A few weeks ago James from the Basic Brewing Radio podcast invited me on the show to do a tasting of some beers I have fermented with things besides commercial brewers yeast. I sent him 10 bottles of my most interesting stuff, and last week we got to do a massive long distance night of drinking.The first show covers making beer with bread yeast and with bread in it, kombucha culture, and Brettanomyces in the secondary. The second episode (recorded at the same time, but being posted next week) will cover brewing 100% Brett beers. It was lots of fun, and I think at least somewhat informative for anyone looking to make something that will really surprise their beer nerd friends.
Feel free to send any comments or questions my way, I haven't heard the second episode yet, but I can only imagine how unclear some of the information may have become after the amount of "sampling" that we did.
Neo Kvass: Split batch with WY1056 and Red Star Bread Yeast
Kombucha Flanders Red: Super Sour
Traditional Flanders Red: Using the Wyeast Roeselare Blend
Brett C Mini-Saison: No aeration, hot ferment
Brett A Mini- Saison: No aeration, hot ferment
Brett C Mo' Betta Bretta: Aeration, cool ferment
Brett A Mo' Betta Bretta: Aeration, cool ferment. Plain, and Cherry/Pinot Noir
Really enjoyed Part 1 so far. I was pleasantly suprised to hear that the "Mad Fermentationist" would be on Basic Brewing as that was the podcast that started me on homebrewing a while back and your blog has been a great source of motivation for me as well (even on off beat stuff like kombucha-I was inspired by your Kombucha posts to start up my own culture months back-still going to this day). Cheers!
ReplyDeleteBrian
I really enjoyed the 1st episode and especially your website. I love brewing sour beers, and your website has given me some great ideas and information. Thanks, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThese two shows were really fun. I'd like to try using Brett, but am a little freaked about getting everything clean afterwards. Is plastic out of the question?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Steve
Glad everyone enjoyed the show and seems to be getting some inspiration from the blog.
ReplyDeleteAs for sanitization, I live dangerously. I use basically the same equipment for all my beers. I am very anal though, before and after every use I do extended (1 hour +) soaks of all the equipment in hot water and generic Oxyclean followed by cool water and Star San. Brett dies just as easily as any other microbe, it just has the ability to “take over” a beer with a very low cell count because it can eat the craps that brewer’s yeast cannot.
So far I’ve only had one batch go bad on me, and that one was because I ran out of fermenters and ended up pitching a mild into a carboy that had Brett beer in it up until less than an hour before.
If you don’t like the risk you’d have to have a separate set of everything the beer touches after the boil (fermenters, racking cane, tubing, bottling bucket, bottle filler, stoppers, airlocks etc…). So it is up to you, but realize by using the same equipment it will be extra work and there will still be a chance for cross contamination.
I heard you on the podcast. Very inspiring! I just moved to the DC area, and started brewing again. I have an oyster stout in the primary. . . . not as crazy as your brews, but I'll let you know how it turns out. Maybe, I'll send you some if I am proud of it.
ReplyDeleteBC, if you're interested in meeting up at a brewpub or something and swapping a few homebrews at some point let me know.
ReplyDeleteCertainly! I need to get down to the new Dogfish Head brew pub in Falls Church. I'd definitely be up for a brew swap, but I need some months to diversify my inventory. I only have time to brew 5 gallons every two or three weeks, and I've only been in the region for two months. By the way, do you have any recommendations re: homebrew clubs? There are a couple different options on the web. Derek from myLHBS is in the Worthogs and one of his employees is in a different club. I don't know which one would suit me better.
ReplyDeleteDid you add actual oysters to the oyster stout?
ReplyDeleteI'd certainly be up for a trip the the DFH Alehouse at somepoint, I've heard great things about it.
I've been a BURP'er (www.burp.org) for about 6 months now. It is a great club with lots of really knowledgable people. It is also going through a bit of an infusion of young blood, it seems like every meeting there are two or three new members.
The next meeting is Saturday Oct 13th from 1-6 in Arlington. If you are going let me know and we'll figure out away to spot each other so I can introduce you around.
Oh yeah, I put real oysters in that beer. I work for a hospital that is having a big oyster roast as a fundraiser for its foundation, and I planned to give it to our Vice Presidents as gifts to celebrate the occasion (if it is yummy). I have a feeling that I used way too many oysters, though. They went in the kettle the last 15 minutes of the boil and were removed. My OG is 63. I wanted to have a BU:GU of 1, but I batched sparged at the last minute and lost efficiency. I didn't think to change my hopping schedule, so I think I inadvertently increased my hop utilization. What I might have is a fishy and bitter attempt at a foreign/dry stout. I guess I'll see this weekend when we bottle. I'll send a line to the BURP membership chairman, and I'll let you know if I plan on attending. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great site .there are tons of great ideas here !
ReplyDeleteI got my culture from www.royalkombucha.com which was recommended by a friend .they were super helpful and now im on my way to making my own k-tea.Next up is ginger beer!! Thanks