johnnytaco
Well-Known Member
So, my friend is getting married over Labor day weekend this year. We made a strawberry Kolsch style beer, from LME and natural strawberry flavor(no fruit), for valentines day. He loved it and wants us to make more for the wedding. We've since switched to all-grain brewing. I prefer hoppier beers, so in our test batches, the one I brewed was more like a blonde ale with a Kolsch yeast. His test batch was very plain and more traditional, same yeast. After ten days in the primary, I racked his beer into a carboy and put it in my basement to clear at 52 degrees, since we don't have a filter. It failed to clear up in three weeks, and when I went to check on it yesterday, I noticed it has a layer of white film on the top. From what I know, that's a brett strain that tainted my beer, right? It's obviously wild, since I've never brewed with brett before. I was going to pitch it, but I tried it first. It was sour, but not bad. Being low hopped, it seems to me like it could fit into the lambic style. My real question is, if I wanted to make a rhubarb lambic out of it, how long should I let it develop the brett flavor before I put it on the fruit? I don't want it to taste like horse nuts, but appreciate the barnyard flavor. Thanks for any help, yall.