Pitch rate using brett as secondary yeast

[ALExanderH]

I'm going to brew 6 gal batch of 1056OG. Going to use a wyeast belgian strain in primary and then add the brett for secondary fermentation .
Should I pitch 230b cells with primary ale yeast or just the 100b straight out of the smack pack? Then how much brett is enough after most of the fermentation is already done?
Also how long is recommended to leave it before bottling to minimize the risk of bottle bombs?

 

[mrkrausen]

I'm no expert on using brett, however I recently did almost exactly what you are wanting to do. I brewed a 10 gallon batch of saison with a clean saison yeast and split the batch in half and put one half on sour cherries and the other half on a the Amalgamation strain from yeast bay. I did a starter like normal for the initial fermentation and then just pitched the brett once it had reached terminal gravity. There are several yeast calculators out there to get you where you need to be on pitching rate. As far as the brett goes I've read that patience is key. I plan on waiting at LEAST six months before I even sample it. If I think it needs more time I'll probably wait another two to four months, or possibly longer. From what I've read, if at that point your getting stable readings when taking them that far apart you should be okay to bottle. Again, please don't take this as gospel as this is my first time doing a beer with brett after doing a lot of reading. Also, The Lambic & Wild Brewing section on this board is a great resource to kind of dive into and find answers to questions you might not even know you had. I know I did. It might also be a better place for this thread as those who are more knowledgeable on the subject are more likely to see it. I hope this was of some help.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Check out the wild section but I'd pitch the 100 billion. Worked for my lambic. Oldsock is a great reference. Once you hit terminal gravity then you can keg or reheats and bottle.

 

[BGBC]

What ale yeast are you planning on using? I'd still make a starter, but undersize it. 100B is probably fine for the cell count, but a small starter isn't a bad idea anyway. For the Brett pitch, you don't need much. The cell counts in most of the commercial sources are pretty small (white labs is ~3B I think), but even that is enough.

As far as bottling time, once you add the brett, plan on giving it a couple months at least. Just like a clean beer, you then want to make sure it has reached a stable FG before bottling.

 

[ALExanderH]

I think I will pitch the Wyeast Belgian Ardennes 3522 straight from the smack pack and small starter for the brett. Reading more about the matter it seems brett will clean up byproducts from 'underpitching' the primary yeast and more brett will allow it to ferment faster so I can bottle as soon as possible, 6 months in fermenter is veeery long when the longest I've done is 6 weeks.

 

[lshaner]

You need an exceedingly small amount of Brett to have an effect in secondary. Check out this study: http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Brettanomyces_secondary_fermentation_experiment

The lowest pitch rate used in the experiment is about 1/5 of the amount in a WL vial. Even at that pitch rate, there were quantifiable changes in flavor compounds within three weeks.

 

[beergolf]

I brew a lot of saisons and use brett. I usually let it ferment out with the primary yeast and then add some brett. It does not take much. I sometimes just add the dregs from a couple of bottles of Orval and thatbis enough to give a nice brett character after a few months.