Wild beer roll call

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Sixbillionethans

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
159
Reaction score
11
Location
Wauwatosa, WI
At the risk of this turning into a really lame introduction/ice breaker thread, I was wondering if people would be interested in listing the wild, sour, lambic, etc. brews that they had done.

This is such a small subset of homebrewing. I'm guessing there aren't more than 50 people posting on this specific forum. It might be quite educational for people to post the brews they've done and how they've turned out.

I've now done 2 wild brews.
1. Sour Brown All-Grain - Sour Brown - Home Brew Forums
2. Lambic-style kriek All-Grain - Lambic Style / Kriek - Home Brew Forums

As you can see, neither is done yet. I might go just 8-12 months on the sour brown, so I can have that ready for fall.
 
I have a single gallon of an imperial stout aging on oak with (cultured, non-wild) brett and wild lactic cultures, introduced after primary fermentation. It was made 2 months ago.
 
I'm planning a Flander's Red. I'll brew it in a few batches. I need to get the pipeline back to full capacity first.
 
I have a Berliner Weisse kegged now, though not yet ready to serve.

Planning a Flander's Red as well and while not strictly a 'wild brew', I'm brewing an Old Ale using the Wyeast 9097 release that includes a proportion of Brettanomyces.
 
One all MO & Willamette SMASH old ale underway with wyeast PC9097 Old Ale...Oak cubes currently bathing in the slurry to inoculate another future batch.
 
Flanders Red in a Cabernet barrel is tapped and serving right now. A Kriek was just put back in the barrel with a gallon of sour cherry concentrate (equivalent to 90lbs of fruit).
 
I've done quite a few wild/sour/all brett brews. I bought an oak cask two years ago specifically for this. The first batch I did in that was a pseudo-Flanders red which turned out fantastic. Brutally sour with overtones of cherries and vanilla, quite strong as well (>12%). Currently I have a sour in the cask which I fermented by throwing fresh sour cherries into the wort and allowing the yeast on the fruit to do the primary fermentation. The bretts and such in the wood will add to it as well. I really want to buy a couple more casks but the damned things are kind of pricey.

I've done three long term pseudo- Flanders Red in glass as well. I've thrown a chunk of oak in all of these as well. I say pseudo on these because I am incapable of following a recipe or sticking to style guidelines. Why would I try to replicate a beer I can buy in the store when I can make something different and tasty?

I've also done quite a few (~25) short term all-brett batches (~1 month long) with styles which range from from pales to stout. I am fascinated with using bretts as the primary fermenter. There seems to a whole unexplored world out there with respect to brewing with bretts. I've also done a several short term wild batches. Those were, well, wild. The character on these change from day to day, from esters dominating the flavor profile, to the brett character, to funk, to ??? Those are fun, I think.
 
I've done several berliner weisses that all turned out very good after a little bit (6 months or so) time. I am getting read to bottle up a flanders red that tastes and smells excellent.
My first lambic is coming on two years of age now, and should be ready to bottle soon.

I have added brett to quite a few recipes wirth varying degrees of success. I have come to the conclusion that high ibus (more than 20-25 or so) and brett dont really mix too well, at least for my taste buds. Have also learned that brett likes the temp to be above 60 and that it needs at least 6 months to satisfy my funk expectations.

My first all brett beer is slowly chugging along and should be ready in a month or so, fingrs crossed
 
and I cant wait to move into my new house and get my brew shed operational. one of the first things I am gonna do is get a wine barrel that has lost most of its oakiness and begin using it to bulk age alot of lambic
 
So far I've made a Flander's Red aged in a French oak barrel that once housed an Oregon Pinot Noir.
3 year old ambient fermented lambic
2 year old am. ferm. lambic
6 month old am. ferm. lambic. (Will start blending these into geuze in a few more months)
several all Brett. beers, including B.lambicus, B.clausenii, B.annomolus, B.bruxellensis. and a few from the Russian River oak cubes.
A brew from Al B's Bug Farm cubes.
Definetly love the buggy brews:rockin:
 
Beginning a Framboise today. Certainly one of the most complex processes thus far. Just finished a Pilsen Urquell, so this will be something of a crowning achievement for my wife. Now I have to work on an orderly process to assure I have a firm understanding of each substep.
 
