Lambic?

**Chris_Dog** · 08-19-2007, 12:20 PM

SWMBO wants me to make her a Raspberry (Framboise) Lambic beer.
1. Can anyone point me to a recipe?
2. Having only made ales so far do you think making this will pose a problem for me?

Cheers!!!

magno · 08-19-2007, 01:00 PM

I am researching the same thing. They are apparently fairly difficult to make. They are fermented with wild yeast, aged for over a year (sometimes several years) preferably in oak, and the ones that you can buy have been blended with other batches. Also the hops that are used have been aged to reduce their bitterness, but keep the antiseptic properties.

Basically it is a wheat beer with fruit, but all the other conditions make the project pretty daunting.

Vermicous · 08-19-2007, 02:44 PM

You can cheat quite a bit. The easiest way may be to make a straight fruit wheat beer and then use lactic acid. It would be trial and error to get the right amount though.

**Chris_Dog** · 08-19-2007, 02:50 PM

I found this one on a google search...
http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ale/lambic/recipes/2.html

**jezter6** · 08-19-2007, 04:48 PM

While I wholeheartedly support the idea of trying - lambics take too darn long, and IMHO are not worth the effort.

If you want to make a nice fruity beer for SWMBO, grab my Sorachi Saison recipe from the recipe database, ditch the Sorachi Ace hops and stick to very light Saaz type hops to keep the IBU low, and put ~1#/g of fresh fruit in the secondary for a week.

One thing I did to assist in it is to use Acidulated malt in one of my recipes for a little extra tart flavor (but fruit tends to do ok by itself). You can also get the lactic acid mentioned above.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out. If you use my recipe and it turns out good, send me a bottle. :P

**Chris_Dog** · 08-20-2007, 01:27 AM

I am pretty sure the recipe I posted is above my skill level at the moment. Plus I have no idea where to get some of the ingredients. Never mind the stale hops. I also agree with Jezter more over I don't even like raspberry lambic. However I was looking to pull this off for my wife. Maybe I will look into this again next year.

**jezter6** · 08-20-2007, 02:17 AM

Like I said, give the Saison a try. It's Belgian, so it's in the ballpark. Freshened with fruit in secondary turns out REALLY well. The strawberry saison I did was a BIG hit with the ladies. The raspberry would be much better if I cut down some of the IBU. You can do it, and it only takes a few weeks, not a year.

**Nurmey** · 08-20-2007, 02:53 AM

Brewferm has a canned Framboos kit which comes pretty close to Lindemans Framboise. We made a batch just for the fun of it but everyone that has tried it like it, particularly the women. As I recall it makes about 3 gallons and since it's a canned kit, its really easy.

I don't think it's carried at many online stores but some some strange reason I can get it in Omaha at a liquor store that carries brewing supplies.

**bradsul** · 08-20-2007, 03:26 AM

You could just make a standard wheat beer (low IBU) and add raspberry extract at bottling time. I make one for my sister using apricot and she quite likes it. With the extract you can also add it a bit at a time and have your SWMBO taste it until she's happy with the flavour.