Ambient/Spontaneous Fermentation

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landhoney

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Nut house here I come!
Apparently now is the time to try this, mainly because the cold weather drives down the amount of acetobacter in the air. My plan is to brew a lambic(without pitching any yeast), then put the carboy out in the apple orchard with the opening covered only with cheese cloth(to keep out bugs/etc.). I'll leave it for 24-48 hours, and then put an airlock on it and bring it in. The wild yeast in the air and on the apples will ferment the beer.

The winning sour beer at the NHC in 2006 was an unblended-lambic done this way at a location only 1-2 hours away from where I am -so doing this is not without precedence. Also, even with all the hop craziness, my homebrew shop GAVE ME about 12-16 ounces of aged hops! They're only ~8months old, but I'm using them - they smell cheesy/stale so I'm sure the IBU's have faded a good bit.

What do you think? Anybody tried this?
I'll keep this thread updated with how its progressing.
 
That's gonna be awesome! I want to brew like you man, I'm extremely jealous of your styles.

I just did a stout on Saturday and put 24 ounces of it before pitching yeast into a bowl and put that in my shed outside to let it sour and mix back with the rest later. It's bubbling like crazy today and doesn't smell bad at all. I'll be pasteurizing it later, but man, there's a lot of stuff in the air that'll make alcohol.
 
olllllo said:
You are my hero. Where the hell do you live?

This 'experiment' will be in Maryland in the apple orchard at my work( I live on the Potomac river in WV). The couple that won that 1st place are members of my new homebrew club( in Wash D.C. ~1 hour away), but were not at the first meeting I attended. I hope they will attend the next meeting were I will berate them with questions...I mean ask them questions.;)

BTW, its ~50F's here now.
 
Its in the orchard!:ban:

Brewed a little less than three gallons today.The wort was very sweet to the taste, no evident hop bitterness which indicates the hops are well aged and the IBU's have dropped significantly. Hit my target gravity of 1.060 dead on, hopefully it will be very unfermentable wort(had a lot of body when tasting). I'm extremely skeptical that this is going to work, but if it does I think it will be pretty cool.
 
I wish I had the cajones to be that adventurous.

maybe someday...

Please please let us know how it turns out!
 
So this is going to be a gueze style? No fruit? That's going to be a mouth puckering good time! Best of luck.:rockin:
 
eviljafar said:
I hope there's not a dead bird or squirrel in there when you check on it next!

Hopefully the cheesecloth(firmly attached) will keep them out - but I hope so too. I was actually more concerned with rain - if it rains I'll drive down there - but that would drop the gravity quite a bit I imagine.

Nyxator - I don't think I will blend it with fruit - I may blend it with other pLambic( to make a Gueze) or just bottle unblended.
 
That's awesome landhoney! I would love to do this myself and have toyed with the idea for a number of years. My problem is that I don't live anywhere near a place where I think I could get some viable airborne yeast suitable for making a true lambic style beer. I live 12 floors above Interstate 5. :cross:
 
Nothing exciting, but I took a pic today. A coworker suggested putting it in a crate to prevent any critters from knocking it over. Its covered with a T-shirt too, but I took it off for the picture. Hopefully I'll have a picture of krausen to post in a few days.
DSC_00030001_1.JPG
 
perhaps this is a stupid question and i'm sure i'll be put in my place if it is....but wouldn't adding crushed apples from the orchard to the cooled wort in the primary be a simpler way to get wild yeast to ferment, rather than hoping that airbourne yeast happen to fall in? that's how most people i know around here make wine...
 
beenjammin said:
perhaps this is a stupid question and i'm sure i'll be put in my place if it is....but wouldn't adding crushed apples from the orchard to the cooled wort in the primary be a simpler way to get wild yeast to ferment, rather than hoping that airbourne yeast happen to fall in? that's how most people i know around here make wine...

Not a stupid question at all. I'm hoping to get wild yeast from all over, not just from the apples. Someone told me that they make cider using the yeast just on the apples and that its very 'ordinary' and clean. I'm hoping for sour and funk. I'll be the first to tell you I don't know what's going to happen. The only thing I hope is that if it doesn't work, it won't need to be dumped and I can pitch some store bought 'wild yeast'. ;) As I understand it the real Lambic producers liked the fact that there were orchards around, so I hope to have similar success.
Also, hopefully I'll talk to the couple that won the sour beer category last year with an 'ambient ale' in couple weeks, and I'll post their techniques if they share them with me.
 
hmmm. sounds fun. Not sure of the quality of biologicals in my neck of the woods, though - wheat fields instead of orchards. I can verify that there is some mold in the air though! (because it strung nasty white mold cobweb in the top of my Apfelwein fermenter...)
 
