Beer Forum

I made my first beer that is a pure brett fermentation. A couple of days later I have a head of krausen. I thought it was just going to produce a pellicle, is this normal?

As a precursor, I've never done a Brett beer, let alone Brett in primary. BUT. Brett is a yeast, and behaves like a yeast. It is going to eat sugars and expel CO2 and EtOH. With all of those simple sugars in your wort, the Brett is going to go crazy and produce krausen just like plain ole Sacch. The difference is that Brett is a wild yeast and is able to chomp through longer chain carbohydrates than Saccharomyces. That's why it takes longer to finish and can eat more. So don't worry.

Anybody else who has actually used it?

Did an all Brett beer a couple of months ago. By all accounts this is normal. The beer turned out great. Sit back and relax, the beer will take months to ferment out

Thanks for the reassurance. I am looking forward to this being the first of many Brett beers to come!

When Brett is used as the only yeast, it behaves like a brewing yeast. When it's used as an additional yeast (added at the same time as a primary yeast it gets outcompeted) it behaves like a wild yeast, fermenting the things that are left over by the regular yeast. I'ts the stressful conditions that cause it to crank out the funk ........

Once the initial activity quiets down, do I need to transfer it so the pelicle can form? Is it ok to let the beer continue to set on whatever was left from primary fermentation?

Just let it go. No need to transfer. It could take months to ferment out.

Thanks for the help!