Pale Ale 100% Brett #1

[sdixon]

Grain
Pilsner - 5.25Kg
Raw Wheat - 0.5Kg

Hops
Perle - 25 gr. (60min)
Crystal - 20 gr. (30min)
Hallertauer Mitt. - 10 gr. (5min)

Yeast
Brett B - Wyeast 5112

Est ABV = 4.7%

[sdixon]

Well it took 4 days to see any activity, and even now it's only a thin sheet of foam. Some resources say 100% Brett can take 5 days to get working, so without a starter I guess that's close to par for the course. Makes you nervous when on day 3 there is still zero activity.

[fakr]

Have you taken a gravity reading to see if it's moved at all? Without a starter, perhaps you underpitched?

A friend of mine married into an Italian family who make their own wine from scratch, and ferment using the bret on the grapes.  That stuff ferments fast and aggressive.  Mind you, the OG of crushed grapes is considerably higher than most wort.

[Chris Craig]

Don't worry Steve.  It's unlikely to become contaminated with US-05  :mrgreen:

[sdixon]

Wohoo... all the sudden it's taking off :-)

[sdixon]

Took a gravity ready tonight (1.023). Moving quite slowly, but it does taste very nice. It has some funk on the nose, but the palate is more fruit (pear) and floral (not sure what though). I'm a fan so far. Next time, I think I'll make a 1 litre stater to help it work faster.