lambic

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BeerAg

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So, the wife is in love with fruit lambic.

Anyone have a good reference on how to homebrew this stuff? It seems to have a pretty high level of difficulty.
 
How did the lambic turn out?

I don't mind waiting a year or so for the batch to finish, as long as I have a reasonable chance of success.
 
If you are looking for something quick and simple there are some pre-hopped can kits, by I believe BrewFerm that I've tried that are really easy, and respectible in flavor. You might check your local brew store.




Quick and lambic only belong in the same sentence when speaking about how long they will last once they are ready to drink;)
 
How did the lambic turn out?

I only pitched the bugs about 2 weeks ago. The wait has just began :) Are you planning on fruiting your lambic or leaving it straight? I am doing 1 mango (thanks niquejim) and one straight.
 
Anyone have a good reference on how to homebrew this stuff? It seems to have a pretty high level of difficulty.

It's easy, it just takes a little more prep work. I recently bottled a clone of Lindeman's Gueze and it turned out well. The kicker is, I went from kettle to bottle in two months. So, yes, it can be done in a short time frame.

The steps I followed were:

  1. Harvest yeast/bacteria from Lindeman's Gueze bottle.
  2. Build up harvested yeast/bacteria in starter three times, tasting weekly to test for signs of lacto and brett activity. In my case, 4 weeks was the magic number
  3. Age 2 oz of noble hops in a toaster oven at 200F for 4 hours. Cover and let "air out" for a couple of days.
  4. Brew generic 30% wheat, 50% barley ale. OG should be around 1.050.
  5. Pitch american ale yeast and yeast/bacteria starter at the same time. Ferment at ~68F for 5 days and ~74F for the remaining time.
  6. Leave in primary for 4 weeks. This gives the bacteria a chance to consume some of the autolysis products.
  7. Transfer to a secondary vessel for 4 weeks.
  8. Crash chill to 40F for 2 days and bottle. Add a very small (1/4 packet) of dry champagne yeast to the batch.

I bottled two versions: (1) true lambic and (2) back-sweetened lambic. I used one packet of splenda per 12oz bottle for the back-sweetened version. Both versions are highly carbonated to help cut the sourness.
 
What I would like to do is create a true fruit lambic, where I drop in a pile of fruit sometime during the fermentation and get the bugs going again.

My fear is that I will either 1) wait too long, and the yeasties will be dormant and will not ferment the fruit sugars; or 2) not wait long enough, and the flavor profile will be whack, as the yeast didn't have time to clean up the off flavors.
 
I brewed a raspberry lambic out of Papazian's "Complete Joy of Homebrewing." I followed his instructions to the letter and it was the best beer I have ever brewed, and quite possibly the best beer I've ever had. Well, at least in the top 5.
 
What I would like to do is create a true fruit lambic, where I drop in a pile of fruit sometime during the fermentation and get the bugs going again.

My fear is that I will either 1) wait too long, and the yeasties will be dormant and will not ferment the fruit sugars; or 2) not wait long enough, and the flavor profile will be whack, as the yeast didn't have time to clean up the off flavors.

Not a problem. Even if the ferment has finished months ago if you drop in new sugars the yeast and other bugs will quickly start back up and ferment them.

Now while it is advantageous to leave a beer in the primary for sufficient time for the yeast to clean up off flavors it will also happen in the secondary as plenty of yeast remain in the beer during the transfer.

It really is quite difficult to screw up beer. I'm not saying its easy to make incredible beer but it is easy to make good beer.

Craig
 
Not a problem. Even if the ferment has finished months ago if you drop in new sugars the yeast and other bugs will quickly start back up and ferment them.

Now while it is advantageous to leave a beer in the primary for sufficient time for the yeast to clean up off flavors it will also happen in the secondary as plenty of yeast remain in the beer during the transfer.

It really is quite difficult to screw up beer. I'm not saying its easy to make incredible beer but it is easy to make good beer.

Craig


Well said. My first attempt at my https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f72/drunk-owl-mango-55227/ was to fix a batch that didn't carb in the bottles. I carefully poured them onto the mangos and added the bugs and 8 months later...Wow:D:rockin:
 
I brewed a raspberry lambic out of Papazian's "Complete Joy of Homebrewing." I followed his instructions to the letter and it was the best beer I have ever brewed, and quite possibly the best beer I've ever had. Well, at least in the top 5.


The Papazian book I have has a Cherry Kriek Recipe. Did you just dump 10Lbs of raspberry instead of cherry. or how much did you use?


Also, if I use these bugs in my brew process is my equipment ruined or just a complete clean and sanatize be good afterward?
 
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