What is Lambic & Wild Brewing

I have been brewing for a couple of years. I have heard of making beers with wild yeast, and have read posts about pitching bugs to the fermenter's. But I cannot find a "one stop" thread explaining "What is Lambic & Wild brewing". I am looking for something explained in a fairly simple way that answers some basic questions. Yes, I could go buy a book that ONE guy wrote, or I can ask here and get the best parts of hundreds of books that were never written by all of you.

So...Who? What? WHY???How? These are my question's, Now tune me up!

Lambic is a style of beer that originates from Belgium. Spontaneous fermentation occurs on these beers with wild yeast and bacteria. Lambics are commonly dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste.

Some folks make lambics at home using cultured commercially available yeast and bacteria culture.

Personally, I like Lambics very much. The ones I've tasted have all been unique and good to drink. I like blended lambics, such as Geuze, more than others since the complexities of the flavors is just awesome. Geuze is something I'll drink maybe once or twice a year, with some food that compliments it well.

Here is an overview of my basic feelings on brewing sour/wild beers at home (sanitation, where to get the microbes, using oak etc&#8230: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2009/11/brewing-sour-beer-at-home.html

I’ll hopefully be editing that for an article in BYO sometime in the next few months, make it a bit more concise, update it for what I’ve changed/learned over the last 18 months.

That is a great write -up. That info really has helped me to better understand the wild side to brewing. I think I am going to give it a try. I am thinking about going out to our local winery/vineyard and see what I can catch. Thanks for the information.

I don't dislike the flavors of the lambics I've tried but every one of them has struck me as being abysmally low in carbonation if not flat.

Is this true to style and are there some explanations for why this is happening even if it is not intended by the brewer?

TheSeether said:

I don't dislike the flavors of the lambics I've tried but every one of them has struck me as being abysmally low in carbonation if not flat.

Is this true to style and are there some explanations for why this is happening even if it is not intended by the brewer?

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The ones I had in Brussels certainly had a lot of carbonation (or at least nothing I found to be anywhere close to flat..name brand or otherwise). It was true for the flavored and unflavored varieties.
What brand are you trying?

Hokie said:

The ones I had in Brussels certainly had a lot of carbonation (or at least nothing I found to be anywhere close to flat..name brand or otherwise). It was true for the flavored and unflavored varieties.
What brand are you trying?

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True unblended Lambics are often flat (rarely bottled, often served on cask), but 99% of the Lambic that makes it to this country is blended into Gueuze (which always has plenty of CO2) or blended with fruit and carbonated. The only two bottled examples I can think of that are low/no carbonation are Cantillon Bruocsella (1900) Grand Cru and Drie Fonteinen Doesjel.

All of the lambics I have tried were homebrew so I have no brand reference and this fits directly with the information supplied by Oldsock. Every one was served from a cask (firkin).

Is there a reason carbonation is omitted or lacking?