What're you brewing right now?

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:45 am

busy weekend of non-brewing beery things. filled 7 kegs, moved some beers to secondary, delabeled a bunch of bottles, checked on various things that are fermenting. a couple notes:

100% brett c ipa is tasting awesome. dry hopped each keg with 1.1oz each of amarillo and simcoe. can't wait to drink this one. so much tropical fruit and that great bretty mouthfeel. i suspect the keg won't last long...

100% brett trois stout is also pretty tasty. not as much cherry pie as i've heard others describe when using it 100%, but it's got that brett mouthfeel and a neat fruity/spicy character to it. it'll sit in secondary a bit longer to see if it changes.

looks like we're mostly prepped for the 2014 brewing season. need to install some thermometers and sightglasses in my kettles next weekend, and we'll be ready to rock when the cold breaks.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:08 am

I get a ton of cherry pie when I use brett C in secondary on my historical imperial stout recipe. Gave a sample of a 3-year old batch to a friend yesterday with no advance description, his first comment was, "this tastes like black forrest cake!"

Kegged up 10 gallons of kolsch/blonde ale on the weekend, and brewed 10 gallons of hoppy amber ale.

I just kegged a blend of brett pale ale/IPA. Some of it was 100% brett (crooked stave blend), and some of it was clean. Then it all went in a barrel with brett B for 3 months. Really nice stuff. I enjoy brett pales where you can't necessarily tell where the brett ends and the hops begin... fruity, funky, citrusy, not too bitter. Yum.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:11 pm

grub wrote:busy weekend of non-brewing beery things. filled 7 kegs, moved some beers to secondary, delabeled a bunch of bottles, checked on various things that are fermenting. a couple notes:

100% brett c ipa is tasting awesome. dry hopped each keg with 1.1oz each of amarillo and simcoe. can't wait to drink this one. so much tropical fruit and that great bretty mouthfeel. i suspect the keg won't last long...

White labs brett C? what did the final gravity end up at, and how long did it take? I'm wondering because I have a beer fermented with brett c and its taking a really long time to ferment out.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:13 am

grub wrote:
how were they stored, just bagged and perhaps frozen? otherwise I'm confused how they'd still not be dry.

i haven't opened up the bags yet.
just shoved into large ziplock bags. picked and frozen, apparently.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:15 am

J343MY wrote:
grub wrote:busy weekend of non-brewing beery things. filled 7 kegs, moved some beers to secondary, delabeled a bunch of bottles, checked on various things that are fermenting. a couple notes:

100% brett c ipa is tasting awesome. dry hopped each keg with 1.1oz each of amarillo and simcoe. can't wait to drink this one. so much tropical fruit and that great bretty mouthfeel. i suspect the keg won't last long...
White labs brett C? what did the final gravity end up at, and how long did it take? I'm wondering because I have a beer fermented with brett c and its taking a really long time to ferment out.

Jeremy, what was your mash temp? and what's "forever"? i usually give my all-brett beer a month in primary and i'll usually mash between 149 and 153, with 153 probably pushing it.

grub wrote:
100% brett trois stout is also pretty tasty. not as much cherry pie as i've heard others describe when using it 100%, but it's got that brett mouthfeel and a neat fruity/spicy character to it. it'll sit in secondary a bit longer to see if it changes..

my experience with BBT is more floral and gentle than anything. cherry pie would be b lamb. maybe i'm wrong...

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 11:33 am

I did a 100% brett C (white labs) oatmeal stout about 5 years ago. Wasn't too impressed with the result. High FG, and just kinda flabby and blah.

Will need to do more experimenting with 100% brett fermentations.

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:18 pm

J343MY wrote:
grub wrote:busy weekend of non-brewing beery things. filled 7 kegs, moved some beers to secondary, delabeled a bunch of bottles, checked on various things that are fermenting. a couple notes:

100% brett c ipa is tasting awesome. dry hopped each keg with 1.1oz each of amarillo and simcoe. can't wait to drink this one. so much tropical fruit and that great bretty mouthfeel. i suspect the keg won't last long...
White labs brett C? what did the final gravity end up at, and how long did it take? I'm wondering because I have a beer fermented with brett c and its taking a really long time to ferment out.

yeah, white labs (WLP645). brewed nov 10/2013. mashed at 153F. OG 1.069 / FG 1.007 (88.19% AA). I hadn't checked on it since the brewday (winter == lazy), so not sure exactly how long it took to get there.

atomeyes wrote:
grub wrote:100% brett trois stout is also pretty tasty. not as much cherry pie as i've heard others describe when using it 100%, but it's got that brett mouthfeel and a neat fruity/spicy character to it. it'll sit in secondary a bit longer to see if it changes..
my experience with BBT is more floral and gentle than anything. cherry pie would be b lamb. maybe i'm wrong...

first time using it, but i had read somewhere that it gave a cherry pie thing, which was why I thought a stout would work out well. who knows, bugs can be fickle beasts. maybe it'll change with time, or act differently the next time around. certainly not unhappy with it either way.

