Lambic/Sour Reference Resources

Due to recent extensive expereicnes with Rodenbach Grand Cru and the Duchess, i'm considering getting into the realm of lambic/sour brewing and i couldn't seem to find a "one stop" location for a wide variety of info. So i was hoping someone could recommend a book or books to get me on the right track.

I'm looking for some "lambic for dummies" type info on the styles for one, but i guess i'm probably moreso interested in the technicallities in dealing with homebrewing a lambic/sour. Things such as tips for segregated equipment, how it differs from "standard" homebrewing, etc.

Any suggestions or nudges in the right direction would be appreciated.

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Nuff said...

ya i would recommend that as well. Lots of info.

I had somebody purchase the wild brews book for me so I could learn to make a plambic, but the book reads more as a history of lambics not a great how to make a lambic books, just my humble opinion.

Thanks for the info. I'm more interested in the "here's what to watch out for, dummy" type thing. Separate equpiment, homebrew techniques, etc.

another good resource, IMO, is http://www.themadfermentationist.com/

He is an HBT member and seems to post pretty regularly.

edit:

Here is a good post to start with:

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2009/11/brewing-sour-beer-at-home.html

Wow, good read. Thanks.

Glad you enjoyed the post, if you have any other sour beer questions I'm always happy to try to answer them. That said the best way to learn is to start experimenting, more than any other type of beer sours tend to require the development of a personal style and technique. What works for one brewer may not work for another. Variables like microbe choice, aging temp, and acid preference are especially hard to account for between different brewers.

I'm also looking for a good, organized reference on the subject. What did you find most helpful?

Raj Apte is another great homebrewer reference for sours (which really, there is a general lack of information on)

http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/flemishredale.shtml

http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/

Only other thing I can think of that is not already mentioned is The Brewing Network. Search their archive for "sour" or "Russian river" they have had a couple great informative shows with a few different people on various sour beers. Basic Brewing radio has some as well.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com

good place, i like it.

ChemEMc, thanks, fantastic info and charts on his site!

Jtakacs. I'm speechless. Quite possibly the best response ever.

I personally thought that "Wild Brews" was an amazing read. Better than Brew Like a Monk which most people seem to love. While it does have large sections about the history of the styles in the beginning of the book, the history isn't irrelevant to how to make the beer styles. And if you don't want to read about history, just skip that chapter of the book. There's tons of good technical stuff about lambics and flanders red and brown ales: how they're brewed, what they're fermented in, how long, the different cultures that go into them, the cycles of cultures and yeasts during fermentation, how seasons and thus temperature feeds into this, etc... There is also a terrific chapter on barrels and oak, terribly terribly informative chapter. I wish I'd read this book before just dumping a vial of sour mix into one of my beers. I would have done a lot of things differently.

There isn't as much about sanitation. If you're just a homebrewer I don't think you need to know anything other than to keep separate hoses, fermenters, etc... for beers with cultures and brett. Glass can be cleaned and crossed over but no plastic porous containers like buckets. I would just slap a red sticker on anything that was used with the stuff and keep things separate. Not sure if you need any other tips.

The Russian River, Cantillion and Trinity Brewing shows on the brewing network are all worth a listen.

http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/LmbicJL0696.html

That is a great website with tons of information about brewing lambics.

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Probably a bit late to the party on that one.

LOL! More for future reference than anything. However, if it puts it to the top of the list and encourages others to add, then all the better!