Calling all blenders

Ketchepillar · May 10, 2010

So who does this? Tell us about it. I think it would be awesome to have a whole load of carboys of sour beer around of various types and ages to blend and bottle as I please. Any homebrewers out there so adventurous as to make gueuze complete with figuring out the quantity of young lambic to put in for carbonation, but not bottle bombs? That sounds amazing, but I think I'll wait till I have lots of sour brewing experience till I try my hand at that kind of predicting. Still can't wait to have lots of sour things around for blending though.

Oldsock · May 10, 2010

I've dabled a bit, but so far it has just been in the glass, or a special blend to put on tap for a party. The issue is dealing with the extra beer that isn't blended (not a great idea to leave half full carboys sitting around).

ryane · May 10, 2010

Ive started to do a lot of this in the last year, and I find my sours have been significantly better because of it, I used to only blend to make gueuze, but I never tried to figure out ratios for carbonation, instead i just used heavy glass and primed slightly lower

As to Oldsocks comment about half full carboys, I solved this by getting a bunch of 3gal carboys, that ways after blending I can save half or a bit more of the batch for further aging

couchsurfer · May 12, 2010

I do this, I use the Solera method... Basically I do it in kegs, which is very easy. I just recommend making an investment in a few dedicated used kegs.

Twice a year I add fresh beer and somewhere in the bottom keg is some small fraction of brew that is easily 5 years old... blended with all the more recent batches, of course. It's the easiest way to keep great lambic on tap, all the time, besides the brew really lends itself to this method, because balancing flavors is a huge part of the art. You can keep on separating sections and add fruit or whatever you want as you go.

Ketchepillar · May 13, 2010

couchsurfer said:
I do this, I use the Solera method... Basically I do it in kegs, which is very easy. I just recommend making an investment in a few dedicated used kegs.

Twice a year I add fresh beer and somewhere in the bottom keg is some small fraction of brew that is easily 5 years old... blended with all the more recent batches, of course. It's the easiest way to keep great lambic on tap, all the time, besides the brew really lends itself to this method, because balancing flavors is a huge part of the art. You can keep on separating sections and add fruit or whatever you want as you go.

That sounds pretty awesome. Although my love for detail makes me want to be more precise.

couchsurfer · May 13, 2010

Ketchepillar said:
That sounds pretty awesome. Although my love for detail makes me want to be more precise.

Yea I think I am very far on the 'feeling' side of the spectrum, as a brewer, anyway, mostly it's sort of taking samples and trying fractions, and really, as the lambic ages, it goes from a sweet-malty to sweet-sour... I also use honey and other adjuncts, I guess they never get totally 100% removed but the brew changes over time and... that's just sort of the way it goes...

I thought this pretty much captured the spirit of it, I'm sad I can't have such parties (yet?) as I know no homebrewers who are local: http://www.docstavern.com/blending-lambic-into-gueuze-with-two-masters

:fro: <= what a cool icon!

ryane · May 13, 2010

couchsurfer said:
I thought this pretty much captured the spirit of it, I'm sad I can't have such parties (yet?) as I know no homebrewers who are local: http://www.docstavern.com/blending-lambic-into-gueuze-with-two-masters

:fro: <= what a cool icon!

Looks like that site is ripping off Oldsock, thats a post from his blog The Mad Fermentationist, in fact theres many of his posts from his blog on that site with no reference to his blog

squeekysheep · May 13, 2010

I have been blending some of my beers, you can also make a new batch of beer and refill a carboy I did this a few times makes a whole new beer and it ferments quicker.

Oldsock · May 14, 2010

ryane said:
Looks like that site is ripping off Oldsock, thats a post from his blog The Mad Fermentationist, in fact theres many of his posts from his blog on that site with no reference to his blog

Yep, thanks for letting me know (and tracking down the people I needed to contact). Here is the "actual" post from my blog: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/04/blending-lambic-into-gueuze-with-two.html

couchsurfer · May 14, 2010

Oldsock said:
Yep, thanks for letting me know (and tracking down the people I needed to contact). Here is the "actual" post from my blog: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/04/blending-lambic-into-gueuze-with-two.html

Hey Oldsock - it's a beautifully done post, attracting the highest form of flattery B) (theft, of course)

:mug:

jessup · May 14, 2010

wow that's f*ck'd up! you must be >>>

Calling all blenders

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