The Bar Towel

Greetings Bar Towel'ers,

My name is Brad - long time lurker, first time poster! I've been casually checking out the bar towel for the past few years to see what's going on and after meeting Cass @ Session this year decided I'd finally register... and now I'm finally getting around to posting!

I'm an avid homebrewer located in downtown Toronto who's been brewing all grain for approx 2 yrs now. I use a 10 gallon Blichman Boilermaker for a mash tun and kettle, ferment in glass carboys and keg all my beers to put on tap in my apartment (True Brand Keg Fridge with 2 taps I found on Kijiji few yrs ago). I try to keep 2 active taps always running. When I need to put a new beer on tap, I'll bottle what's left of the last keg with a beer gun and give a bunch away to my friends. I've made quite a few investments in my set-up over the past few years but they all seem to be paying off.

Beers I currently have finished or fermenting:

1) German Pils on tap - Single Malt and Single Hop classic recipe - this one won the best of show at the CABA GCHC this year.
2) Citra Pale Ale - bottled - A nice bitter pale ale with a tonne of late Citra hops and dry hopped with Citra Leaf
3) Traditional German Bock - been in primary for about 10 days now, likely leave for another week before I start cold conditioning.
4) Black IPA - finishing in primary - soon to be transferred to secondary to dry hop with Cascade/ Amarillo leaf for a week or 2, then keg

I try to brew at least a few times a month and spend countless other hours researching, planning brews and sampling. I have my system pretty dialed in after making dozens of beers on it. Could always add more equipment though and plan to once I get out of my kitchen as my primary brewing space!

I plan to brew a Saison this weekend which will be my first excursion into Belgian beers. Until now I've primarily stuck with American and Eng IPA's, Porters and Lagers. I had a Victory "Helios" Saison in Cleveland a few weeks ago and loved it. I've got a grain bill lined up of Pilsner, Vienna and Wheat for this one and likely all Hallerteau hops (a favourite). White Labs 565 Saison I Yeast ready to go. Also, picked up a vile of Brett Lambicus - not sure yet if I want to try this out on the first brew?? I'd like to add a little extra character but want to keep this a spicy, refreshing brew - not a sour bomb! Any recmmendations on using the Brett are welcome. I may split the batch after fermentation and pitch half the vile to see how it turns out.

Thanks for reading and hope to get the chance to bounce some ideas back and forth with many of you.

Cheers!

Brad

Greetings Brad, and welcome.
I haven't used Brett in a brew yet, but from what I've heard you might want to dedicate tubing, carboy, and keg to Brett only brews. Once you have it in your system, it's not the most simple thing to clean out and make a fresh start of.
That being said, I just did my first saison using the white labs version, and I love what this yeast puts out.

Hey Brad welcome to the group.

I recently brewed a saison with that yeast and it came out great. Its hard to believe the flavors you get from this yeast, I am getting a touch of sourness from mine, pretty subtle but it's there, so there maybe no need for the brett.

How are you planning to keep the temp up while you ferment? I stuck mine in the garage during the heatwave in july, that could account for the sourness!

Hi guys,

Thanks for the tips! Good point about the Brett needing dedicated eqipment. I've read different opinions and not too worried about cleaning it out of a carboy - but it would be a different story for my racking cane and tap lines. I think I'm going to hold off using it for another brew someday.

I generally ferment around 70F - simply by keeping my aircon cranked in the summer or low heat in the winter. For a lager I'll put the carboy in a shallow ice bed which works surprisingly well.

I figured I'd ferment around 72F for a week and then move the carboy to a warmer place in my apt for another 3-4 days. I considered putting it on a heating pad on low for a few days but that might be a bit much? - no way to really determine how warm it's getting.

I can get pretty creative - one winter I lagered a Pilsner for a few weeks in my car!

Cheers,
BC

BradC wrote: I plan to brew a Saison this weekend which will be my first excursion into Belgian beers. Until now I've primarily stuck with American and Eng IPA's, Porters and Lagers. I had a Victory "Helios" Saison in Cleveland a few weeks ago and loved it. I've got a grain bill lined up of Pilsner, Vienna and Wheat for this one and likely all Hallerteau hops (a favourite). White Labs 565 Saison I Yeast ready to go. Also, picked up a vile of Brett Lambicus - not sure yet if I want to try this out on the first brew?? I'd like to add a little extra character but want to keep this a spicy, refreshing brew - not a sour bomb! Any recmmendations on using the Brett are welcome. I may split the batch after fermentation and pitch half the vile to see how it turns out.

Welcome Brad, sounds like you have jumped into the hobby full force!

565 is a notoriously sluggish yeast. I would definitely make a starter with it, and be prepared to keep it in primary for up to 4 weeks.

Brett contributes very little sourness, and ale yeast even less. Acetobacter, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus will create acidity and sourness in beer.

If you do use brett, let it ferment for at least 8-9 months before bottling. Use seperate plastic equipment, but glass and stainless can be shared, just make sure your cleaning and sanitizing procedures are solid. I have dedicated Better Bottle carboys, kegs and tap lines for my sour and brett beers.

I just bottled off the last half of a keg of sour Baltic Porter last night. Gave everything a thorough cleaning too.
I have a Historical Imperial Stout with Brett Lambicus on the go (pitched brett 1 month ago).
I have a couple carboys of 1,2,3 and 4 year old Flanders Red. Will be blending them in the next week or so; some will continue to age, some will be kegged, and some will have sour cherries added.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the tips. I think I got lucky as I didn't have time Fri to do a starter and had a small window yesterday to actually brew the Saison. I pitched the 565 directly into the wort, went out around 8pm and when I came home 5 hours later there was a nice krausen formed and visible airlock activity. Looks like I got a good fresh strain. I usually would make a starter (especially for Lagers) but sometimes take the chance.... it's fermenting around 74-76F now and very active.

I'm going to hold off experimenting with Brett for now - don't know if I can wait 6 months to drinks a beer! Will experiment with it eventually though.

On the topic of yeast strains, I'd recomment White Labs new WLP 090 San Diego Super Yeast to anyone... no starter, it kicked in in a few hours and nearly finished a 1.065 wort in 4 days! Very clean yeast much like WLP 001 but higher attentuation. I plan to use it for all my ales now in place of WLP 001.

Cheers,
Brad