Have a Dubbel and Saison I have added Brett Lambicus to. The dubbel is a year old and great. The Saison might be a dumper - super phenolic. I did the original ferment from harvest Fantome dregs, but didn't catch any sourness after the original ferment. Not getting much better with the Brett.

Old Ale and Orval clone are in the works. Also planning a string of Berliner's for the upcoming summer.
 
Bottled:
Old Ale with Brett C
Quad with Cherries and Brett
Lambic (half got blueberries)
Flanders Red (half got blackberries)
100% Brett C Saison
Mo Betta Bretta Clone (half got dried sour cherries and pinot noir)
Flanders Pale Ale (half is on pluots)
100% Brett A Saison
Brett A Pale Ale
Mo Betta Bretta Clone #2 (half got sour cherries and pinot noir)
Courage RIS Clone with Brett A
Temptation Clone
Cable Car Clone
Berliner Weisse
Big Funky Ale

Still Going:
Lambic #2
Strong Dark Saison with funk
Wine Barrel Flanders Red (my first "sick" beer)
Honey/Flower Sour Wheat
Butternut Squash Sour

Not too shabby for less than 3 years of playing with funk. My three favorites would probably be the quad, the brett c saison, and the temptation clone (although the berliner, and cable car are up there as well).
 
I've got a Belgian strong ale that I secondaried 5 gallons with Orval dregs..
..the other 5 gallons secondaried with Boulevard's Saison-Brett and Ommegeddon dregs.

I'm actually bottling the Orval half today (after 3 months in secondary) with my brand new Ferrari!!!
Its been hard waiting this long.. its better every time I taste it.
Funk and Almonds.. mmmm.

The Saison-Brett/Ommegeddon half has a nice pellicle going, so I've been reluctant to disturb it. Probably will wait a few more months on that half.

I'm thinking of an Orval clone or a Saison-Brett for the next few wild brews.
 
I have just bottled about 2 gallons of a wild SMaSH. I used 4.5lbs MO and .55oz of Pearle (8.0%). I had an OG of 1.063 and an FG of 1.012. So far I am very pleased with the results, there is a mellow sourness at first that yields to the malt character in the finish. Very good IMO so far, we'll see how it is after some conditioning.
 
Just brewed my first two this weekend, a flanders red and a lambic.

I plan to get at least 4 more going within the next 6 weeks.

I am thinking a sour brown, a second lambic, perhaps a sour stout (Avery Brabant wannabe) and a brett saison (Boulevard sets a great example in that regard).
 
I just bottled my first Flanders Red last week. I brewed it last summer, and fermented with US-05 and pitched Roeselare in secondary. It took a long time to develop any sourness, but it finally did.

A few weeks ago, I brewed another batch, but this time I used Roeselare for primary so we'll see how this one goes.

Lastly, a group wine barrel Flanders Red with 65 total gallons and plenty of funk. It may be ready to bottle this fall, and I'm really looking forward to it.
 
Belgian dark strong with Brett L and C about to bottle after a year in secondary.
No Boil Berliner Weisse just brewed a couple days ago.
 
A Flanders Red Brewed last June still with a nice pellicle
An Old Ale using Wyeast 9097-PC Old Ale Blend brewed this March recently racked to secondary with Oak cubes.

So far neither has been sampled so i don't know what the results are.

Picked up another pack of Roselare Blend and intend to make another Flanders red this spring/summer.

Craig
 
I have done a Berliner weisse, Old Ale with Brett, Porter with brett, Lambic, and I have another Belgian Brett beer and a Flanders Red that will be brewed in the next couple of weeks.
 
