Hefeweizen yeast & Brett C.

[bobo31]

I want to try a Hefeweizen co-pitched with Brett C. I will pitch both in the primary at the same time probably about 2:1 in favor of the Hefe yeast. I am curious what the thoughts are with this and also what kind of time frame I would be looking at before I could bottle it. I am new to using Brett yeasts and have not bottled one yet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[m00ps]

Youll probably need 3-4 months for decent brett character

 

[hanuswalrus]

It's an interesting idea. Don't think I've heard of a Hefe w/ Brett. Hefeweizen's typically simple grain bill (pilsner and wheat) seems to be a good candidate for adding Brett too if you ask me. I say you should do it and let us know how it turns out! Curious to see what a Hefe yeast would do when copitched with Brett

 

[bobo31]

Well if it is going to take 3 to 4 months then it might not be worth trying since Hefeweizen is best drank fresh. I bet a lot of the hefe yeast flavors will be lost in that time frame. A worthy experiment none the less. Bad part is I don't have a free secondary at the moment. I have been hinting at my wife that I need another one. Maybe Santa will help out. If not I will buy one after Christmas and give this a try. I will report back and dig this thread up from its grave.

 

[m00ps]

well the brett will take over the beer regardless of the base style IME. There are just certain styles that lend themselves more to it. Like a stout vs a saison base

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Well if it is going to take 3 to 4 months then it might not be worth trying since Hefeweizen is best drank fresh. I bet a lot of the hefe yeast flavors will be lost in that time frame. A worthy experiment none the less. Bad part is I don't have a free secondary at the moment. I have been hinting at my wife that I need another one. Maybe Santa will help out. If not I will buy one after Christmas and give this a try. I will report back and dig this thread up from its grave.

You don't need a secondary. Just keep it in primary that whole time. I do it all the time with Brett beers for extended periods and never had a problem.

Of course, if you just mean you need another fermenter since this will sit there so long, then ignore me.

I'd guess you should be able to bottle right around the 3 month mark with that strain of Brett.

 

[bobo31]

Not really concerned about it sitting in primary for that long. My only concern is one of my primaries being tied up for so long. Gotta keep the pipe line going.

 

[sweetcell]

I want to try a Hefeweizen co-pitched with Brett C. I will pitch both in the primary at the same time probably about 2:1 in favor of the Hefe yeast.

i'm curious about how do you plan on achieving the 2:1 pitch rate.

Well if it is going to take 3 to 4 months then it might not be worth trying since Hefeweizen is best drank fresh. I bet a lot of the hefe yeast flavors will be lost in that time frame.

non-brett'ed Hefeweizen is best drank fresh. the presence of brett changes the game.

brett + hefe should make a very interesting beer, as hefe yeast is POF+, so lots of 4VG... aka precursors that brett can turn into funk, fruit, etc. should be mostly fruit with brett C.

 

[hanuswalrus]

The more this thread pops up, the more I want to brew a beer like this.. There's a brett-dedicated fermenter that I have that is about to open up and now would be a good time to brew this thing so the bottles can be ready and carbed for next summer.

 

[m00ps]

The more this thread pops up, the more I want to brew a beer like this.. There's a brett-dedicated fermenter that I have that is about to open up and now would be a good time to brew this thing so the bottles can be ready and carbed for next summer.

sounds like a pretty $h!tty idea, please dont do it

 

[sweetcell]

^ sarcasm?

 

[MattHollingsworth]

I surely hope so. Go go go! As they say where I live, hajde!

 

[ThatVideoKid]

That sounds interesting, and what HB is all about! If I wasn't new I'd do it, but I want to refine my process. At the same time I want to say f!ck it and pitch some WW or JK dregs in my next beer

 

[sudbuddy]

this sounds delicious

 

[hanuswalrus]

I've decided I'm going to do this.. eventually. I have 3 other brews I have to do before I can get to this one. Will probably end up using Brett B or possibly a blend of B and C.

 

[bobo31]

I have a new secondary now. I will be brewing this up next Monday on the holiday. I plan to age 3 months and report back.

 

[bobo31]

So this has been bubbling away for 2 days now. It had a pretty intense blow off. I may have over pitched a little.
The blow off has the smell of sour apples/cherries, coming from the Brett. C. It has no smell of the Hefe yeast.
Time will tell...

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Depending on how yours comes out, I may give the hefe 12-24hr headstart

 

[hanuswalrus]

So this has been bubbling away for 2 days now. It had a pretty intense blow off. I may have over pitched a little.
The blow off has the smell of sour apples/cherries, coming from the Brett. C. It has no smell of the Hefe yeast.
Time will tell...

Glad to hear that you brewed this up.

I'm a little surprised that the Brett is so dominant in the aroma. I would have thought it would be very hefe-like for the first month or so until the Brett started really working on those esters. Interesting stuff. Keep us posted

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Glad to hear that you brewed this up.

I'm a little surprised that the Brett is so dominant in the aroma. I would have thought it would be very hefe-like for the first month or so until the Brett started really working on those esters. Interesting stuff. Keep us posted

If a starter was made with the Brett C, it's not surprising at all. It should take some time to produce actual funk, but if it was pitched in a similar amount as the Hefe yeast, then it will be present.

If I were to do this, I'd pitch a starter of the Hefe yeast and a vial of White Labs Brett C with no starter at the same time. The Hefe would complete primary before the Brett C started to do its thing.

 

[bobo31]

I Racked this to secondary yesterday and measured the gravity. Right now its at 1.008. I am going to let it sit for at least 2 more months. It tasted good. You could taste the Banana flavor slightly with the Brett having a fruity funk that dominated. I thinking it could benefit greatly from some lacto. I have a few bottles of Jolly Pumpkin and I am considering making a starter from the dregs and throwing them in.

 

[sweetcell]

personally i would give this more than 3 months total (it's a month old at this point, right?). i'd be afraid of the brett continuing to chew away in months 4, 5 and 6... but if you've got stable gravity, or can keep this cold, they you're fine.

i wouldn't make a starter with those JP dregs. just pitch them directly. it's been a while since i last used JP bugs, but they have traditionally been very aggressive and did not need reinforcement. they'll sour anything, quickly.

 

[m00ps]

I've found you can usually reach terminal gravity at 2 months, but the brett flavors arent nearly as developed as youd want. Depends on how aggressive the brett is though. Blends tend to work fasterIME. I havent done any side-by-sides or anything comparing like a 2 month brett conditioning in the fermentor + 2 month in the bottle vs 4 months in the fermentor though

 

[bobo31]

The only reason for making a starter with the JP dregs was to save some for the future. This isn't a beer I can buy in my area. I will add the dregs and and test it again in about 2-3 months to see where its at.

 

[bobo31]

Thought I would provide an update to this project. I tested the beer and it tastes amazing. F.G. was 1.002. The JP dregs soured it up nicely. It doesn't taste anything like it did going in to the secondary, lost all the hefe and brett flavors. I will be bottling this as soon as I can find the time. Once its carbed up I will update again with better tasting notes.