Tag Archive: 50 West
Brettanomyces Saison using 50 West Dregs
A few months ago, I bought a pair of bottles of 50 West’s first (I think) bottle release, Brett is my Copilot. I was fermenting a saison at the time, and pulled a gallon aside and pitched the bottle dregs in it. Looks like this happened on April 8, because Twitter says I posted the pic below on April 9th at 7:47 AM… which was probably after I arrived at work the following morning.
I went far down the #homebrew rabbit hole by pitching some of the Brett from a @FiftyWestBrew to a Saison. pic.twitter.com/KbHLlzTROr
— Andrew Rohne 🍺🏃🍕 (@HamBrew807) April 9, 2015
The initial recipe is below:
Recipe Details
| Batch Size | Boil Time | IBU | SRM | Est. OG | Est. FG | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 gal | 90 min | 31.2 IBUs | 8.0 SRM | 1.058 | 1.004 | 7.1 % |
| Actuals | 1.051 | 1.01 | 5.4 % | |||
Style Details
| Name | Cat. | OG Range | FG Range | IBU | SRM | Carb | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saison | 16 C | 1.048 - 1.065 | 1.002 - 1.012 | 20 - 35 | 5 - 14 | 2.3 - 2.9 | 5 - 7 % |
Fermentables
| Name | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) | 8.5 lbs | 79.07 |
| Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) | 12 oz | 6.98 |
| Caramunich Malt | 8 oz | 4.65 |
| Sugar, Table (Sucrose) | 1 lbs | 9.3 |
Hops
| Name | Amount | Time | Use | Form | Alpha % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tettnang | 0.75 oz | 60 min | Boil | Pellet | 4.5 |
| Tettnang | 1 oz | 15 min | Boil | Pellet | 4.5 |
| Amarillo | 0.5 oz | 15 min | Boil | Pellet | 9.2 |
Miscs
| Name | Amount | Time | Use | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish Moss | 0.25 tsp | 15 min | Boil | Fining |
Yeast
| Name | Lab | Attenuation | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| French Saison (3711) | Wyeast Labs | 80% | 65°F - 77°F |
Mash
| Step | Temperature | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Mash In | 148°F | 75 min |
Download
| Download this recipe's BeerXML file |
I essentially let it ferment out (it was about a 4 gallon batch after a little disaster). I then racked a gallon to another carboy and swirled the dregs from the bottle and pitched it into the carboy.
It’s been a while (six weeks?) and I tried some.
Dat clarity!
It has some tartness and a lot more mouthfeel. It’s getting bottled today and the yeast/brett mix will be saved for another.
Cheers!
Saison + Brett from a 50W Brett Is My Copilot Bottle
I like the idea of experimenting.
First, I saw this on Twitter:
Some dude posted this on Twitter…
@CffmBeech is Country Fresh Farm Market on Beechmont Avenue. It’s about 1/4 mile away from my LHBS, Paradise Brewing. I needed to drop by Paradise for a hop rhizome. And I’m a beer explorer, so I couldn’t resist wanting this. So I dropped by CFFM and after finding the bottles.
I sought some help from a friend that is going to (or just graduated from) the Seibel Institute. He was asking if I used brett for the Saison, since that’s the traditional fermentation ‘method’.
The other person’s name has been removed since I didn’t ask him if I could post this.
So I thought about something…
Oh look, what do we have here?
Note the 100% Brett fermented…
So while I was stopping by Paradise picking up that hop rhizome, I got a 1-gallon carboy to try this out. My Saison was nearly done fermenting, but I racked about a gallon into the second carboy (which was washed and sterilized, of course!), sprayed sanitizer around the cap of Brett is my Copilot, and poured all but about 3/4″ of it into a glass, and swirled the rest and pitched it into the second carboy.
In secondary!
Within 5 minutes, the airlock was bubbling, but I don’t know if that was because of the Brett or if it was because of other reasons. There is no pellicle yet (a few days after pitching), but there’s still time. And I’m going to save the yeast/brett mix for my next Saison.
Oh, and this happened too:
🙂
Cheers!
PS: Brett Is My Copilot is a pretty good beer, too! It’s tart and citrusy. I can definitely see this as a beer to enjoy while sitting outside on a warm Cincinnati summer day.