Repitch on WLP655

Hey guys, I'm brewing my first lambic this weekend and I've read a lot on the subject lately. I'm going to pitch a vial of WLP655 (Belgian Sour Mix 1) and maybe some us-05 or notthingham to give saccharomyces a little headstart.

I know repitching on that cake is something that will happens only in several months, if not over a year, but anyways... I like to know as much as possible on a subject before I get into it.

So.. I have a few question about it

1- I read about adding some oak chips, so the bretts and bacterias can make it their nest. Is it really important? I mean... I can see the idea of taking these inoculated chips to inoculate a beer (just pitch the chips in), but if I only put some new wort on the cake, is it still useful?

2- Should I repitch Saccharomyces also (cause they're all death and eaten)? Or pitch a pre-saccharomyces-fermentend beer on the cake?

3- Do people reuse the cake over and over (and don't wash this old dirty carboy for years) ?

Thanks!

You shouldn't need to pitch any sacch now. At standard ale temps, it's the fastest thing in the mix. Adding more sacch will make for less lactic acid production by the bacteria, which is fine if that's what you want. These blends do get more sour with every subsequent batch, so adding a little sacch to the second batch is not a bad idea, unless you want it more sour then the first. I don't think people use the same cake repeatedly, but you can certainly harvest and pitch like you would for clean beers. You shouldn't need to use any oak if White Labs doesn't.

Okay thanks for the reply. I wouldnt something too sour for my first, so I thought i could add some sacch to give them a headstart, and let the bacts eat the dextrins (i'll mash high). Also that i will need 1.5 pack of nottingham on the same day for a DIPA , so i could make the 0.5 pack useful. Anyways, i'll see.

For repitching, i guess ill wait to see the results. But if I dont add any sacch, it would be a brett fermentation... Might be interesting for a future blend with a new bath.

Cheeze... How can lambics make you plan years ahead lol

I have a hard time waiting 2 weeks for the bottles to carb, so I can't wait two years or whatever for a lambic.

kingwood-kid said:

I have a hard time waiting 2 weeks for the bottles to carb, so I can't wait two years or whatever for a lambic.

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I think the trick is to hide it in a closet and forget about it. There's a good chance i start other batches before this one is done