My favorite homebrew; Vindicated!

When I first had Saison-Brett from Boulevard Brewing, I LOVED it. It is still one of my favorite beers. After having this glorious concoction I was inspired to try and brew something with the little fungi we call Brettanomyces. When I first tried to put my recipe together, I had trouble finding the Wyeast/White Labs strains I was looking for around here. Most of the people I talked to about it only warned me how Brett will destroy every single beer I would ever hope to make again on the same equipment because of contamination! Apparently they have never used sanitizer!

Anyhow, I ended up with a farmhouse style ale. It is a fairly simple recipe using two-row, malted wheat, and flaked corn. Hops used are Magnums, Simcoes, and Williamettes. I came up with the name BrettanoFunky Farmhouse and loved it.

Recently I entered it into the 27th Annual KC Bier Meister's Homebrew Competition and won a GOLD medal for the Belgian and French Ale category (subcategory: Belgian Specialty Ale)! I was super excited and it made it even better that this is my favorite beer I brew!

The other medal is for a Pliny the Elder style super hoppy Imperial IPA.

Here is the recipe for the BrettanoFunky Farmhouse. Hopefully you have the patience to let it age! Also, it is hard to find the Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse and the Wyeast 5151 Brettanomyces Claussenii as they are special editions. Whoops!

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Recipe: BrettanoFunky Farmhouse
Brewer: Thomas Sanford
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Specialty Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (36.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.00 gal Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.087 SG
Estimated Color: 5.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 63.49 %
4 lbs 12.0 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 30.16 %
1 lbs Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 6.35 %
1.00 oz Magnum [13.10 %] (30 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [12.00 %] (10 min) Hops 8.6 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 0.5 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [4.30 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
5.00 gal Kansas City, KS Water
1 Pkgs Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (Wyeast Labs #3Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Brettanomyces Clausenii (White Labs #5151 Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Farmhouse Ale (Wyeast #3726 PC) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 15.75 lb
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Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Saccharification Add 19.69 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F

Notes:
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The carbonation level will be slightly higher than listed due to to attenuation capabilities of the Brettanomyces strains used. By letting the beer age for about 5 months before bottling, most of the residual sugars will have been fermented out by the Brett. Add the Brett strains after primary fermentation with the Farmhouse Ale yeast is complete.

UPDATE:
Last December 19th (2009) I brewed a batch of this using the White Labs Clausenii and the White Labs Saison yeast.  After bottling it on the 15th of December (2010), we had a blind tasting comparing this new version to the original medal winner last night (Dec. 27th).  We decided that the original was much more funky relative to the new one.  Thus, the original version will be what gets entered into the MCAB competition which is accepting entries now.  I am up against a bunch of AWESOME homebrewers, so I don't expect to win anything.  However, I will certainly update this post with the results.  Have a good new year!!