Aged hops for true lambic.

Hey guys,

I've read a lot about not necessarily needing aged hops for lambics given the fact that you're pitching a healthy number of desired bugs.

I want to deviate from that as I'm not pitching anything here. I'm going to do a small test batch and leave it out overnight by a window in my "coolship" cooler so it'll get infected with the local bugs. Just to get a sense of the "terroir" of the area here. I know it's kind of late in the season for a lambic, but meh..it's a 3 gallon test batch. I want it go fast.

But I digress. I need 3 oz of aged hops. Freshops.com has them, but they're rated at 1 - 2% AA. Given 3 ounces boiled for 2 hours at least...that's a lot of IBU's. What might one do to bring the AA close to zero in a short amount of time?

hopsdirect has 0%aa hops (domestic leaf>choice debittered leaf hops), also do a search for using your oven to debitter hops. haven't done it myself, but i know there are a few threads on it. good luck with the wild yeasties. plan on it myself here in the fall.

b

Apparently I'm just blind today. Hopsdirect is always my first choice since they're local 'ish. I checked there earlier and didn't see them. But, sure enough they're there. Problem solved.

I did the same thing with freshops. I didn't see them on there, then a friend told me they had them. Looked again and sure enough. Off day I guess.

Thanks for the info though. And good luck with your brew.

I'm planning a lambic this fall. I want to do true lambic if it's any good here. Hence the test batch. I'll be picking up some wine barrels over the summer then brew a 59 gallon batch each fall for the next 3 years and blend some gueze.

right on. catch some good ones.