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:21 pm

markaberrant wrote:I did a 100% brett C (white labs) oatmeal stout about 5 years ago. Wasn't too impressed with the result. High FG, and just kinda flabby and blah.

Will need to do more experimenting with 100% brett fermentations.

yeah, i'm hoping to do the same, especially since i've more or less decided to dedicate at least one fermenter to brett stuff. getting back a few 50L fermenters I had lent out for ages, so it's easy to set one or two aside. Fortunately I'm happy with how my two experiments from 2013 turned out, so I'm looking forward to more of it.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:40 pm

grub wrote:
markaberrant wrote:I did a 100% brett C (white labs) oatmeal stout about 5 years ago. Wasn't too impressed with the result. High FG, and just kinda flabby and blah.

Will need to do more experimenting with 100% brett fermentations.
yeah, i'm hoping to do the same, especially since i've more or less decided to dedicate at least one fermenter to brett stuff. getting back a few 50L fermenters I had lent out for ages, so it's easy to set one or two aside. Fortunately I'm happy with how my two experiments from 2013 turned out, so I'm looking forward to more of it.

one of the worst beer/brewdays i had was making a brett l stout. winter storm outside, so i had to move inside mid-boil. couldn't get a rolling boil. decided like an idiot to add some molasses for flavour.

let it age for 1 year and every step of the way, it tasted like shit.

BBT, in my opinion, makes great IPAs and dry blondes. works really well with lacto or fruity hops. could work in a stout, i guess, as long as it isn't too dank. who knows.

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:14 pm

atomeyes wrote:one of the worst beer/brewdays i had was making a brett l stout. winter storm outside, so i had to move inside mid-boil. couldn't get a rolling boil. decided like an idiot to add some molasses for flavour.

let it age for 1 year and every step of the way, it tasted like shit.

hehe, this is part of why I don't brew in the winter - I can't be bothered to fight through those sorts of brewdays. I like brewing, and loath the possibility of it becoming something I'd hate. but I also never have to worry about weak boils with my gear...

atomeyes wrote:BBT, in my opinion, makes great IPAs and dry blondes. works really well with lacto or fruity hops. could work in a stout, i guess, as long as it isn't too dank. who knows.

yeah, it's not really dank. vaguely american style stout, 1.081 OG and about 57 IBU of amarillo, split in half with one half getting the trois and the other good ol' S05. the trois half has attenuated further than the clean one, and definitely tastes different. not at all unhappy with it. interestingly, it never developed a pelicle, and there's still a fair amount of sugar in there (sitting at 1.017 currently) if it wants to keep chewing.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:23 pm

I am looking forward to the American Sour book being released next month, should be lots of good info.

I am also firming up a source of used barrels for our brewery this weekend, so should be able get a decent sour program going (as well as a barrel aging program). Also have a ferm tank dedicated for "wild ales."

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 7:42 pm

atomeyes wrote:Jeremy, what was your mash temp? and what's "forever"? i usually give my all-brett beer a month in primary and i'll usually mash between 149 and 153, with 153 probably pushing it.

It was brewed a little over 2 months ago. Mashed at 152, OG: 1.068

It tastes good, but too sweet as it is. Ideally it would end up about 10 points lower. I always intended to leave it for a few more months, but my concern is it may not ferment anymore. I'd hate to leave it for 3 more months and it still be at 1.018. I'm debating on adding some trois to help it along a little.

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:15 pm

markaberrant wrote:I am looking forward to the American Sour book being released next month, should be lots of good info.

yeah, really looking forward to that too - though the author did indicate that he thought the may/june release date being quoted online is overly optimistic. I'm sure it'll be a great read regardless. In the mean time, he's super great about answering questions via email.

markaberrant wrote:I am also firming up a source of used barrels for our brewery this weekend, so should be able get a decent sour program going (as well as a barrel aging program). Also have a ferm tank dedicated for "wild ales."

nice! can't wait until I can start doing this...

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:07 am

J343MY wrote:
atomeyes wrote:Jeremy, what was your mash temp? and what's "forever"? i usually give my all-brett beer a month in primary and i'll usually mash between 149 and 153, with 153 probably pushing it.
It was brewed a little over 2 months ago. Mashed at 152, OG: 1.068

It tastes good, but too sweet as it is. Ideally it would end up about 10 points lower. I always intended to leave it for a few more months, but my concern is it may not ferment anymore. I'd hate to leave it for 3 more months and it still be at 1.018. I'm debating on adding some trois to help it along a little.

BBT isn't a bad choice. b brux could get interesting.

i'd always suggest closer to 150 if you can. just lends to that dryer finish that i'd associate with wine-like strains of brett. also make sure you have a hell of a starter and that it's been building for 2 weeks vs 2 days. probably need to do a 2-step starter if you want it to be strong.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:59 am

grub wrote:
markaberrant wrote:I am looking forward to the American Sour book being released next month, should be lots of good info.
yeah, really looking forward to that too - though the author did indicate that he thought the may/june release date being quoted online is overly optimistic. I'm sure it'll be a great read regardless. In the mean time, he's super great about answering questions via email.

Yeah, I have chatted with Mike lots over the years. amazon.ca is saying April 7 release date...