bigljd
Well-Known Member
I made a lambic style brew last April, using a traditional recipe of 8lbs Pils, 4lbs unmalted wheat and an ounce of aged Willamette hops, and did a turbid mash. Fermented in a glass carboy with ECY Bug Farm, and left it on the yeast cake after it finished for the last 10 months. I've been a good boy and haven't touched it since last July, since I have several other sour brews I've been drinking I had no need to mess with it.
I pulled a sample of the lambic last week and I think it's ready to bottle. It has moderate levels of acidity and a big, complex barnyard brett flavor coming thru. I loved the sample, and I'd like to bottle it and age it for a few more months before starting to drink them.
What I'd like to know is what is the best method of re-using the cake for a re-brew of the lambic. I did not add any commercial dregs to the original ferment, I wanted to keep the cake pure ECY Bug Farm. I do know that the balance of bugs/brett has changed from the original blend, and I believe there's likely a higher percent of bugs vs brett than the original jar. I don't want the re-brew to get overly sour if the bug count is higher than before.
Here's some options I've been thinking of and would like some feedback on which would work best to get the same results as the first batch:
1. Re-brew the same recipe - mash high to keep some complex sugars, and ferment out with a Trappist yeast. Then rack it onto the Bug Farm cake with some added malto-dextrin to feed the brett. Age 1 year.
2. Re-brew/mash high, ferment with Trappist yeast, and then add some Brett B and age for a couple months to give the brett a head start. Then rack onto Bug Farm cake and age 1 year.
3. Re-brew/mash high, and rack fresh wort onto the Bug Farm cake along with a pitch of Trappist yeast and let everything go at it all at once. Age 1 year.
What do you think?
I pulled a sample of the lambic last week and I think it's ready to bottle. It has moderate levels of acidity and a big, complex barnyard brett flavor coming thru. I loved the sample, and I'd like to bottle it and age it for a few more months before starting to drink them.
What I'd like to know is what is the best method of re-using the cake for a re-brew of the lambic. I did not add any commercial dregs to the original ferment, I wanted to keep the cake pure ECY Bug Farm. I do know that the balance of bugs/brett has changed from the original blend, and I believe there's likely a higher percent of bugs vs brett than the original jar. I don't want the re-brew to get overly sour if the bug count is higher than before.
Here's some options I've been thinking of and would like some feedback on which would work best to get the same results as the first batch:
1. Re-brew the same recipe - mash high to keep some complex sugars, and ferment out with a Trappist yeast. Then rack it onto the Bug Farm cake with some added malto-dextrin to feed the brett. Age 1 year.
2. Re-brew/mash high, ferment with Trappist yeast, and then add some Brett B and age for a couple months to give the brett a head start. Then rack onto Bug Farm cake and age 1 year.
3. Re-brew/mash high, and rack fresh wort onto the Bug Farm cake along with a pitch of Trappist yeast and let everything go at it all at once. Age 1 year.
What do you think?