Bottling with Brett

[bhaslip]

I want to brew my first Brett beer in the next week or so and I want to bottle condition it. I have been researching and it seems like a lot of people are apprehensive when it comes to bottle conditioning Brett beers. Does anybody have any experience? I don't want bottle bombs. I just want to be able to cellar a bunch of bottles for years to come. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

[brewinhard]

IMO, brett beers should have a nice, fairly high carbonation to them so the brett aroma rises to the nose. If you are around 1.008 for a final gravity, then bottle as normal. If you plan on doing a 100% brett beer, pitch high and expect a long time 6-10 wks (primary) for the beer too dry out where you really want it. I usually start checking the gravity at around 6 wks. for mine. I have made the mistake of kegging too soon with a FG of 1016 (mashed 148 degrees) when expecting a 1.008 at least. Just be patient and don't rush it. The beer will slowly ferment even after it looks like all the yeast and krausen has dropped.

[Mylo]

My Brett Saison is still active after 4 months. Until I see it calm down, I couldn't possibly think about bottling it. To be fair, I did mash at 158 to give it plenty to work on.


Mylo

[Oktober]

Thanks - thats good information. I have been hesitant to do a bret beer for this very reason.

-Okt

[bhaslip]

Thanks for the info. So for bottling with brett, would it be best to rack to secondary, pitch a brett strain and wait it out for a while, or am I safe to add the brett at bottling along with some priming sugar?

[brewinhard]

Depending on the gravity you can pitch the brett at bottling time with priming sugar. Just be careful and understand that over time the brett will continue to chomp on those sugars remaining in the bottle. If you want good brett character in the beer I would recommend brewing a batch with saccharomyces in primary (mash higher than normal 154-156). Let the beer ferment in primary for a few days, once primary just starts to slow, rack the beer into a carboy and pitch the brett. Doing it this way will help the brett get a little head start on some sugars left while making sure to minimize oxidation in the secondary with an active fermentation pushing out any oxygen in the carboy.

[bhaslip]

Perfect, thanks a lot. I will give it try.