Man, that's ridiculous/awesome. We have an apple orchard here, but it's a few hours away. Closest is pecans I think. I hope this works out for you, would be an awesome accomplishment.
 
The only reason I don't think you're crazy is cause you have the "terroir." You're doing some really cool stuff, keep on experimenting!
 
There's a mini-krausen forming in the fermenter, so something is happening. It looks like the head on a beer(1/4"-1/3"), very uniform texture with no big bubbles. I assume this is good. I would think an infection would not cause a krausen, just surface mold or something. It's two days out of the orchard with an airlock after spending two days in with only the cheesecloth. Smells like when my last sour-mash cleaned up on its second day.
 
Full, rocky, funky krausen is happening now - not huge though. Airlock is bubbling strongly every 2-3 seconds. Temp is at ~71F. Smell has changed, not just sourness now, definitely some fruitiness and esters.
 
so badass... save some of that yeast cake dude. I just got my copy of "Wild Brews" or whatever in the mail today, ready the intro - history so far. Awesome read.
 
Dude, that's awesome! It sounds like it's coming along pretty nicely! Hope it works out for you. I wish I had an orchard somewhere near me.

I'm not very familiar with this style, but wouldn't the sunlight make your hops all nasty? I know they are aged, but that is the flavor you're looking for. Wouldn't the beer get skunked out?
 
Any updates, landhoney?

I can't believe I haven't seen this thread until now. This is so freaking cool.
 
Yeast are EVERYWHERE! I have made many sourdough bread starters with just organic raisins and water (there is yeast on the raisins) but once it starts it is the airborne yeasts that take over. I am sure though that your assumption is correct that there is a higher concentration in the orchard. If you want to experiment farther...

Once your fermentation is complete and you rack the beer off the yeast. Take a stick and carve notches in it and coat it with the yeast. Then dry it. Next time you brew stick the stick in your wort. I have been reading about the history of brewing around the world and this seems to be a common method used traditionally to reuse wild yeast once it has been cultivated. That or using clay pots to ferment and not ever washing them. Could be really funky. That is of course if the end result of this experiment is something you want to repeat.
 
Ó Flannagáin said:
Do you plan on blending this with something else?

I don't know yet, if it tastes good I may or just keep it straight. We'll see in a week or so I guess. The idea of doing this every year, and making a gueze from 1-2-3 year old ambient pLambic has crossed my mind - but that's putting the cart before the horse big time.

Danny013 said:
I'm not very familiar with this style, but wouldn't the sunlight make your hops all nasty? I know they are aged, but that is the flavor you're looking for. Wouldn't the beer get skunked out?

The wort/beer was covered with a T-shirt to prevent skunking, I took the covering off for the pictures.

And Ohio, that update was last night. If you want the hour-by-hour coverage everyone will acuse me of post whoring.;) Seriously though, no change since last night, still bubbling away - looking now the krausen is much more white/foamy then before.
 
Man, how did I miss this?!

I'll concur with the consensus that this is a REALLY COOL experiment you have going here... and I'll agree with your initial sentiment that you belong in the nut house! If it comes out good, save the yeast, you'll have your own house blend.
 
Excellent stuff!!

I tried something similar several years ago with no luck....now you have me thinking about trying it again!.
 
Turkoglu said:
more pics please
Ask and you shall receive. Here it is today, nothing too special.
DSC_00020001_5.JPG
Again, its covered inside, I just placed the carboy out there uncovered for the pic.
I think its smelling better and better btw.
 
Recipe is for 5 gal:

Adjunct Mash:
3# unmalted wheat
2# 6-Row
1# Rolled Oats

Malt Mash:
4# Pils
1# Munich

~2oz Aged Hops @ 60min

Adjunct mash is stewed at 122F for 15min, then raised to 150F and another 15min, then brought to boil for 15min. At the same time the Malt Mash should be at 122F, then add the boiling adjunct mash to the malt mash to bring the malt mash to 155F. After 45 minutes do a mash out.
Boil for ~90 minutes
 
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