At the 1-2-2020 club meeting, the Sons of Alchemy tasted the beers from our Brett Bottle Conditioning project. In this project, a single batch of beer had been split post fermentation and bottle conditioned (carbonated) with 5 different Brett strains (or blends).
The Base Beer
- 85% Avangard Pilsner Malt, 15% White Wheat Malt, 1.055 OG
- Hopped with one ounce Saaz @ 60 minutes
- Fermented with US-05 for a clean base
- Fermentation dosed with amaloglucosidase to dry the beer (to 0.996 FG) and prevent overcarbonation from subsequent Brett conditioning
Process
Bottles were inoculated with Wyeast Brett lambicus, Yeast Bay Lochristi Blend, Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB415, Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB307, and Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB261. The bottles were allowed to condition for 8 months at room temperature. We previously had tasted these beers at 9 weeks after dosing, and those results can be found ->HERE<-.
Tasting and Results
For the tasting, an extensive checklist of descriptors (borrowed largely from Milk the Funk’s Brett Aroma Wheel) was provided to the 7 participants. When a participant detected an aroma or flavor from the list for a particular sample, they assigned a score of “2” for “prominent,” or “1” for “background.” We did not attempt to distinguish between aroma and flavor in the scoring. Detecting and scoring was done on an individual basis, but discussion was allowed. The tasting was not blind. Participants were also allowed to add their own descriptors.
To normalize the data collected, each participant’s descriptor scores were scaled so that they added up to 1 (or 100%) for each participant/strain or participant/blend combination. In effect, each participant got one “vote” for each strain/blend, and that vote was divided (with “2s” weighted twices as heavily as “1s”) among the descriptors detected. This normalized data was summed (from all participants) by strain/blend, and once again scaled so that the descriptor scores within each strain/blend added up to one (or 100%). The result is that for each strain/blend, we have a normalized and combined score for each descriptor detected which can be expressed as a percentage, indicating importance/prominence. The results follow.
Wyeast Brett lambicus
Cherry 14%
Canned Fruit 8%
Other Tropical Fruit 5%
Vinegar/Acetic Acid 5%
Generic/Other Fruity 5%
Tilled Earth 4%
Artificial Fruit/Candy 4%
Generic/Other Earthy 4%
Peach 4%
Moldy/Musty 4%
Horse Blanket 4%
Barnyard 3%
Mousy 3%
Apple 3%
Sauerkraut 3%
Cola 3%
Pineapple 3%
Citrus 2%
Generic/Other Floral 2%
Lactic Tart 2%
Wet Dog 2%
Perfume 2%
Rose 1%
Generic/Other Spicy 1%
Mushroom 1%
Phenol 1%
Sweaty 1%
Leather 1%
Heavy Syrup 1%
Yeast Bay Lochristi Blend
Generic/Other Fruity 10%
Lactic Tart 9%
Barnyard 7%
Cheese 7%
Pineapple 5%
Generic/Other Floral 5%
Tilled Earth 4%
Mushroom 4%
Phenol 4%
Generic/Other Fermentation 4%
Generic/Other Dairy 4%
Rotting Berry 4%
Butter 3%
Horse Blanket 3%
Sour Milk 3%
Yoghurt 3%
Cherry 2%
Other Tropical Fruit 2%
Vinegar/Acetic Acid 2%
Artificial Fruit/Candy 2%
Peach 2%
Mousy 2%
Sauerkraut 2%
Sweaty 2%
Cloves 2%
Wet Cardboard 2%
Pencil Shavings/Graphite 2%
Waxy 2%
Rotting Vegetation/Marshy 2%
lemon 2%
Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB415
Metallic 10%
Citrus 5%
Apple 5%
Cloves 5%
Leather 5%
Artificial Fruit/Candy 4%
Wet Dog 4%
B-Vitamins 4%
iodine 4%
Generic/Other Fruity 4%
Lactic Tart 4%
Barnyard 3%
Horse Blanket 3%
Rotting Meat/Fish 3%
Generic/Other Vegetable 3%
Mousy 2%
Generic/Other Animal 2%
Cooked Meat 2%
Fresh Hay 2%
sweet tart 2%
smartie 2%
Cheese 2%
Generic/Other Floral 2%
Phenol 2%
Yoghurt 2%
Vinegar/Acetic Acid 2%
Pencil Shavings/Graphite 2%
Moldy/Musty 2%
Rose 2%
Cedar 2%
Band-Aid 2%
White Glue 2%
Generic/Other Chemical/Solvent 2%
Peach 1%
Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB307
Barnyard 18%
Generic/Other Floral 13%
Perfume 10%
Moldy/Musty 7%
Phenol 7%
Lactic Tart 6%
Horse Blanket 6%
Pencil Shavings/Graphite 4%
Soy 3%
Generic/Other Fruity 2%
Cheese 2%
Butter 2%
Other Tropical Fruit 2%
Boiled Cabbage 2%
Mousy 2%
Fresh Hay 2%
Rose 2%
Lilac 2%
Sweaty 2%
Cola 2%
Lavender 2%
alcohol/fusel 2%
Yeast Bay Brett brux TYB261
Lavender 11%
Peach 11%
Waxy 6%
Phenol 6%
Lactic Tart 6%
Metallic 6%
Apple 6%
Generic/Other Earthy 6%
pear 6%
clean 6%
Barnyard 3%
Generic/Other Fruity 3%
Lilac 3%
Wet Cardboard 3%
Perfume 3%
Fresh Hay 3%
Sweaty 3%
Leather 3%
Vinegar/Acetic Acid 3%
Canned Fruit 3%
Bread/Toast 3%
Additional bottles from this project will be tasted after about 12 months of conditioning. Thanks to Brian for the Brett, to Steve A. for brewing the base beer and hosting the bottling session, and to Liquid Noise for hosting the tasting, and to everyone who participated.