Sour Plum Porter, When To Use The Brett

[BoisePorter]

Hey all. I'm going to brewing up a Porter this weekend. In four weeks I'm going to transfer it to 10 lbs of plums and secondary it for about two weeks. I want to funkify it with Brett B. Should I add the Brett B when transferring it to secondary, or wait and add the Brett B. after the two weeks on the fruit?

Thanks,

Torin

 

[brent77]

Brett does not "sour" beer. If you want sourness, you'll have to go with bacteria like lacto, or pedio. Brett will offer anything from a tropical ester, to horseblanket.

 

[user 108580]

You could use the plums to sour if they are fresh and uncleaned. They'll be teeming with microorganisms and you could get a nice wild fermentation going.

 

[BoisePorter]

Modified to say funkify rather than sour.

Plums are fresh/frozen from my tree. Last year I made a Plum Saison with them and heated them to 160+ or 170+ (don't remember which I chose). This year for the Porter, I may not do that.

But it still leaves the question of when is it best to add the Brett B. I'm leaning towards after pulling it off the fruit simply because I'm going to leave it for a good 6 -12 months and obviously don't want it on the fruit that long.

 

[brent77]

Chad Yakobson from crooked stave has a few interviews/youtube vids out there which are really insightful about brett. From what I've read/listened to, and experienced. Brett will chew through everything, including the esters in the beer. I had figs in mine for a month, there was a really strong fig flavor for the first two weeks and then barely a hint now, but not a huge funk.


Also if you want to geek out on the science, http://www.brettanomycesproject.com/ this has his whole masters dissertation brett.

 

[Cape Brewing]

and obviously don't want it on the fruit that long.

why not?

I did a RR Consecration clone a few years ago and left that barrel on red currents for almost 18 months. That beer was fantastic.

I think when to add the brett is more dictated by how much brett characteristic you want. You can primary ferment with it, add it long after secondary, or anywhere in between depending on how much sugar you want the bugs to eat.