I have a Berliner Weisse kegged now, though not yet ready to serve.

Planning a Flander's Red as well and while not strictly a 'wild brew', I'm brewing an Old Ale using the Wyeast 9097 release that includes a proportion of Brettanomyces.

9097 Old Ale is rockin' a serious pellicle and already giving off a nice barnyardy nose.

Flanders Red pellicle hasn't formed yet.

Have a pack of Trappist Blend in the fridge, gotta build a recipe.
 
Have a pack of Trappist Blend in the fridge, gotta build a recipe.
Yeah I am doing a "Dirty Blonde" with that strain this weekend. Wyeast has been rocking 2009 pretty damn hard so far. This time next year I am going to be wallowing in the Brett!
 
I have 10 gallons of 7 month old pelliclized Flanders going. In the fall, I plan on leaving a bunch of starters out to see what wild yeast I can nab.
 
I spend way too much on peach and raspberry lambics to not at least try to brew some.

I am thinking I might add some pin lock kegs to my collection for the wild side...hmmm.
 
Got another 10gals of sour into fermenters today.

So, in the last 12 days, that makes 30gallons of sours. 5 gallons of Lambic, 5 gallons of Flanders Red, 10 gallons of Berliner Weiss, and 10 gallons of Oud Bruin using the yeast cake from the Flanders.

I don't know what the hell I am going to do with all this beer once it is done. And I plan on making another couple of batches in the next few weeks. Sheesh!
 
I've got a real basic kriek in secondary. I drink a glass or so of it once a month. Probably needs another 6 months.
 
Bottled:
100% Brett C Saison
I have been planning on doing a 100% Brett Saison with Brett B. Did you do anything to acidify the wort to make it more comfortable for the Brett? Also, what do you recommend as far as aeration and fermentation temps? I planned to do it with just one pack but put it on a stirplate for a week or so.
 
I am brewing a funky saison today.

I am just fermenting with normal saison yeast with some Bam Noire dregs, along with any other nice sour beer that I don't want to throw into any of my other sours.

I also purchased another 15gal plastic barrel and am going to get another 10gal of lambic going and see how it works in plastic. Some on the BBB seem to have pretty good experience with it.
 
I am planning on brewing a funky saison as well... seems like those are going around. Bringing my overall sour list to:

All 3 gallons:

Straight Lambic
Mango Lambic
Flanders Red (Roselare)
Saison (Brett Lambic blend)
 
So far I have only done one. It was in '96 and I didn't really know what I was doing. It was a framboise pitched with a smack pack culture blend from wyeast probably. There was not much info available to me so I pretty much ran it like a regular beer and drank it way too soon so it was not very sour.

As of last weekend I am setup for 10+ gallon batches and I have 2 ex merlot barrels on the way from my parents winery. I asked my parents how much they sold retired barrels for and they said they usually just give them away to people who want planters :eek: call your local winerys!
 
ok im really interested..whats brett? and where can I read about wild brewing?
Peck are you using an oak cask cuz you know the yeast now lives there?
 
Just pulled a sample from my first wild beer (blueberry lambic) and it's at 1.002. Still needs some time though as it's not nearly as sour as I want and the brett hasn't taken hold yet.
 
Just pulled a sample from my first wild beer (blueberry lambic) and it's at 1.002. Still needs some time though as it's not nearly as sour as I want and the brett hasn't taken hold yet.

add some dregs from commercial lambics, they really make the beer much better than the packs from WY or WL alone, and will make the beer a lot more sour as well

from first hand experience Drie fontenein and cantillon work extremely well for this, Ive also heard of others using cuvee rene with good results
 
I've brewed a Gose or two. I've brewed one (1) Berliner Weisse, but hey, it advanced to the final round of the NHC this year.

Working on my first Flanders Red Ale...been in the fermenter a week.

Actually I love wild brews
 
Back
Top