Brett keg or bottle?

[Kevin Marien]

Hey all,

Ive got a Strong Belgian ale in the fermenter at the moment. Im fermenting it with Belgian Ale yeast. Im thinking of transferring it to secondary and add a whitelabs WLP653 Brettanomyces Lambicus and mix in some oak chips as well. And now Im wondering wether to bottle or keg the batch. I assume it would be a shame not to bottlecondition the brett, and it would save me having to worry about having to replace the beerlines.

I would end up with a FG of about 1. 008 with the Belgian ale yeast I am using. I ussually use carbonation drops When bottling as I dont like stirring the beer while bottling. Would I have to worry about bottlebombs? It would be nice to hear your thoughts.

Keg or bottle?

 

[steveinUS]

That’s the kind of beer I would try to split into two, if you have a large enough batch to justify it, to bottle some in strong Belgian corked bottles with cages to put away for keeping, and keg the rest. Otherwise, you could always keg and carb all of it, then bottle any portion of it you’d like with a Beer Gun or other filler designed for bottling carbonated beer.

The corking thing requires special Belgian corks and cages, and a champagne style corker...it’s a fun project with a fancy looking bottle to show for your troubles, especially if you add a label to it. Some shops will let you borrow or rent their corker if you don’t know someone with one. Or just find some standard-crown bottles made from heavier glass. The Brett would probably keep chewing through a lot when other yeasts would give up so yeah, higher carb from bottle conditioning should be expected.

 

[Kevin Marien]

That sounds like a great idea, and it would make for a nice presentation indeed. I do live in a small London appartement tho, and dont have a lot more space to store equipment... Its an endless tetris game . Any Idea of a good budget champagne corker that would't take up too much space?

Also if I am kegging, is there a way to sanitise the beerlines after the brett has done its work. Could I boil these for a couple of minutes, then sanitise them and use them again for my not so funky Beers?

 

[Sadfield]

I secondary in corny keg with an airlock attached to a gas post.


After a minimum of three months (usually 6 months), I'll check the Brett character, by which time it will be at terminal gravity and safe to bottle condition as normal with no fear of bottle bombs. Although, I have a beer gun so can force carb then bottle. Best not to rush thing when using Brett, patience is rewarded with flavour and consistency with carbonation.

Normal, good cleaning and sanitising of the beer lines should be enough to serve from keg, if going that root.

 

[Pavros]

You can buy plastic champagne corks which don't need a special corking machine; you just push them in. You still should use a cage over them though. They are harder to uncork than a traditional cork though! I have done this using 750ml Leffe bottles for my Brewferm Christmas beer.

 

[Kevin Marien]

Thanks for all the tips! Ill be transferring this to the keg tonight for secondary + brett to then test my patience for the next months... Wish me luck.

 

[Kevin Marien]

Just another Quick questions, since brett bottle conditions, is it necessary to keep it in secondary for ~6 months, or could you bottle at 6 weeks and let it conditio further? Is it just a slower proces to conditio in the bottle?

 

[Sadfield]

Just another Quick questions, since brett bottle conditions, is it necessary to keep it in secondary for ~6 months, or could you bottle at 6 weeks and let it conditio further? Is it just a slower proces to conditio in the bottle?

Possibly, depends on a number of factors. http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Packaging