Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA Brewday

Finally, more exciting Rockit Cup action! This beer is a slightly revised version of Michael Tonsmeire’s 100% Brett Trois IPA. The Trois version got pitched on the not quite finished yeast cake from last week’s Brett Likewise Brewday, so it took almost instantaneously—I think it passed high krausen in under 36 hours. The custersianus was a bit slowly getting underway as the mason jar of yeast had been sitting around for about a month and a half, but once it started it went like gangbusters as well. Hopefully I can get both into the bottle for the October Rockit Cup!

158. Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA
Mash:
9 lbs. Breiss 2-row
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
½ lb. Breiss Carapils
½ lb. Weyermann Acidulated

Mash @ 153° F for 60 minutes w/ 3 ¾ gallons RO water & 4 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.030

Collected 6 ¾ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Columbus pellet 13.9% AA

w/5 to go: 1 oz. Citra pellet 12.5% AA
½ oz. Cascade pellet 7.3% AA
½ oz. Centennial pellet 8.7% AA

w/0 to go: 1 oz. Citra pellet 12.5% AA
1 oz. Cascade pellet 7.3% AA
1 oz. Centennial pellet 8.7% AA

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled, and racked onto:
158a. yeast cake from 157a. WLP644 B. bruxellensis Trois
Primary: 9/24/2013
Secondary: 9/30/2013 @ 1.006; dry hop w/ 1 oz. Citra, ½ oz. Cascade, and ½ oz. Centennial
Bottled: 10/4/2013

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.006

158b. mason jar from 148a. ECY19 B. custersianus
Primary: 9/24/2013
Secondary: 9/30/2013 @ 1.008; dry hop w/ 1 oz. Citra, ½ oz. Cascade, and ½ oz. Centennial
Bottled: 10/4/2013

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.004

Tasting Notes (10/10/2013): This might be one of the fasted beers I’ve ever turned: 10 days to the bottle, and 15 days to the glass. And this is a Brettanomyces beer no less. Still, the big yeast pitch for each did its work, although I’m also planning on drinking this beer quickly so as to prevent dangerous side effects. Like bottle bombs. The custersianus version in the picture is less carbonated than the Trois version because it was the last bottle, and thus had some extra head space. I pulled the last bottles for this tasting because I’m saving the good bottles for when I try it again in a couple of weeks.

Brett Trois IPA: Pours a hazy straw with a creamy white head that has decent retention, and the beer laces the glass rather nicely. The nose is citrus and tropical fruit—lemon, orange, ripe mango, and pineapple—with a touch of both earthiness and grassiness. Flavors are bright and refreshing: malt sweetness that gives way to orange and ripe pineapple, followed by a clean mineral bitterness mixed with the classic Centennial twang in the middle. The finish is juicy sweet with lots of lemon and lemon zest; there are hints of spicy bitterness and a touch of musty earth, but these flavors pair well with the others. The body is thin, but the creamy, rounded carbonation builds mouthfeel and body. This beer is bright and refreshing; there is a touch of lingering gaminess via the Brett, but this adds positively to the overall impression of the beer. While my allegiance to custersianus makes this hard to say, at this point, the Trois version is a better beer.

Brett Custersianus IPA: Like the other version, it pours a hazy straw with a thin white head; the bottle I had last night was equally carbonated to the Trois version, so I’ll chalk it up to the extra head space in this bottle. The nose is bright and aggressively ripe tropical fruit—mango, papaya, and pineapple—while the earthiness and grassiness found in the other version is absent. The fruit sweetness is equally ramped up in the body as well: it opens with mango and pineapple in the front, while the hop bitterness in the middle is comparatively subdued. It is most certainly there, but the juicy sweetness is as well, both carrying on into the orange and lemon finish. There is lingering bitterness, but it is cleaner and lighter than in the Trois version, although lower levels of the gaminess do come through. Like with the Trois version, the body is thin, but there is a rounded, creamy mouthfeel assisted by the carbonation. While this version has a lower FG, it is sweeter, gummier, and less hoppy than the Trois version. I do like this beer, but the Trois version is the better beer.