All Brett IPA

The local brew-club is holding a club-only competition for an all-brett IPA. The winner, in addition to the fame, glory and riches that come from this accomplishment, will have his or her beer brewed in quantity enough to fill a barrel.

My thinking for this beer is as follows:

• Malt takes a background / supporting role and contributes to the body of the beer. Accordingly I used US 2-Row for its relatively neutral flavor. Maris Otter would be too much in this beer. But the  slight bit of Munich, Victory and Wheat malt will leave body and malt flavors without being overpowering.
• Hops and yeast are the key choices, since they need to compliment each other without clashing. 
• I chose Brett-Trois from WhiteLabs. This strain of brett is supposed to produce a huge amount of tropical fruit flavors and, when used as the primary yeast and without aeration, does so without the classic "barnyard" flavors and slight sourness that come from other strains of brett.
• For hops, I chose to feature the fruity, wine like aroma and flavor of Nelson Sauvin hops, as I think they will compliment the brett flavors nicely. However I generally do not like IPAs with too much fruit character - I prefer them to have some degree of piney, resiny character. Thus the Cascade / Centenial combo.
• For yeast, I have heard WLP644 - Brett Trois - is good for IPAs. However it can apparently create some sourness if the wort is aerated - so no aerating this one. The yeast also needs a good starter. 
• Ferment a tad warm to get some good yeast esters and make sure the beer reaches final gravity in a reasonable timeframe.

Brett IPA
6# Breiss 2-Row
6oz Munich Malt
4oz Victory Malt
4oz White Wheat

Mash at 152F

.375oz Nugget, 13%, 60min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 10 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 5 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12%, 1 min

1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12% - Hopstand, 5min @ 210F, 30min @ 180-160F

.5oz Nelson Sauvin, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Centenial, dry, 7 days

WLP644

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.061, 1.015 (or less as Brett is highly attenuative), 55, 5.9% (or slightly more depending on attenuation).

Brewed 8/2/14
Made a starter w/ 50g DME in 500ml water on 8/1/14, by pitching time it had already fermented and the yeast was starting to settle. 

Brewday went well, hit my mash and gravity numbers. Yay!

Pitched at 68F after transferring to Better Bottle without aerating. 

8/3/14, 530pm - Beer was fairly actively fermenting.

8/5/14, 6pm - Moved beer to 75F ambient to encourage complete fermentation.

8/14/14 - Added dry hops, right into the primary vessel.

8/19/14 - Moved back to 66F ambient to try to get the hops to sink to the bottom of the vessel.