Cold crash 100% Brett beer before TG?

[Duane]

My first 100% brett beer just finished primary after about a week. Now it's doing its job SLOWLY chewing through the sugar of the pound of crystal 120 I had in the grain bill.

Thing is, I'd prefer not to wait for it to finish because 1. I'm impatient, and 2. I'd like to keep some residual sugar in the final product.

Question is, is there any harm in cold crashing and kegging a 100% brett beer to knock out the yeast (or at least stop it from consuming) before it's completely done?

Thanks!

 

[jnacey]

My first 100% brett beer just finished primary after about a week. Now it's doing its job SLOWLY chewing through the sugar of the pound of crystal 120 I had in the grain bill.

Thing is, I'd prefer not to wait for it to finish because 1. I'm impatient, and 2. I'd like to keep some residual sugar in the final product.

Question is, is there any harm in cold crashing and kegging a 100% brett beer to knock out the yeast (or at least stop it from consuming) before it's completely done?

Thanks!

What' the gravity at right now? Depending on the brett strain, some can finish fairly high in a 100% brett fermentation, leaving the beer fairly sweet without trying to arrest fermentation.

Also, brett can be pretty fickle to drop out of beers in a cold crash (Jester King and Russian River have noted crash times between 1-2 weeks for beers to drop bright), so it might not save you that much time.

Brett can also undergo "multiple" fermentations. Chad from Crooked Stave had seen a regular fermentation and stable gravity for a period of time, followed by a pickup in fermentation later on. I've noticed this in my all brett fermentations as well. I've bottled after that regular fermentation subsides and have noticed stability in the bottle for a few weeks, followed by an increase in carbonation after an additional month or so.

In general, its a tough beer to rush. The timeline you indicated is VERY fast for even a voracious sacc fermentation. I'd give it the time it needs and you'll probably be happier than if you rushed it.

 

[BGBC]

My first 100% brett beer just finished primary after about a week.

Now it's doing its job SLOWLY chewing through the sugar of the pound of crystal 120 I had in the grain bill.

These seem like conflicting statements. What do you mean it finished primary while it was still chewing through sugar?

What strain of Brett? When used as the primary yeast, frequently Brett does not act the same as when used as a secondary yeast. In terms of FG, it will likely not drop as low.

I'd recommend letting it go.

 

[sweetcell]

i wouldn't consider primary done in this case. the active portion might be over, but if gravity is still dropping then primary is still on.

but if you like how it's tasting now, then crashing and kegging should stall things sufficiently. you would need to keep the keg cold, tho, no warm storage.

 

[Duane]

Thanks for the input so far!

More info:

I pitched Brett (an unknown combination of strains) on January 1st. By the 2nd we had steady airlock activity. We had vigorous fermentation for a couple days after that, followed by a slow down, then complete halt in fermentation - little different from a standard Sacc. Cerv. beer. For the past two days now there has been literally zero airlock activity - with the two water lines perfectly level on both sides of an "S" shaped airlock. Currently there is a thick layer of brown scum on top of the beer. Looks like high krausen, but I don't know how that could be here 48 hours after a complete fermentation stop. I've never seen thick krausen on a completely finished fermentation. So I'm thinking it must be a pellicle. ???

I haven't tried taking a gravity reading yet due to the thick layer of whatever that is. To do so I'd have to find a way to collect wort from underneath, and I don't really want to go through the trouble.

I'm guessing y'all will say that at the very least I need to wait a little while to see what happens with that layer of gunk on top and take a gravity reading. Though I was kind of hoping a cold crash could take care of that.

 

[Duane]

That said, I don't suppose there'd be any problem with cold crashing, just to see how/if it clears up, to take a gravity reading with ease, and to taste a sample. I can always let it warm back up to room temp. Perhaps that's what I'll do.

 

[BGBC]

So it's only been 5 days and you want to cold crash it without even taking a sample?

Patience.

What was the source of your yeast? Bottle dregs?

 

[youreanimpulse]

Brett can leave yeast rafts for quite a while in my experience. Don't do anything, leave it be or take a sample but don't crash it. It's still working, I'm sure. No off gassing doesn't mean anything, you may not have a perfect seal.

 

[jnacey]

That's definitely still krausen. Unless you're fermenting in a bucket and have kept opening the top, I'd find it hard to believe that you'd have that much oxygen transfer into the vessel to create a pellicle during an active fermentation.

I know you want this to be ready really soon, but it will result in a less than ideal finished product. I would let this thing for for at least another two weeks before doing anything. Let it finish out properly, then crash it and enjoy.

 

[Duane]

Well I cold crashed this before getting the most recent posts here. The krausen dropped and the beer is looking quite clear except for a few white spots here and there floating on top. Gravity is reading 1.017 (at just above freezing) and it is tasting fantastic. Nice, mild funkiness definitely present. No off flavors that I can perceive at all. I think I'm going to let this sit in the cold for another day or two, reserve a gallon for bringing back up to fermentation temps just to see what happens, and then keg the rest.

Thanks for all the input!