Aged hops in Lambic, necessary?

[elproducto]

Getting ready to brew my first Lambic. Not my first sour, but my first Lambic style.

I don't have any aged hops, and I'm wondering how important they are?

I understand the principles, but would low alpha hops in say the mash be sufficient?

 

[suprchunk]

Aged hops in Lambic, necessary?

Yes. They do not impart any flavor or bitterness whatsoever. Just used for the aseptic properties.

 

[ryane]

Yes. They do not impart any flavor or bitterness whatsoever. Just used for the aseptic properties.

No they arent important, any low AA variety to ~5-10ibu will suffice. You dont really need the antiseptic properties of large amounts of aged hops in a lambic where you pitch a culture. You already know whats going in there and dont need to protect against it.

On the other hand if your doing a spontaneous fermentation with things caught on the breeze, then yes a large volume of aged hops is necessary