author Topic: Brett in Secondary  (Read 2908 times)

Offline Pastamassima

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Brett in Secondary
« on: March 27, 2017, 07:15:30 am »
Good morning,

I'm currently fermenting a Dark Mild (roughly 1.044) that I'm shooting to get down to 1.015 or so. I'd like to pull aside a portion of it (one gallon) and secondary with brett, just to try an experiment. If you have any experience with this stuff,

1. What pitch rate should I use?
2. What temperature should I hold it at?
3. Which strain should I use?
4. How long should I secondary?
5. Once it's finished, do I (A) crash and clear the liquid and (B) prime it?

I've read that I can bottle condition without priming if the gravity is at 1.010 or so; that'll give me plenty of sugar and potential CO2 volume when it's ready. So, I guess my next question would be, if I bottle my stuff (after pulling the dregs) at 1.015, how do I get the rest down to 1.010: leave it in the fermentor? And instead of transferring to a secondary, would it be safe to hold the remaining one gallon (a majority of its dregs drained) in the original fermentor? Would the yeast strains compete at this point? Would it matter? And will all that extra headspace be a problem (even if I layer it in CO2)?

Thanks again for your wisdom.

Offline kramerog

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Re: Brett in Secondary
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2017, 07:49:38 am »
I do use Brett and I don't consider myself an expert.

3. Depends on what you want.  AFAIK, all Brett strains work in secondary.
4. 3 months so that Brett finishes eating fermentables.
5. Do not crash and prime as normal. 

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Brett in Secondary
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2017, 10:00:12 am »
1. What pitch rate should I use?

Not much. For one gallon you could pitch a tenth or a fifth of a pack of brett.

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2. What temperature should I hold it at?

Anywhere in the 60-80F range is fine.

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3. Which strain should I use?

Depends on what flavors you want. Brett brux will give you the flavors most people think of with brett. Clausenii is more pineapple/fruit. What is sold as lambicus is like brux but known for producing more cherry pie flavors. Brux will get to those flavors too but with more time.

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4. How long should I secondary?

Until gravity is stable and you are happy with the flavors. Three months is about the time needed for full attenuation but flavor will continue to develop. I'd start checking around month three but think about going out to six or nine months.

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5. Once it's finished, do I (A) crash and clear the liquid and (B) prime it?

After that length of time it will drop pretty clear on its own. Once it fully attenuates you'll need to prime for bottling. You'll want to target priming on the high end because you lose dissolved CO2 with time.

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I've read that I can bottle condition without priming if the gravity is at 1.010 or so; that'll give me plenty of sugar and potential CO2 volume when it's ready. So, I guess my next question would be, if I bottle my stuff (after pulling the dregs) at 1.015, how do I get the rest down to 1.010: leave it in the fermentor?

This is a strategy but a dangerous one. Until you know how far down brett will take a given beer you'll have no idea how much attenuation you will see in the bottle. At 1.010 that beer might get down to 1.004 or 1.002. Factor in the further fermentation plus dissolved CO2 already in the beer and you could have a high level of carbonation on one hand and gushing or exploding bottles on the other. This process works much better when you have experience knowing the likely FG of the beer.

If you wanted to do this you would need to add brett and when gravity reaches 1.010 then bottle.

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And instead of transferring to a secondary, would it be safe to hold the remaining one gallon (a majority of its dregs drained) in the original fermentor? Would the yeast strains compete at this point? Would it matter? And will all that extra headspace be a problem (even if I layer it in CO2)?

Brett plus oxygen creates acetic acid, some of which will turn into ethyl acetate. I would not recommend this path.
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Brett in Secondary
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2017, 12:21:04 pm »
Responding to reverseapachemaster, I defintiely agree that adding Brett at bottling is risky.

I would like to add that Brett will develop flavor in the bottle.

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Brett in Secondary
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2017, 01:18:22 pm »
I brewed 10 gallons of British IPA last fall. It was 1.065, 65 IBUS, Maris Otter, EKG, Wyeast 1028.


 5 gallons was dry hopped, then to a keg. 5 gallons was dry hopped, lightly Oakes, and Brett C added.

After this time the Brett beer has only a little Brett Character, light oak, and is approaching bone dry. The control beer is a nice British IPA, but right now I like the oaken and Brett beer better.

Oh, these were both kegged.
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