Brett Saison...calling all experienced funky monks

[Holt]

So I am burned out on IPAs at the moment--too many great examples here in California, not that there's a problem with that.

I am interested in brewing a 1.070ish saison using 100% Brett. What are your experiences as far as yeast starters and fermentation challenges using Brett L. or Brett. B? I'm looking for something with some interesting barnyard/horse hair complexity. Also, what kind of hops would best compliment or add to these flavor characteristics?

Thanks,

Holt

[SacoDeToro]

There are many ways to go when using brett in a saison. While you can certainly use brett L in a saison, my favorite uses have involved brett B and/or brett C.

100% brett fermentation: You'll get a noticable brett profile, but if you treat it the same as an ale yeast (pitching rate, temp, O2, etc...) you'll be surprised at how clean the finished beer will be. Personally, if you plan to use brett as a primary yeast in a saison, follow the same pitching rates as with an ale. The Wyeast cultures have a much higher cell count coming out of the package, so make your starter per usual. Use a yeast nutrient

Brett to finish: I've had a few saisons that were intentionally under attenuated for the style. Brett was added to the primary to dry things out towards the end of fermentation. Low(er) pitching rates were used, no O2, etc... and all had a pleasant brett funk to them and eventually dried out to leave a beer that was around 90-93% attenuated.

Brett for bottling: Make a saison with an ale yeast of your choice and bottle as you normally would with priming sugar, but use brett in place of an ale yeast. I believe this is what Boulevard does with their Saison Brett, which IMO is an amazing beer and has a fantastic brett profile to it.

[Holt]

Julian,

Thanks for the great information.

Have you ever used WLP670 American Farmhouse Blend? The White Labs website says, "it consists of a traditional farmhouse yeast strain and Brettanomyces." I know the White Labs vials of Brett have very few yeast cells in them compared to other ale yeast strains--why is that? It seems like it would take a considerable amount of growing up the wild yeast to have a full pitch for an 11 gallon batch.

If I can't find WLP670, is there anything wrong with doing a big starter with a vial or 2 of a regular saison yeast and a vial or 2 of Brett in the same starter?

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

I like making saisons and brewing with Brett as a secondary fermenter, but I haven't been too happy with my results from all-brett fermentation. Not yet at least. I had a batch of strong saison that I secondaried with Brett B that turned out excellent. You could check that out here:http://seanywonton.blogspot.com/2009/12/plate-chiller-and-hop-taquito-tested.html (note on the recipe, I added a little maltodextrin back after primary fermentation for brett food. You could probably just add that or carapils in the original brew instead).

The American Farmhouse blend you mentioned sounds promising, although I haven't used it. The usual brett packs are designed for pitching as secondary pitches so they don't need a high cell count and that's a proper pitch rate to get the flavor you want. If you want to use it as a primary you'll want to do a multi-step starter.

Again I'm not writing off primary-fermenting with brett completely, but if you just want a great strong saison with brett character, I'd use it as a secondary fermenter in the normal way. It works great, so why mess with it?

[SacoDeToro]

Yours is the first mention I've heard of WLP670. The issue I find with blends (from a single vial) is not knowing the proportion of yeasts present. Where things end up after repitching is anyone's guess as well. I've had a number of beers that used a blend for the primary, but they came from separate pitches, each with a relatively known cell count. Personally, I would grow up the brett and ale yeasts separately before pitching them into the same primary. That way you have repeatability as well as the ability to control proportions.