Brett IPA

Yep, Brett IPA. What the hell is a Brett IPA? Well... it's exactly what it sounds like... IPA fermented with Brett. You can do that? Apparently. I just did. And actually, the more research I do, the more I find that these beers are far more common than I had thought. Ok, so... how'd this one pop into my head? It was several months back when I went on a camping trip with my Dad, who is a member of QUAFF (San Diego Homebrewing Club) where we headed out to the Anza Borrego desert and sharred beer, stories and trades all homebrewing related. It was actually pretty fun but amidst the drunken stupor I ran into a fellow homebrewer that was handing out pours of his latest beer. I actually can't remember his name -- go figure -- but he was telling me he made a 100% Brett IPA. I could probably go back and look up his name because I know he was talking about being involved with the start of a new brewery coming up pretty soon. I believe he said it was called "Toolbox Brewing" or something to that regard, but either way, he was telling me all about misnomers of Brett. He went on to tell me about how Brett can really be a clean strain when used properly. By the way, Brett is short for Brettanomyces, a yeast that is slightly different from tradition brewing yeast. It's not that it's more temperamental, if anything is less but mainly because it thrives in so many extreme environments. Unlike Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, which works well in a smaller temperature parameter, Brett works in a much broader range without having nearly as many negative byproducts. In fact, Brett works very thoroughly in it's attenuation but the only downside is that it takes it's sweet, sweet time. Brett is really known for its funky, leathery or horse blanket like notes that are found in many Belgian beers, but as this guy was telling me that Brett has so many other benefits to beer, I had to look further into it.

There are so many different offshoots of Brett strains but the one I was focused on was the "Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois" or the WLP644. Directly from the White labs website, "This Belgian strain, used traditionally for 100% Brettanomyces fermentation, produces a slightly tart beer with delicate characteristics of mango and pineapple. Can also be used to produce effervescence when bottle-conditioning." I chose this strain mainly because I've never used it before and I liked the idea of having the Brett quality on a slightly Belgian platform, yet assertively hopped for an added dimension. Here's one issue though, you absolutely need to propagate Brett in order to have enough cells to pitch. I put together a 1.5 litre yeast starter that lasted about 10 days, then pitched.

Brett IPA (Brett Brux Trois) 7% Brewed on 4/18/13 (6 Gallon)

12# American 2 Row
.75# Carapils
.75# Crystal 40L
.5# German Wheat

1.75 oz Chinook @ 60 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 30 min
1 oz Cascade @ 15 min
1 oz Amarillo @ 0 min
2 oz Amarillo Dry Hop (Whole Leaf)

WLP 644 White Labs Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois

Here's the scary part. Brett is very, very tough. Cross contamination is almost guaranteed if you reuse the same equipment with Saccharomyces strains. I know this from personal experience as well as all the other info I've read on Brett. I have my Brett IPA now sitting with the dry hop in my closet at about 78 degrees. I usually ferment all of my beers around 68 for a clean profile but I eventually ramp the temps up toward the end of primary fermentation to really get the off flavored byproducts absorbed back into the yeast. Because Brett eats pretty much anything in front of it, this shouldnt be a problem, but as it stands, the Brett IPA is at 78 degrees until ready for transfer.

Now the question, to bottle or to keg....? I don't want to risk any more cross contamination so we'll see... I'll be watching this beer quite closely to keep tabs on its progress, because again this beer may take quite awhile to thoroughly ferment. I would like to end somewhere around 1.004 - 1.008 terminal gravity and dry dis' bitch out. Tasting notes to come!

Anyway, Cheers!