100% Brettanomyces Homebrew: Update

I wanted to give a status on a very different beer that was brewed about a month ago. This beer was brewed with 100% Brettanomyces, or more specifically, a mix between Brettanomyces bruxellenis and Brettanomyces lambicus. When I started the wild yeast project I had very little (and still have) experience brewing beers with wild yeast strains. Wanting more experience and not wanting to wait for 1-2 years for a brew to develop, I decided to make a wild ale in a short time frame. The starting gravity for the beer was 1.043 and I pitched close to 500 billion cells of Brettanomyces. While I’m worried that I overpitched, fermentation started strong and furious and was finished by seven days. The beer is currently sitting in primary waiting for a keg to clear.

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Final gravity after 10 days: 1.004

The fact that Brett fermented that fast, comparable to regular brewing yeast, made think that this should be done more on the professional scale. Some craft breweries, such as Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave, are already switching the dogma that clearly states that wild yeast should be secondary (or no presence at all) to regular brewing yeast.

Of course brewing a beer this fast has its limitations. You will not get that horsy, barnyard, hay aroma or funk since these characteristics develop with time and is dependent on grist composition. Instead, you may get a beer that is quite unique. I’ve decided to pull a sample from primary and review it:

Appearance: Obviously, there is no head to speak of since it is not carbonated. Ultra-low flocculation of these two strains produces a very cloudy beer reminiscent of a hefeweizen. I hope the yeast will settle out more once I cold crash in the keg.

Smell: Lots of complicated esters are pulling through in the nose. Pineapple, pears, apricots, and apples come to mind. Very soft malt presence and no hop aroma. No indication of any funkiness going on here.

Taste: The pilsner malt shines through with freshly toasted crackers followed by a semi-sweet ester profile. Pear and pineapple esters are strong with a small hop bitterness that lingers in the background. Some pepper notes also. Slick on the palette but with a dry body.

Overall: Two words come to mind when I sampled this beer from the primary: rustic Saison. This brew, despite have lots of yeast in suspension, tastes fantastic in primary and I can’t wait to keg. I might even have to dry-hop with a noble type hop varietal.