Secondary needed for brett/lacto beer?

[dougdecinces]

Last month I brewed a "Berliner Weisse" with Lacto Brevis and Brett Brux Trois. Primary occurred in a 5 gal carboy with about 4.75 gal of volume. Right now there is little enough headspace that I can keep it in primary for the entire 5-6 month fermentation without that being an issue. My question is is there any harm in keeping it on the yeast cake that long? I figure since it is brett and lacto only, the answer is no. But I would like a second/third/fourth opinion.

 

[TNGabe]

Yes or no, depending on who you ask. Some maintain that brett will prevent autolysis off flavors. While that's generally true, it's not entirely true in my experience.

Why do you think it will need that long in the fermentor? Both of those strains are fast. I'd think the beers is done by now.

 

[Calder]

Why 5 to 6 months? If you did it right, it should be done in about a month.

If you did it wrong, it may never finish.

 

[dougdecinces]

Why 5 to 6 months? If you did it right, it should be done in about a month.

If you did it wrong, it may never finish.

I have little experience with the style and the one or two people I know who brewed it gave it that long to ferment out. Seeing it in writing though, I realize how stupid that sounds. I'll just check the gravity again and see if it has stabilized.

In other words, forget I was here.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

I'm new to Berliners but I thought I read if you had brett in it ( mine do ) that leaving it a few months will help bring out the brett before bottling.

To be honest I got carried away and have no champagne bottles free, and didn't want to bottle it in other bottles as I like to highly carb them. So while I'm drinking the current batch it'll sit in a secondary.

I have another split batch of BW sitting on some cherries. I plan on leaving that til feb before bottling. Had a nice pellicle going, though the plain batch has none.

 

[lousbrews]

I'm new to Berliners but I thought I read if you had brett in it ( mine do ) that leaving it a few months will help bring out the brett before bottling.

I believe that varies form strain to strain. Some will develop further under pressure (i.e bottle conditioning) I had a brett c. saison that developed more character after aging in bottles for about 6 months than the same one done six months in carboy and bottling for 1 month. You will learn foremost through your own experiences.

 

[sweetcell]

I can keep it in primary for the entire 5-6 month fermentation without that being an issue. My question is is there any harm in keeping it on the yeast cake that long? I figure since it is brett and lacto only, the answer is no.

latest craze in the yeast geek world is that Trois isn't brett at all, but a sacch. so some of the things you are expecting from a brett yeast, like dealing with autolysis, are likely to not materialize.

agree with TNGabe - why do you think it will take that long? this beer should be done in a month. have you take a gravity sample?