Innoculating a Lambic with 3768 and Dregs

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drawdy10

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I am planning to brew Dawson's Kriek Kit from NB tomorrow. I am going to knockout about 10 gallons of about 1.050 wort hopefully. I have two one month old smack packs of 3278 lambic blend and I am going to get 3 bottles of dregs from jolly pumpkin, Odell, or Drie Fonteinen, whatever my brother can find for me in the cities since they don't have any wild ales from the useable dregs list i found at themadfermentationist.com at my local store.

So, the question is: Will it ferment? Or should I get more dregs? Could I just keep tossing in dregs as I collect them for the next month or so? Or is the 3278 packs and a few bottles of dregs going to be enough? Should I try going for lower gravity?

Please only people with experience using 3278 respond. Thanks!
 
Typically for lambic you see people using the lambic blend 3278 because it produces more of an earthy, brett-forward flavor than 3768 but you can definitely use 3768. The dregs will help add some complexity but 3768 alone will ferment and sour it all by itself.
 
ReverseApacheMaster said:
Typically for lambic you see people using the lambic blend 3278 because it produces more of an earthy, brett-forward flavor than 3768 but you can definitely use 3768. The dregs will help add some complexity but 3768 alone will ferment and sour it all by itself.

Updated OP, I was confused, I actually have 3278! Thanks for mentioning that, any comments on how the ferment would go with that yeast?
 
Thanks for the link, very reassuring, I will go with this then. Have you tossed any wood in yours?
 
3278 will start off like any other yeast. The saccharomyces in the blend will give you a normal fermentation. Since your grain bill or extract will contain a lot of wheat, be prepared for some blow off. After fermentation, it will look dormant for days or weeks then you'll start to see a pellicle form. From there, the pellicle may rise and fall, may stay the whole time, and/or may change color or texture. It's just going through it's process.

Oak really isn't typical of lambic and I really don't think it's necessary. That said, I have added a little oak to mine in the past. I don't think it adds anything the beer needs. It makes more sense in a Flanders red because they tend to rely on that barrel aging flavor of acetic acid and oak flavors. Lambic, not so much.
 
Cool, I am excited. The plan is to ferment on this in primary for a year then move to secondary on cherry/raspberry blend with some oak chips(untoasted) and age that for another year.
 
Well I brewed it, came out with 10 gallons of 1.056 wort. Hit each carboy with a pack of lambic blend then dregs of Cuvée Rene, Timmermans Oude Gueuze, and Bam Biere.

Holy crap it is fermenting already! Less than 18 hours later.

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Very nice! I bet those Bam Biere dregs are loving life.
 
The first two pics are the one that is developing some funky bubbles while the third is the other carboy that doesn't seem to be doing much yet.

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The bubbles are there because you have a thin pellicle that has formed, and so is capturing the air as it comes up. I'm sure the other carboy is just as funky, but due to the way you've handled it, less O2 exposure and so a pellicle hasn't formed yet.
 
Levifunk, so this means I am doing something right! It's crazy to see a beer that is months old still bubbling!
 
Update: bottled half of my 10 gallon batch of this Wyeast Lambic Blend fermented ale and let me tell you it was tasting beautiful. I tasted each carboy and I could tell one was not ready but the other was definitely ready for bottles so now I have 50 bottles of straight lambic style ale and I am pumped. People have told me that this yeast tends to not make a sour enough beer but in just nine months of primary with help from 3-4 bottles of various dregs it came out good.

Question: It finished at 1.005 and I just tossed in some honey for carbonation and no extra bottle conditioning yeast. Used 5.1oz of honey boiled with 16oz of water calculated to be 2.5 vols of carb. Do you guys think I should have added bottle conditioning yeast or do you think I did the right thing by just trusting that the bugs will do the work?
 
Question: It finished at 1.005 and I just tossed in some honey for carbonation and no extra bottle conditioning yeast. Used 5.1oz of honey boiled with 16oz of water calculated to be 2.5 vols of carb. Do you guys think I should have added bottle conditioning yeast or do you think I did the right thing by just trusting that the bugs will do the work?

congrats!

the bugs will carb (mostly the brett, i believe) but it could take a while. a bottling yeast would have made carbonation faster, but as long as you're willing to be patient you'll get there.
 

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