Brewing with Brettanomyces is a new thing for these Brew Dudes. We are only beginning to catch up with everyone else and starting to thing about all these alternative microbes and the flavors they offer us. I hosted an open brew session at my place at the start of May. Early May just happened to line up with the AHA’s Big Brew Day. We used the day to celebrate the homebrewing with some fellow brewers and to kick off a local home brew club. For the brew session part of the day, I tried brewing Saison with Brettanomcyes. I brewed a double batch of wort, pitched both with Saison yeast and added some Brett to one of the carboys. Now being the first of July, its time to taste.
The both ferments attenuated amazingly well going from and OG of 1.062 down to 1.002. Interestingly, I got the same results with the Belle Saison strain last year when I brewed my first Saison. This years recipe attempted to add a bit more complexity while backing off the wheat malt a little bit.
Interestingly though they are both at the same FG, 1.002 despite one being pitched with Brett. I don’t really know what to expect or how to interpret this. Perhaps the great attenuation of the Saison yeast was too fast and complete for the Brett; not leaving much behind for the Brett to work with. That being said I also don’t know if brewing saison with brettanomyces would produce a FG below 1.000. I suppose an interesting experiment would be to draw off a gallon from the cold keg in a purged small carboy and see what happens if I let it go for another couple months.
All in all it was a interesting first attempt at brewing with some Brettanomyces. I did save some slurry and plan to repitch it into something else soon to see what the results might be. I am sure there is somewhat more Brett in there than what I pitched originally.
As for how the beers taste, you’ll have to watch the video!
Brew On!
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