I've got a little update on my beers and experiences as well. The 100% BR-8 mild has developed some carbonation, but much slower than the tripel that was dosed with BR-8 at bottling. This made me hypothesise that the carbonation was not due to BR-8, but the Abbaye strain and the funk followed from other precursors. Especially since the ester profile changed so drastically as well, but the whole process might be a bit more complex than I thought. However,
@Miraculix's experience seems to suggest that this statement is both untrue and true. Schrödinger's yeast, perhaps? I was planning on doing an additional experiment to test this though, by adding BR-8 directly to the fermenter of a beer fermented dry with something like Belle Saison and sampling over the course of a few months. If it doesn't work, I'll add sugar and blend the whole thing up and bottle it to see if that will cause some funk to arise.
I also made a BR-8 IPA this week using my home-dried BR-8 flakes. I was not sure whether this would work, but I dried them like I would kveik yeast in the oven. I pitched about 10-12 grams in 5 liters. I rehydrated the flakes in hopped boiled wort that I diluted and cooled down. There was definitely something happening in the cup I pitched the yeast into, and it looked like a very yeasty bunch in there after 30 minutes. After I pitched the beer (a bit on the hot side, admittedly) I did see CO2 arising from the beer already, but it did not take off as fast as you would expect a kveik beer for example. 12 hours later it was still not very exciting. 36 hours later it was raging away though. I was scared it wouldn't take off and was prepared to pitch ale yeast to save the hoppy character at least, but it seems that was not necessary. I'll let this go for at least a week, maybe two and might dry hop it as well. Very excited about this as well. I noticed I did not record my hopping rates all too well, as I needed some Zeus in another recipe and I apparently did not save the changes, so this is a guestimate. Too bad, because the post-boil wort was amazing and I need to make this again.
Next up is the Strong Ale test.
The recipe for the IPA I just brewed:
Name: BR-IP8
OG (calculated; actual): 1.059; 1.055
FG (calculated; actual): 1.011; unknown
Boil time: 30 minutes
Colour: 17 EBC
IBU: 54 (Tinsenth)
Malts:
1.0 kg Munton's Maris Otter (8 EBC, 74.1%)
.15 kg Crisp Rye Malt (24 EBC, 11.1%)
.15 kg Belgomalt Wheat Malt (4 EBC, 11.1%)
.05 kg PlatinumSwaen Salted Caramel (25 EBC, 3.7%)
Hops:
Boil:
8 gr Simcoe @ 30
6 gr Simcoe @ 10
Whirlpool (30 minutes, 77 C):
16 gr Simcoe (10.6%)
8 gr Zeus (11.4%)
16 gr Mosaic (10.4%)
Pitch hops:
6 grams Sabro (15.3%)
Dry hops:
20 gr Simcoe
8 gr Zeus
12 gr Mosaic