Brett and bottling

[sharkguy05]

Hey Guys,

SO I just made a Belgian triple and fermented with trappist HG yeats. Got it down to 1.020 and then pitched the brett so it could sour up and eat the rest of the sugars. I think the brett should take it down to about 1.008 or so. Anyway I am gonna cork and cage this beer but I don't want bombs and also I haven't bottled in awhile. A few questions, should I pitch some champagne yeast to bottle or just let the brett do its thing and carbonate the bottle also? Also should I add more sugar in either scenario - ie brett vs champagne yeast? My current thought is that the brett will not produce enough co2 to properly carbonate and that there is not enough residual sugars left, so I should let the brett get the beer down to 1.008 or so then pitch some champagne yeast and add sugar for carbonating. Let me know what you guys think is my best course of action. Cheers! BTW here is my label I had made!! I think its cool but what do I know...



<a href="http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/badkittystudio/media/photo2_zps3a91d51f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg579/badkittystudio/photo2_zps3a91d51f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo2_zps3a91d51f.jpg"/></a>

[teddytejero]

I added 8g sugar /L and 2 gr champagne yeast for a 15 L batch. Also filled some bottles without sugar & champagne yeast. Maybe some dryhops are a nice addition during 2nd fermentation (about 10d).

The sugar added bottles are lagered at 17 °C up to 8 weeks. Big solid foam ... very nice. Don't store in a to hot place! Didn't try the bottles without the sugar / yeast yet !

[sharkguy05]

Im slightly disappointed in the amount of responses guys...no one else has any input?

[Ozwald]

It depends.

Different strains of brett will do different things. If you let the brett dry it out all the way (check with a specialized FG hydro, get 3 readings that are the same, but I'd wait a good long time between each sample to be sure). Then taste it. If it's bretty enough (don't expect sour, most brett strains just produce funk, not sour & the ones that do go sour are a very mild sour with a distinct character - not like a lacto/pedio sour at all). Then you could either dose it with sugar & let the brett do the work, which will take a while or add a secondary yeast which would likely get the carbing sugars before the brett & carb it faster. Brett carbing can lead to a little extra character, but not necessarily in a situation like this.

[sharkguy05]

Thanks oz! Im gonna follow ur advice and go with original plan and let the brett funk it up and then carb with the champagne yeast.

[Ozwald]

No worries. There's a lot of unknowns there so it's hard to give a straight up answer. The best thing you can do is take notes & try again (even if it comes out great... or horrible) with the scientific process. There's no such thing as taking too many notes. If it has a time, temperature, volume, weight, gravity, color, aroma, texture, scent or any other perceivable quality it should be recorded. You never know what information you might want in the future, especially when you're venturing out into new territory. [NBC PSA Audio clip /]