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Author Topic: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?  (Read 2863 times)

Offline dzlater

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Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« on: May 20, 2011, 07:42:13 am »
I have a Porter that's been @ 1.020 for a several weeks. It started @ 1.056.
I plan on finishing it off with some Brett a (small starter from a bottle of Orval) and some American medium toast oak cubes that I Bourbonized for a week.
I was thinking of putting it a keg and adding the oak and brett, and letting the brett carbonate it naturally.
But was also considering just racking it to a glass carboy and letting it finish out in that and then keg and force carb.
Any thoughts , advice ?
Dan S. from NJ

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2011, 08:44:16 am »
I would say you would want it to finish in secondary, it's hard to say how much of those remaining 20 points the brett would ferment and 20 points is way more than a reasonable amount of carbonation. If you use beetsmith to calculate the points in 4 or 5 oz of sugar to 5 gallons it's a lot lower than 20. granted if it starts to get over carbed you can release presure from the keg but...
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Offline hoser

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2011, 08:46:24 am »
Just put all of it in the keg, that way you only have to transfer over once.  You may have to change all of your O-rings the next time you want to use the keg to avoid cross contamination with the Brett.  You can periodically release the pressure if needed.  If it is slightly undercarbonated you can always adjust with force carbonation.  Brett Brux ( the Orval strain) will do fine, but if you can get your hands on a vial of WLP645 Brett Clausenii that would be more historically accurate and a little more subtle.  

http://morebeer.com/view_product/6086//White_Labs_Yeast_-_Brettanomyces_Claussenii

Good luck, I have been doing a lot of Brett beers likely and enjoy the added complexity it gives to the beer!

Offline ryang

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2011, 08:49:10 am »
After cracking open the first few bottles of my 100% brett 'baltic' porter, I can say a definite yes to your idea of putting brett in to finish off the residual sugars.  The porter finished at 1.013 (started at 1.089).  It's like drinking tart cherry chocolate cake.  I think the burbon oak would do well as a background complement (wouldn't overdo it).

I just this week bottled a couple one-gallon experiments with Orval dregs (no starter), a lime saison and a belgian dubbel and they turned out great!  They both finished at 1.004.  

I'd vote for putting the brett and oak in the fermentor then force carb in the keg.  Just seems like more control to me.  I think either would work though.


Offline hoser

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2011, 08:56:02 am »
The benefit of the keg is that you can draw off samples and then oak to taste.  That would be hard to do in a bucket or carboy, plus there is the whole sanitation issue.  You can always leave the poppet open or attach a blow off tube to the in post of the keg if you are worried about over carbonation.  

Offline corkybstewart

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2011, 09:05:39 am »
I usually add brett directly to my kegs. I have a saison  in primary that I added brett to once it got 50% finished.   It's already dropped 10 points lower than the bucket without brett.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2011, 11:31:51 am »
well that shows what I know!
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline corkybstewart

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2011, 12:10:19 pm »
well that shows what I know!
But I use my kegs as a secondary fermenter.  My brett beers may sit 6 months in the keg before I put them in the fridge for serving.  Once it goes in the fridge the yeast go dormant.  Since I taste the beer periodically I know when I have enough brett flavor and I'll cold crash it.  By putting it in primary I hope to knock a month or 2 off that time frame.
Life is wonderful in sunny White Signal New Mexico

Offline hoser

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2011, 12:21:53 pm »
well that shows what I know!
But I use my kegs as a secondary fermenter.  My brett beers may sit 6 months in the keg before I put them in the fridge for serving.  Once it goes in the fridge the yeast go dormant.  Since I taste the beer periodically I know when I have enough brett flavor and I'll cold crash it.  By putting it in primary I hope to knock a month or 2 off that time frame.

+1

Offline dzlater

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Re: Finishing a beer with Brett & Oak keg or secondary?
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2011, 04:24:38 am »
Thanks for the advice, I wound up putting it in the carboy, Putting it directly in the keg might have been the easier option but, I didn't want to tie up a keg for a long time, plus I am curious what this is going to look like, if anything, while the brett is doing it's thing.
Dan S. from NJ