[SpanishCastleAle]

I'm attempting my first sour/funky beer by 'doctoring' a Patersbier I made a while back (beer is kegged but not carbed, OG/FG were 1.050/1.012 and ~14 IBUs).  But I have no idea wtf I'm doing and could use some guidance.

I got a packet each of Wyeast Brett B and Brett L.  Original plan was to let the Brett B get a head start on the Brett L (only because I've heard B is more subdued and I'm not a funk/sour veteran yet). Made a 3 qt @ 1.040 starter with the Brett B and it's winding down right now.  I was going to combine the entire starter and most of the Patersbier in a carboy and either 1) start a Brett L starter at the same time and let it go for a week, then add the entire thing to the carboy OR 2) just pitch the Brett L packet into the carboy when I combine the Brett B starter and beer...and possibly add some wort/sugar (not aerated) to give them something extra to munch on.

Or I could try to find a bottle with live dregs and throw that in to get some bacteria, but I'm not sure I can find any live dregs (I've read most are pasteurized).  New Belgium's La Folie and Jolly Pumpkin's La Roja are the only two candidates I know of.  Maybe add dregs AND Brett B starter AND Brett L to the beer.

Would it be better to pitch a Brett starter into finished beer at high krausen or after it's finished the starter?

It seems it's 'anything goes; try anything' in the world of funk/sour but I sure could use a nudge.

[Vin S]

I'm in the process to. From what I read so far. It looks like when you're 2/3 to 3/4 throuh ferment you add the Brett. But as you said " It seems it's 'anything goes; try anything' in the world of funk/sour "

[Mark G]

Have you checked out this presentation from NHC?

http://www.ahaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/6-16-2011-NHC-Brettanomyces.pdf

[SpanishCastleAle]

Thanks for the links, informative.  I found a couple bottles of Hanssens beers and plan to throw some wort in the bottles and see if anybody is home.  Then I'll pitch that plus the Brett B starter plus the Brett L pack and try to forget about it for a while.

If anybody is looking for bottled beers with live sour/funky dregs, The Mad Fermentationist site has a list of harvestable sour beer dregs here.