ECY03 saison recipes

I have a vial of Ecy03 farmhouse brett burning a hole in my proverbial brewing pocket. What kind of saison recipes have you guys and girls been finding success with while using this strain?

I've brewed with ECy08, which is the saison blend minus the brett, and I enjoyed the results. How does the brett blend's flavor profile differ from the standard saison blend? What kind of brett profile are we talking?

Would adding crystal/cara malts and/or unmalted adjuncts increase the brett character? I've heard the brett profile can be a bit subdued in this one, but I'd like to differentiate from the regular saison blend as much as possible. Would just mashing higher be enough?

I asked a question about this at the ECY facebook, and he recommended making a starter, pitching half to kick off fermentation, and then pitching the other half after fermentation has begun to increase the brett character...does this make any sense?

What hops are you using? I'd like something to compliment the flavor profile of the yeast blend.

Edit-also, has anyone experimented with using bacteria with this blend as well?

Sorry for all of the questions, thanks!

I've been happy with using the JP Bam recipe from CYBI. I've also really enjoyed Nelson and Citra in a 6.5% beer with mostly pils. The brett in this one comes through as tropical fruit for me.

TNGabe said:

I've been happy with using the JP Bam recipe from CYBI. I've also really enjoyed Nelson and Citra in a 6.5% beer with mostly pils. The brett in this one comes through as tropical fruit for me.

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I'm unfamiliar with the recipe you named, I'm gonna search it up. Thanks for the input!

How long are you keeping this beer in primary? I want to give the Brett several months to develop, but I don't want to run into issues with long term storage on a yeast cake.

Usually a week to 14 days at most. If you're looking for traditional brett funk, you're not going to get it from ECY03. You'll get some tartness and lots of fruit, both of which will develp more in the bottle than in bulk. You'll always get more flavor development from brett as a secondary strain in the bottle than you do in bulk.

TNGabe said:

Usually a week to 14 days at most. If you're looking for traditional brett funk, you're not going to get it from ECY03. You'll get some tartness and lots of fruit, both of which will develp more in the bottle than in bulk. You'll always get more flavor development from brett as a secondary strain in the bottle than you do in bulk.

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Interesting, thanks for the knowledge!