First lambic

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pipapat

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Well after a epic brewing day with my new 15 gallon pot i used for a hlt and a 10 gallon boil reduction to 5.5 i missed my sg by 3 points.

:drunk:

On the up side i learned a lot and it didnt take as long as i thought.

2 batches left for my lambic project.

Anyone else working on barrel aged lambic?

Any pro tips?

:mug:
 
Not quite a lambic, but I have a pale sour with some oats/wheat going in a red wine barrel in my basement. We did the primary ferment in the barrel so it will probably be pretty close to a lambic in the end. Fermentation is with a bug blend from Al over on the BBB, after two months it already has a nice tartness.

A friend and I are doing a solera thing, pulling ~15 gallons a year and topping off (with 15+ gallons depending on evaporation) so we have an evolving blend.

Are you using a 15 gallon barrel? New oak? Give us some details!

Good luck!
 
the oak is used.
It came from a small vinter in cali.
I guess used to do a lot of red wine.
It is a 15.5 gallon barrel.

He upgraded his barrels so thats when i got mine.
In retrospect i should have gotten 2.
But hind sight is 20/20.

Your pictures of a on your lambic 3.0 where a huge help.

Next time im going to double mill my wheat i got a efficiency of like 60%.

Whats the Solera?
Never heard of it.
 
Sounds like good stuff, I wish I had access to some smaller used barrels. Buying a new one is impossible to justify when you can get a used 60 gallon barrel for less than half the price.

Glad my turbid pictures were helpful, not sure if I'll bottle that beer after a year or give it a second year of aging. Haven't pulled a sample of it since December, it was funky, but still lacking much sourness.

Hopefully the solera technique works well, seemed like a better idea to do that than trying to deal with all that beer and an empty barrel at the same time. Big days like that work with a local group for the other two barrels, but this one is a two man operation.
 
thanks for the link with the solera.

If i had a local brew club that did sours i would invest in a 30 or 60 gallon barrel.
But since its just me the 15 seemed more manageable with my boil kettle size.

2 more Sundays too go before i can throw all 3 batches in my barrel.
I plan on pitching the bugs in the last batch.

Pedo. lacto, brett, and some dregs from 6 bottles of Lindimans gueze.
 
If i had a local brew club that did sours i would invest in a 30 or 60 gallon barrel.
But since its just me the 15 seemed more manageable with my boil kettle size.

Pedo. lacto, brett, and some dregs from 6 bottles of Lindimans gueze.
congrats on popping your pLambic cherry! going from 10 gal to the 5.5 sounds like you did the loooong 3 hour boil, is that correct? if so, did you do that just to kill the hop aroma? i would add different dregs than just lindemans. i think the cuvee rene is the only one worth anything for dregs since the others are pastuerized.

i have 2 lambic projects, although only one is currently in operation. 3 gal barrel currently soured and a 5 gal barrel on its way after a few more high gravity bourbon beers:D
 
i did a long boil because of the turbid mash. You get a huge amount of wort that needs to be reduced.

I used a large amount of propane.

cuvee rene is what i have dregs from. I should have been more specific. :)

I have 2 batches of flanders red with a oak dowel in a universal bung aging in the basement since jan and feb. They have a nice bit of funk on top of them. I need to dig out my digital camera to post some pictures.

3 gallons is a odd size, is it oak?
 
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