Just got feedback on a local comp on my gueze.. 1st place belgian(sour or otherwise..)in the second local comp.. It made it to the last table at national homebrew(but not top 3, so somewhere between 4 and 11), and has been reviewed as "something I would import" by people who do import.
This is not the first award for gueze/lambic I've taken, it just happens to be the multi-year project I undertook for my youngest son's 21st birthday. His first (legal) beer (at 16, traveling) was at Cantillon. After this, he said something along the lines of "Dad, I know you did a 21st beer for my two siblings, I would like to do a traditional gueze..", so no pressure right, I mean, 3 years of beers blended, what could go wrong?
Surprisingly, it is pretty damn simple..
Grain,
~65% quality grain, Maris otter, 2-row etc.. just quality, not "The cheapest deal"..
~35% wheat, I've played with malted/unmalted, the current batch is 2 of 3 brews malted and 1 of 3 unmalted..
hops,
aged hops.. I grow my own and keep some in paper bags in my basement for a few years to do in lambics and blend, but I think you could just open some packs, wait some time, and get similar results..
Water, Honestly, as long as it is good water and not full of chlorine/chloromines, or anything else that is bad for brewing you are probably good.
yeast/bacteria, pick what works.. I like grabbing a bottle of Cantillon(check milkthefunk, avoid 3fontinen as they filter) or similar, have a night drinking it, and pitch the dregs the following day.. I don't worry on starters etc.. however, see Time: below..
Time... I cannot stress this enough.. time, I let my lambics sit in "primary" for a month or three, then will transfer them to a "secondary" for 3-12 months.. The most recent project had some beers in secondary phase for close to 2.5 years before blending, bottling, and conditioning for a year or more.
I am continually amazed by both how well this style can be done by amateurs like myself, and how simple it is if you let time do its job..
It also might be a challenge to set a brew aside for a bit, but if I can say "sure, this will be good 4 or more years from now", anyone can, and stake their kid's 21st birthday on it..(again, no pressure)..
I may be a little "under the influence" posting this, but if you have questions, send a PM/DM/whatever the kids are calling it, and I will get back.
This is not the first award for gueze/lambic I've taken, it just happens to be the multi-year project I undertook for my youngest son's 21st birthday. His first (legal) beer (at 16, traveling) was at Cantillon. After this, he said something along the lines of "Dad, I know you did a 21st beer for my two siblings, I would like to do a traditional gueze..", so no pressure right, I mean, 3 years of beers blended, what could go wrong?
Surprisingly, it is pretty damn simple..
Grain,
~65% quality grain, Maris otter, 2-row etc.. just quality, not "The cheapest deal"..
~35% wheat, I've played with malted/unmalted, the current batch is 2 of 3 brews malted and 1 of 3 unmalted..
hops,
aged hops.. I grow my own and keep some in paper bags in my basement for a few years to do in lambics and blend, but I think you could just open some packs, wait some time, and get similar results..
Water, Honestly, as long as it is good water and not full of chlorine/chloromines, or anything else that is bad for brewing you are probably good.
yeast/bacteria, pick what works.. I like grabbing a bottle of Cantillon(check milkthefunk, avoid 3fontinen as they filter) or similar, have a night drinking it, and pitch the dregs the following day.. I don't worry on starters etc.. however, see Time: below..
Time... I cannot stress this enough.. time, I let my lambics sit in "primary" for a month or three, then will transfer them to a "secondary" for 3-12 months.. The most recent project had some beers in secondary phase for close to 2.5 years before blending, bottling, and conditioning for a year or more.
I am continually amazed by both how well this style can be done by amateurs like myself, and how simple it is if you let time do its job..
It also might be a challenge to set a brew aside for a bit, but if I can say "sure, this will be good 4 or more years from now", anyone can, and stake their kid's 21st birthday on it..(again, no pressure)..
I may be a little "under the influence" posting this, but if you have questions, send a PM/DM/whatever the kids are calling it, and I will get back.
