New Lambic Brewer

I just picked up and brewed my first Kreik Lambic kit (Annapolis Home Brew) I went AG with it but I had some questions about the actual grain bill and hops. Anyone know what they use? I tried calling but they didn't want to reveal their recipe. Also what can I expect as for aging times ect. I already pitched th yeast (Wyeast Lambic Blend) and it is fermenting nicely. The kit says to add a can of oregon fruit puree and pectic enzyme at 5-7 days after pitching and another 3 days later. I am assuming this is to be done after primary fermentation.. Am I correct?

I would wait a year or two before adding the fruit for best results.

You are in for quite a long time unfortunately. Generally lambics will ferment for around a year to get the desired flavors. I would personally wait at least a month (longer won't hurt anything) or so before racking onto the fruit in a secondary vessel. As far as the recipe I dunno, but here is Northern Brewers... I would say it is probably at least close.

http://legacy.northernbrewer.com/promash/1633_.html

You can follow their directions, but I don't think you will make a very sour lambic at all. Mine was only showing slight signs of sourness at 8 months; these beers take a lot of time.

will the beer continue to sour if bottled or should I continue to bulk age for months before transfering to secondary and racking onto fruit?

Supposedly, all brett beer (ie, no brewer's yeast or lacto) will mature much faster. Trying this theory with an all Brett L. "lambic." The starter (made from the actual wort) smelled awesome - like a cherry pie buried in an old pile of hay!

You really do not want to bottle until after a year. The flavors associated with a true lambic are the result of many variables. Homebrewers really can be successful at mimicking most of these variables, but will never really get them all. As your beer ferments and conditions there will be a bunch of microbs working in the beer. These develop at different times and in a defined sequence. You need to leave the beer in bulk for this to work.

Try to forget about it for a year, and try not to move it as it will form a pellicle, that you do not want to disturb.

I knew it was going to be a while for aging from what I have read, I didn't have a good idea for the home brewer time lines though. I will let this one sit for a while. Maybe it will be ready when I get back from AFG in about 18 months!! How long should I let it sit on the cherries?

As long as you want, I don't see any problem leaving them on for 1+ years... any of you sour experts think I am wrong here? If I am wrong then I have an issue with my mango lambic :-(

Another year on the fruit is traditional

As others mentioned plan to wait

1. I suggest leaving this on the yeast cake, the cake is a good source of nutrients and food for brett/pedio etc that are in the blend

2. I suggest adding the dregs of a few gueuzes to the beer to help the complexity

3. Dont add the fruit for at least 9-12mos

4. Along with the oregon fruit puree I would add some whole cherries to add depth of flavor

5. after the vigorous fermenation dies down stick a dowel in the carboy bung and forget about it for a year, this will allow small amounts of 02 to get to the beer and help a pellicle develop

Also, do not bottle this anytime soon, if you do you WILL have bottle bombs on your hands, it only takes 2pts to carb to 3vols of CO2, and the brett/pedio will eat almost everything in there

Good thread. I just posted my own similar situation, not knowing this was here.

I'm also looking into brewing a lambic. I know the process, but I've avoided them because of the time it takes.

How do you sour experts go about keeping temps consistent throughout fermentation. My fermentation chamber only fits two buckets/carboys, and I'm not sure I want to give up a slot for over a year. My house is always at 68 degrees during the winter, but next summer is what I worry about. I don't turn on my A/C until temps reach 90 outside. What kind of effect will this have on a sour beer? I won't even brew unless I have a spot to keep my fermentors....I just didn't know if sours need to be treated the same.

Actually, most lambic brewers in Belgium do not control tems. Soem more modern brewers are now a days, but you do not have to worry as much with this style. As long as you avoid the utter extremes, you should be fine. In barrel fermenting, the temperture fluccuations causes the beer to seep in and out of the wood, pulling flavor/oils/sugars with it.

Tonedef131 said:

I would wait a year or two before adding the fruit for best results.

Click to expand...

I'm interested in this idea...when to add the fruit.

I've got a Kriek going (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f72/lambic-style-kriek-102829/) that I added 10lbs of cherries to after 5 months.

You can see on the notes that I added the fruit but got basically no evidence of fermentation (i.e. airlock activity) for nearly a week, so I punted and tossed in some ale yeast, and it took off. Now I'm going to leave this guy for another year.

What is the experience of others when adding fruit after a significant delay from primary ferment?
Do you just add fruit and nothing else?
Repitch some ale yeast? Repitch a lambic blend?

I am facing the same situation. I've got a lambic I held in primary around four months then racked it onto 5lbs. of raspberry's and nothing happend.
I guess I was waiting on some kind activity. Shouldn't it have started up again? Or should I add some ale yeast an wait?