Brett C Advice

[jready]

Hi gang, going to brew my standard Mosaic NE IPA tomorrow. 14 gallons split between two fermenters. Half 1368 half Brett C. I know you are supposed to make a big starter my question is should I put it on a stir plate? Also what temp for fermentation?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sweetcell]

I know you are supposed to make a big starter my question is should I put it on a stir plate? Also what temp for fermentation?

required reading:
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Brettanomyces#Starter_Information
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Brettanomyces_Propagation_Experiment

using a stir plate will results in more & faster growth, at the expense of creating acetic acid (vinegar) in the starter beer. decanting the starter and only pitching the flocc'ed brett should make the acetic barely perceptible. problem: brett is slow to flocc, so you'll need some time in the fridge to get (most of) the cells to settle down.

summary: if you have more than 2 weeks, i'd use a stir plate. 7-8 days on the stir-plate, then a week cold-crashing.

if you don't have that much time, do a non-stirred starter, or a very very lightly stirred starter, then cold crash as long as you can, pour off the cleared wort on top and pitch the lighter/creamy portion.

don't have any advice about temps, sorry. generally brett does well at slightly higher than ale temps, i wouldn't be afraid of fermenting in the 70's.

 

[Morrey]

I just did a NE IPA with WLP645 Brett C. I spun the brett on my stir plate as slowly as I could to barely make a vortex dimple so min O2 would be introduced. I did this for a week and it was very fresh and fruity smelling...no acetic esters, direct pitch 1L flask.

This 100% Brett only in primary took off like a skyrocket and went from 1.057 to 1.009 in 4 days....done....kept at 80F although WLP says go at 85F. I had used Mosaic only in the beer, but the brett kinda took over. I decided to add 2 oz of Galaxy as a dry addition in keg and it brought it right into the zone I wanted. I get a hint of pineapple too...wow! I am smacking my lips on this home run of a beer.

 

[jready]

Thanks! All good advice! I kinda jumped in and probably didn't do enough prep but we will see!

 

[sweetcell]

Hi gang, going to brew my standard Mosaic NE IPA tomorrow. 14 gallons split between two fermenters. Half 1368 half Brett C.

what is your source of brett C? is it a vial from white labs? if so, you'll need to do a multi-step starter. there are very few cells in that vial, around 2-3 billion, vs. the 100 billion that regular sacch vials start off with.

pitching a vial of WL brett into a liter or more of starter would be too few cells in too much wort. i would start off with 150-200 ml, ferment that out over 7-10 days, then pitch the whole thing into big regular-sized starter.

 

[jready]

what is your source of brett C? is it a vial from white labs? if so, you'll need to do a multi-step starter. there are veryfew cells in that vial, around 2-3 billion, vs. the 100 billion that regular sacch vials start off with.



pitching a vial of WL brett into a liter or more of starter would be too few cells in too much wort. i would start off with 150-200 ml, ferment that out over 7-10 days, then pitch the whole thing into big regular-sized starter.

That is exactly what I have. Thank you for the advice!

 

[jready]

I was worried I had totally screwed this up as most of the advice came after brew day. I only made my starter two days in advance and had to leave the morning after brew day on a business trip.

I pitched the two batches early in the AM before leaving. I guess dumb luck pays off sometimes. I came home to healthy fermentation on both! Jury is still out on taste.

Based on what I have learned I will do it differently next time but I will let you all know how it turns out!

 

[millsbrew]

interested how this turned out. I was reading that WLP645 can't ferment maltrose as well as other Brett's.

http://brettanomycesproject.com/dissertation/pure-culture-fermentation/impact-of-pitching-rate/

Says about 20% attenuation after 35 days. How was your experience?