Hi,
I'm wondering if someone has experience with a 'traditional' lambic in a 1 barrel solera ?
I have a 100 liter chestnut barrel (bought unused and new). After cleaning and soaking with water, this barrel was filled in February 2013 with wort that was left in the open air for at least a entire night.
It stayed in the barrel for 1 year, after that I pulled off roughly 60 liters and topped it off with fresh brewed Lambic (again, wild infected) until the barrel was full.
This first year Lambic is now 2 years old (1 year in the barrel, 1 year in the bottle).
Within a couple of weeks it is time to brew a new Lambic for this year. Again I will be pulling off 60 liter. According to the solera calculations this Lambic should have an average age of 1.4 year. After aging in the bottle (Feb 2016) it will be a Lambic (blended with 2 Lambics) of at least 2.4 years old.
After this pull off, the barrel will be topped again with fresh wort. The blend is now created with 3 versions Lambic : 1 year, 2 year and a fresh one.
Again, this will be in the barrel for a year. When pulling off in feb 2016 the blend has an average age of 1.56 year.
Now my question : how long should I sustain this solera system? When doing the pull in 2016, the blend is made of 3 generations. Should I do a full pull, clean the barrel and start over again ? Or just continue keeping the solera alive?
I'm wondering if someone has experience with a 'traditional' lambic in a 1 barrel solera ?
I have a 100 liter chestnut barrel (bought unused and new). After cleaning and soaking with water, this barrel was filled in February 2013 with wort that was left in the open air for at least a entire night.
It stayed in the barrel for 1 year, after that I pulled off roughly 60 liters and topped it off with fresh brewed Lambic (again, wild infected) until the barrel was full.
This first year Lambic is now 2 years old (1 year in the barrel, 1 year in the bottle).
Within a couple of weeks it is time to brew a new Lambic for this year. Again I will be pulling off 60 liter. According to the solera calculations this Lambic should have an average age of 1.4 year. After aging in the bottle (Feb 2016) it will be a Lambic (blended with 2 Lambics) of at least 2.4 years old.
After this pull off, the barrel will be topped again with fresh wort. The blend is now created with 3 versions Lambic : 1 year, 2 year and a fresh one.
Again, this will be in the barrel for a year. When pulling off in feb 2016 the blend has an average age of 1.56 year.
Now my question : how long should I sustain this solera system? When doing the pull in 2016, the blend is made of 3 generations. Should I do a full pull, clean the barrel and start over again ? Or just continue keeping the solera alive?