Brett. C "Mild"

Well...I say mild. It is built on the grain bill and meets most of the specifications of one...but my choice of using a brett means it will be a mild in the original sense of the term. And as it ages, it should transform into an old ale, as things should. This recipe was born by my need to use and build up a healthy culture of of Brett C (wyeast) so that I would be able to pitch dregs from the carboy and bottles.

Because I planned on direct pitching, and wanted it to ferment fairly quickly, I decided on a session ale; I also wanted to get a couple of low ABV beers into my pipeline, since I normally tend to brew on the bigger end. So we have an English style session ale, with about 13% crystal malts, and 8% rolled oats to keep that body up (brett doesn't produce glycerol like sacc does, so doesn't contribute to the body of your beer). In order to keep things from drying out too much, I also decided to mash high, at 157*--100% brett ferments don't get the same crazy attenuation as using brett in secondary.
Ahtanum hops were used primarily because I felt the citrus forward would compliment the brett c.--theoretically--and because I figured I should give them a try before they were all gone (my LHBS discontinued carrying them). 

Recipe: Brett C Session Ale    TYPE: All Grain
Style: Mild
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 13.2 SRM        SRM RANGE: 12.0-25.0 SRM
IBU: 19.6 IBUs Tinseth    IBU RANGE: 10.0-25.0 IBUs
OG: 1.038 SG        OG RANGE: 1.030-1.038 SG
FG: 1.012 SG        FG RANGE: 1.008-1.013 SG
BU:GU: 0.519        Calories: 134.8 kcal/12oz    Est ABV: 3.3 %       
EE%: 72.00 %    Batch: 4.00 gal      Boil: 5.18 gal    BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
0.70 tsp              Lactic Acid (Mash 60.0 mins)             Water Agent   1        -            

Total Grain Weight: 5 lbs 10.1 oz    Total Hops: 1.35 oz oz.
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.20 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
4 lbs 5.1 oz          Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         2        76.7 %       
7.0 oz                Crystal 135/150 (75.0 SRM)               Grain         3        7.8 %        
7.0 oz                Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                   Grain         4        7.8 %        
4.0 oz                Crystal 50/60 (55.0 SRM)                 Grain         5        4.4 %        
3.0 oz                Chocolate, Pale (225.0 SRM)              Grain         6        3.3 %        


Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Saccharification  Add 21.06 qt of water at 164.7 F        158.0 F       60 min       
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min              168.0 F       10 min       

---SPARGE PROCESS---
>>>>>>>>>>-RECYCLE FIRST RUNNINGS & VERIFY GRAIN/MLT TEMPS: 68.0 F/72.0 F
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD BOIL CHEMICALS BEFORE FWH
If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.031 SG    Est OG: 1.038 SG
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
0.40 oz               Fuggle [5.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min          Hop           7        12.0 IBUs    
1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 20.0 mins)              Fining        8        -            
0.35 oz               Ahtanum [4.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min         Hop           9        4.5 IBUs     
0.60 oz               Ahtanum [4.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           10       3.1 IBUs     


---FERM PROCESS-----------------------------
Primary Start: 08 Nov 2016 - 4.00 Days at 67.0 F
Secondary Start: 12 Nov 2016 - 10.00 Days at 67.0 F
Style Carb Range: 1.30-2.30 Vols
Bottling Date: 22 Nov 2016 with 1.5 Volumes CO2:
---NOTES------------------------------------


 This is fun....it is my trial run for my new, ten gallon cooler tun.  I can finally do my full volume, no sparge mashes, and have plenty of room!  And just open the spigot to drain the tun.  And easily do my parti-gyle!  Yay!

Anyways.... Mash in went perfectly, hitting the target 157*, and I mashed for 60min.  Pulled the bag slightly to clear the spigot and drained the tun, squeezing the bag moderately.  Brew day went pretty much without a hitch; a slight leak of the valve--should probably find a second silicon washer for the outside--, and a fairly shallow learning curve for how to drain the wort (especially since I forgot to grab about a foot of silicon tubing like planned; but that's optional).  The steep part will come with time, trying to figure out how to re-circulate to get clearer wort, since with full volume mashes there is no grain bed to filter through until most of the wort is removed.  And if I pour liquid in there when the bag is in place, it falls down...

Pre-boil volume was right on, and gravity slightly high at 1.033. 

 I decided to add about 1.5 gallons of 150 water to partigyle--it came out at about 1.5 gallons of 1.025 wort.  Some of this got added to the primary wort. 

Post chill Mild wort

Hop additions were added per schedule.

Raw Second-gyle wort

The second gyle was only heated to 180, and received .5oz of EKG in whirlpool.  So it is actually a raw ale. 
As for the yeast...that's where I ran into an issue.  Apparently, the Wyeast bretts don't contain their smack-pack.  I thought they did, so didn't make a starter (bad me, I know).  It /should/ be okay, with the smaller than normal, batch with lower than average gravity.  Assuming I haven't lost too many cells, that is.
Fingers crossed--if it doesn't show signs of fermentation in a couple of days, I'll have to come up with a backup plan, but I really don't want to pitch another strain in there--the whole point of this was to keep the culture pure for future use.

11-17-16; Mild came out with 4.25 gallons of 1.041 wort.

The Second-gyle OG: 1.022.  Pitched part of a pack of Cote des Blanc because...what the heck?  Why not...?

12-7-16; Unfortunately, because of the extremely low pitch rate, it took forever to show signs of fermentation--as in, at least a week.  So the batch may be a dumper.  Probably is, since the gravity has only dropped by 10 points, and there is some white mold floating on top.  I am racking to secondary, but was afraid to taste..

1-29-17; FG is 1.003, and....band-aids.  Dammit.

© John Frey, 2016. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material.  The recipes and other contents therein may not be used for any commercial purposes.