Lambic yeast strain with any luck??

Wisconsin Belgium Red is a fuggen good drink. a lot like the Kriek lambic. I was going to try a lambic yeast to mimic the flavor. anyone try this strain with good or bad results???

Lambics are notoriously difficult to brew. A "true" lambic can only be made in Belgium, where the fermenting vessel is left open, and naturally occurring yeast causes the wort to spontaneously ferment. I'm not aware of any strains of "true" lambic bacteria commercially available. A second problem is that the hops are usually aged a year prior to the boil, and the wort is then allowed to "sour" over a period of 12-24 months prior to bottling.

When American microbreweries try to replicate lambics, they usually do so by using a collection of yeasts, and employing specialized fermentation techniques. A quick internet search suggests that Wisconsin uses both a "souring fermentation," and "two types of Brettanomyces, an ale yeast and a couple of different bacteria."

I don't like telling people not to try exciting new stuff so. . . If you can find a yeast and a fermentation process that is (1) close to the taste of a commercial "lambic," and (2) feasible for home production, PM me and tell me how! We'll incorporate, and start our OWN darn brewery!

You should probably start a similar fruit beer for a standard fermentation, though, as a fall-back. Maybe a cherry wheat using a Belgian yeast? You can add a little bit of lactose for sweetness, and use Sorachi Ace Hops to replicate a bit of the "sour" flavor of a lambic.

This has been coming up a good bit lately. Someone usually chimes in early on saying lambics can only be made in Belgium. While the word "lambic" is an appelation, you CAN make successful lambics using the blends both Wyeast and White Labs sell.

Also, the beer you are referencing is not a lambic. It is a Flanders Red. While it is a sour beer, there are a few key differences. Flanders Reds are a dark amber/red color. They exhibit a lot of tart flavors from lactobacillus and sometimes acetic acid bacteria. They also have a lot of dark stone fruit flavors. Vienna and Munich are often used.

Lambics are pale beers that exhibit similar tart/acidic flavors. They do not have any dark or stone fruit flavors. Any acetic acid character is a fault. Lambics are made from mostly a pale base malt (like pils) and unmalted wheat or barley. Finding unblended lambic is rare. It is usually blended in certain ratios with 1, 2 and 3 year old lambic to make a beverage called "Gueuze", or combined with fruit.

I've never made a Flanders Red, so I can't specifically comment on the best yeast. I'm sure a lambic blend will work. I think the best bet would be to wait until Wyeast releases the Roselare blend in their Private Collection. I'm almost positive they do this every year since its a popular strain. The beer can be completely fermented with the blend. I've tasted a 1 year old beer fermented with only the Roselare blend. It was beautiful, and very sour. To get less sour character, a lot of homebrewers first pitch a neutral ale yeast, followed by the lambic/Roselare blend. This gives less "food" to the souring bacteria and wild yeast present in the blends, and gives the brewers yeast a dominant hold in the overall beer.

Upon looking at some descriptions, they don't suggest they any "wild yeast" or Brett has been added. However, if you wanted to do a Kriek style beer I would suggest going for a Belgian Lambic Blend because it will get you the majority of the flavors you are looking for. However, adding the dregs from some commercial lambics (Cantillon, Boon, Fantome, etc... make sure they are not filtered) would be a great way to increase the sour/tartness.

I have use the Belgian Lambic Blend personally in a Mango Lambic and a Straight Lambic (which will become a Gueuze in time). And the results are very good; however, they are not as tart as I had wished... which I have heard can be remedied by pitching the dregs like I spoke about before.

Here is a great blog post about brewing sours by a guy that frequents this site (his name is "OldSock"):

http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/2009/11/brewing-sour-beer-at-home.html

New Glarus does not use Brett in their Belgian Red. On the Sunday Session with Dan Carey he says it is a sour brown ale as a base before adding the cherries. He said lactobacillus is the primary souring agent with a touch of acetobacter.

You best bet would probably be to brew something akin to a Flanders Brown ale with wheat in place of the corn and then add a TON of cherries.

There's no doubt that the Lambic and New Glarus - Belgium red are different beers with different styles of brewing. However, (to me anyway) the tastes are somewhat similar with the New Glarus having more fruit and more tart taste. I woudl definately pile in the cherries. I was just thinking that this would probably be the yeast that would match flavors the closest. The Book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" has a section how to make lambics but i don't want to go down the souring route. I was just thinking of having the tartness of the New Glarus.

It sounds like lactobacillus and a regular ale yeast would be appropriate for this beer then. If you want it really tart, pitch the lacto, then pitch the brewers yeast a few days later. The closer you pitch them together, the less sour it will become. Wyeast makes pure cultures of lactobacillus.

You could probably get away with using acidulated malt in the mash, but its probably just as easy to pitch the lacto.