Entering the World of Brett

A big day in my homebrewing career is approaching. I’ve played with bugs like lactobacillus, but have not yet experimented with brettanomyces.

That will soon change.

A couple of days ago Chris told us about his upcoming brett brew with peaches added.

I received a pitch of the same Crooked Stave brett culture and will put my own spin on it. When all is said and done, Chris and I will be able to compare our beers (we’re in the same homebrew club) and see how they compare.

My Plan

This will be a 100% brett beer so I can get a sense of how this pitch performs on its own. I’ll use a lambic-esque base recipe with 65% pilsner malt and 35% flaked wheat. I don’t have any 3 year old hops laying around, so I’m going with the low alpha acid Strisslespalt variety.

Now the big question – what to add during fermentation? I want to add fruit but haven’t decided on what type. Chris is using peaches so I obviously can’t be a copycat. Cherries perhaps? Raspberries? Tomatoes? Just kidding…

Luckily I have plenty of time to figure it out.

Recipe

Batch Size: 6 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: ??
IBU: 8
Efficiency: 70%

MaltGerman Pilsner Malt – 8 lbs
Flaked Wheat – 4 lbs

Hops
Strisslespalt (2.3% AA) – 1 oz @ 60 min

Yeast

Crooked Stave Brett blend. According to Chad, it’s a mix of:

• Brettanomyces custersianus
• Orval’s brett strain
• Jolly Pumpkin brett strain
• CMY-Drie mutant

I’ll make a starter but it’s a dense culture and should be enough for the batch. When I figure out what fruit I’m going to add I’ll update this post.

Now to walk on the wild side…

About Billy Broas

Billy is the founder of The Homebrew Academy and also blogs at BillyBrew.com. He's an east coast native living in Denver where he's enjoying the unreal craft beer scene and waiting for the Rockies pick him up as a free agent center fielder.

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