The Mixed Fermentation Thread

[Sadfield]

Brewing a 'Vatted' Porter tomorrow.

Extra Pale Maris Otter - 75%
Brown Malt - 22%
Black Malt - 3%

Bramling Cross - 25g @ 75'
Bramling Cross - 25g @ 50'
Bramling Cross - 25g @ 20'

OG - 1.051
IBUs - 52
Colour - 50ebc.

20L batch that'll be fermented out with saccharomyces then put into a corny with Brett C infused oak chunks and another 25g of Bramling Cross. Then left for 6-12 months. Should be around 6.7% when fermented out.

 

[marshbrewer]

What temp will use leave it at once you've added Bret @Sadfield ? The commercial Bret strains all seem to require mid to high 20°c, which seems odd to me as I can't believe Barklay Perkins huge porter vats being anywhere near that temperature, probably more like ambient.

 

[Sadfield]

Ambient household temperature.

I just assume those fermentation temperatures are for 100% Brett fermentations.

 

[jof]

Interesting that it's single hop, and not the usual 60,30 & flameout we see with more popular brews

 

[matt76]

Good luck with it @Sadfield , hope you fare better then I did - I still have 10-15 bottles of the Brett Porter I made last year and it still tastes like $h1te!

FWIW, even though I fermented out with MJ M36 first, the WLP645 I used did precisely chuff all until a heatwave came - in hindsight it seems to want to be at least very high 20s and more like 30degC.

But like @marshbrewer I can't believe historically those huge vats were at anything other than ambient

 

[Sadfield]

Should be fine, it's a recipe I've brewed before, give or take simplifying the grist a little.

In my experience it takes months before any noticable flavours develop, so it could possibly coincidence you hit warmer weather.

 

[Twogunrocky]

What happens to the pellicle after you've finished ageing with Brett and you want to bottle the beer?

Do you siphon into bottles as usual then just mix the remaining pellicle into the yeast cake, then rack another beer directly on to that?...

 

[Sadfield]

After a while the pellicle drops into the beer. I'm aging in a corny, so it draws from underneath the pellicle anyway.

Brett can ferment the sugars in wood, going as much as 4-8mm into it. Instead of pitching onto yeast, I use this to transfer brett from brew to brew by transferring the oak chunks.

 

[Twogunrocky]

What I want to know is, is it safe to mix it in to the yeast for either reusing or pitching on top.... If not how would you remove it from a normal 1g demi, and just leave yeast behind?
I'm really fascinated by this subject and want to try a few experiments as I have half a dozen Demi's empty, but I'd like to reuse the yeast.
Saw this in Morrisons and thought it'd be an easy starting point for some dregs experimentation.

 

[Sadfield]

Perfectly fine to mix in. From a demi, you can however just syphon from underneath it.

 

[Twogunrocky]

Diving into the unknown, I've just boiled up 30grams of dme in 300 ml of water and its now cooling to pitchable temp, the plan albeit a wing and prayer job is to pitch the dregs of the Bacchus Cherry from Kasteel Brouwerij I bought to try and culture it up a bit, then I intend to add it to a DJ of Aipa that I'll rack off a 20l brew coming to a finish soon.
Does that sound ok to do?

First time I've had one of this style of beer, and have to say it was utterly delicious.

Now I didn't perceive any noticeable yeast in the bottle, but it was about the only example of a mixed fermentation beer available in the supermarket, so if nothing comes of it, at the least I've tried a new style which I like very much(sours are a favourite of mine)and only 30grms dme used.....bit of luck there's a bit of funk in there.
If nothing happens I may put it outside for the night under an apple tree.

 

[YeastFace]

Kegged my bretted dark saison with pomengranate and dates (I'm not sure there's any saison character left so it's probably a Wild Specialty Ale in truth) last week.

Brewed it back in April and fermented with Omega Coast to Coast American Farmhouse.

Was at 1.011 for the final 3 weeks in the fermenter and I needed to use that for another brew, so I racked into keg, applied a little top pressure to seal and have been venting every now and then over the past 4 months. Was at 1.008 (a bit higher than expected but at 85% attenuation reasonable enough) but tasting well so decided to rack to serving keg and see how it develops over a month or so in the keezer.

 

[Sadfield]

Diving into the unknown, I've just boiled up 30grams of dme in 300 ml of water and its now cooling to pitchable temp, the plan albeit a wing and prayer job is to pitch the dregs of the Bacchus Cherry from Kasteel Brouwerij I bought to try and culture it up a bit, then I intend to add it to a DJ of Aipa that I'll rack off a 20l brew coming to a finish soon.
Does that sound ok to do?

Fingers crossed, hope there's something in there and it's not filtered.

If you don't have any success, some Waitrose and Booths supermarkets stock Boon Gueuze, which will give you some yeast and bacteria.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/oude-gueuze-boon-belgium/409406-662304-662305

 

[YeastFace]

Some Waitrose also do a decent range from The Wild Beer Co (most of which have some form of wild yeast or bacteria) if you can't find Boon Queuze or Kriek.

 

[Twogunrocky]

Thanks Sadfield, I'll definitely pick up a Boon for sure.... The Bacchus is a kriek YeastFace, but I have a feeling it may have been filtered, 12 hours on the stirplate and not much happening, but hey I can always just build another yeast up with this one until I get a bottle of the good funk.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[YeastFace]

Thanks Sadfield, I'll definitely pick up a Boon for sure.... The Bacchus is a kriek YeastFace, but I have a feeling it may have been filtered, 12 hours on the stirplate and not much happening, but hey I can always just build another yeast up with this one until I get a bottle of the good funk.

Thanks for the heads up.

Yes, I meant Boon Kriek. It's unfiltered.

 

[YeastFace]

Kegged my bretted dark saison with pomengranate and dates (I'm not sure there's any saison character left so it's probably a Wild Specialty Ale in truth) last week.

Brewed it back in April and fermented with Omega Coast to Coast American Farmhouse.

Was at 1.011 for the final 3 weeks in the fermenter and I needed to use that for another brew, so I racked into keg, applied a little top pressure to seal and have been venting every now and then over the past 4 months. Was at 1.008 (a bit higher than expected but at 85% attenuation reasonable enough) but tasting well so decided to rack to serving keg and see how it develops over a month or so in the keezer.

Needs a bit more carbonation.

Lots of horse blanket, but with an underlying vanilla sweetness. Definitely some tartness from the pomegranate molasses, but not a heartburn-inducing level.

 

[CJV8]

Dipping my toe into wild and mixed fermentations. I racked off 4 demijohns from a recent grisette I did, 1 got a few heads of fresh elderflower, 1 got maybe 200g of rhubarb from the garden, and the other 2 are waiting. I plan to add some of a friend's sourdough starter to one and some bottle dregs to the other.

Thankfully there's activity in the elderflower and rhubarb ones, slow but steady.

I also have a couple of brews to do, one with Omega's brett blend #3, the other with Wyeast 3278, just fiddling with recipes at the moment.

 

[marshbrewer]

I've ordered some SafBrew BR-8 from an ebay seller as it seems hard to find in the UK. So, hopefully some Bretted keeping pale ale will be on the cards. Probably a KKKK, that I'll split between 4 demijohns (one plain, one Brett, one oak, one oak and Brett)

 

[Sadfield]

I see Geterbrewed stock it. It's interesting that SafBrew BR-8's instruction suggests it's a bottling yeast. A Brettanomyces Claussenii version would be great for those British heritage brews.