Lambic?

Hello Friends,

Tonight we attended an open house at the Sam Adams Brewery in Boston, MA (btw, highly recommended for anyone who lives in the area - these happen once a month!). There we sampled a Cranberry Lambic beer. Now, I posted a while ago about what I thought was extract twang in our homebrews, but this beer finished with that SAME flavor! My question is, are we inadvertently brewing lambic beers (if so, how?!) or is extract twang similar?

Thank you VERY much in advance!

Ugh... Did you like it? That may have been the worst beer I have ever tasted,... I'd love to go on the tour though.

No, neither of us liked it. Which is why I ask this question. Every one of our beers has ended up tasting like that (minus the sour notes) and we are not really all that excited about starting another batch because of it. The tours are always fun and their open house was cool too though (on account of there being many different beers to wash down that one...)!

Does anyone know the answer to this? I see that lambic beers are created in a very different manner than we make our beer. I am wondering if maybe there is an infection in our line or fermenter??

Sam Adams Cherry Lambic is not a lambic. True Belgian lambics involve spontaneous fermentation by wild yeast and then skilled blending of batches and vintages. SA uses a cultured Belgian strain added to the wort at a planned / scheduled time.

Depending on what critters get in your wort, they produce different flavors...if you have an infection you might have something like this (sourness, mustiness, horse blanket, etc.)

I would think what you are tasting would be your extract twang vs. their awful syrup flavoring they use.

I am assuming you are an extract brewer, by the way. If so, how fresh is your extract?

it's definitely not a lambic taste you are getting from the beers. lambics take a solid year or more to achieve the full flavor profile. and i love sam adams and all, but that beer ain't a true lambic.

I found a cranberry lambic,and a holiday porter lomg forgotten in a dark corner of my basement for about four years. I threw in the fridge overnight. When I opened it ,it still fizzed,so what the heck. These beers tasted a lot better now than when fresh four years ago. Especially the cranberry,with a more homogenous flavor,it surprised my old taste buds a bit.

Wrathbone said:

I would think what you are tasting would be your extract twang vs. their awful syrup flavoring they use.

I am assuming you are an extract brewer, by the way. If so, how fresh is your extract?

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We used DME in our last brew and the last batch was a PM. The other brews were the kits (we switched trying to eliminate that off-flavor). Not really sure what I am tasting tbh. But however Sam Adams makes that particular beer, it definitely tasted like ours...

No, you are not "brewing a lambic." First, "true" lambics employ spontaneous fermentation that can't be duplicated in your region (unless you live in Belgium.) Second, Lambics are sour. The sweetness of peche or framboise is added - sometimes - to cover up the sour flavor of the beer itself.

I agree with Wrathbone. The tang you get from them is caused by their syrup flavoring. A really good lambic shouldn't be sickly sweet, it should have a subtle flavor that takes at LEAST a year to mature.

Finally extract "tang" is often caused by caramelization. There's no reason to recook the extract that you're adding, because it's already been malted and cooked. Start adding your extracts later in the boil (anywhere from the last 30 minutes to the last 5) and you'll get better results.

I second pericles' suggestion. My beers had a much more noticeable off-flavor/twang before I started adding my extract late. Plus it usually makes your beers lighter which is always a problem I have with extract brewing.

Ah!! Thank you, thank you! We have been adding the DME at the beginning of the boil. Will definitely try to add it at the end. We have a Dogfish Head Clone bottled and will try it on the 2nd. Hopefully the tang is gone. Thanks again!