3 yo brett saison w/ WLP670 "solera"?

[gravity84]

I have a Brett saison that I put into secondary and intended to age for 6 months that I forgot about since "out of sight out of mind" but it's now been 3 years...

Was fermented with WLP670 back when it was a limited release by White Labs (lol). I was thinking maybe doing something sort of solera style where I top off with fresh wort, referment, then rack off and bottle half, top off again with fresh wort, repeat, etc. Does this sound like a dumb idea or something that could work? How likely is it that there are any usable yeasts left? I know the saccharomyces are probably long deceased, is the brett dead too? Probably would need to do something like WLP568 or something.

I was thinking maybe even putting some oak spirals in and doing a fake barrel age kind of thing? Is this also dumb? help

 

[fivepoundpossum]

what does it taste like? that should give you some indication of what you should do with it. i like the solera idea. also, it might be good blended with a young sour (berliner-type) or a clean saison for added complexity. i wish i just found a lost brett carboy!

 

[ahpsp]

I'd be very interested to know what this tastes like at this point.

 

[blizzard]

Definitely give it a taste. You could remove a portion add fresh yeast and bottle, and then use the remainder for a solera project. The taste of the aged beer should give you some ideas about what to add.

 

[FightingBob]

Wow! Three years. I'm posting to hear how it tastes as well.

 

[Austin_]

I would love to know how this yeast stands up to three years. Very cool. I've taken it to a year.

 

[jrfehon]

+1 on wanting to know the taste!

 

[dantheman13]

Wanting to know the taste as well, lol!

I have aged a gallon of sour beer with dregs from commercial sour beer for nearly 2 years. The Brett, whatever strains were in there, were definitely alive and kicking as I have since stepped it up to a 5 gallon batch and started a Solera process with it (I am not sure yet about the bacterias). Without pitching new yeast, the Brett took off like a bat out of hell.

What you could do is go ahead and Solera, and if you don't get activity after 7 days, pitch fresh Brett (or Sacch/Brett). This is all assuming your beer still tastes great, which I have a feeling it does.

 

[gravity84]

awwwwwriiiiight here we go!

Smells wonderful, bright, a bit like a dry tart cider with a tinge of funk, not at all what I was expecting. I really abused this stuff, it was in my garage fermenting, and I live in inland LA, temps in there swing up to 110 F or more in the summer...

Taste is tart, though not puckeringly so, reminds me a lot of Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Biere with a slight musty dusty note like an old house attic or something. Pretty cool.

original recipe from way back when in my logbook:
9# 2-row pale
1.75# Munich
0.75# CaraVienne
1# Demerara Sugar

0.5 oz citra, pellets, FWH
2 oz East Kent Goldings, pellets, 5 min

original gravity hit was 1.061
final gravity measured with a refractometer and corrected for alcohol using an online calculator: 1.001 (!)
~8% ABV.



Now I definitely don't know what to do with it. If I bottle conditioned the whole thing how would I prime this? Do I have to account for the brett? I don't wanna bottle bomb a 3 year old fermentation

 

[blizzard]

That beer is totally fermented out, so no worries about bottle bombs. Add a little fresh yeast for bottling (doesn't really matter what kind) and carbonate a little higher than you would for a regular beer.

When you bottle a beer that has only been in primary for a few weeks there is residual CO2 and most calculators take that into account. This beer will be a lot flatter than that from aging for so long. So, if you are shooting for something like 2.5 volumes, you might have to prime enough for 3 volumes to make up the difference.

Glad the beer is awesome. Have fun with that one!

 

[jrfehon]

I'm too new to Brett beers to give advice. But this whole thing is really cool!

 

[sweetcell]

if you've still got active brett in there, it will carb the bottle. it just might take some time, like a month or two. if you want to drink faster, or you're not positive that there is active brett, add a very small amount of wine/champagne yeast at bottling.