Fermentation time for a fruit lambic?

[DrunkenCanuck]

Hey guys, I have been poking around finding recipe ideas for making my first fruit lambic (I currently have 3x 1 gallon brett sours fermenting for science purposes) and I have a couple of questions based on this recipe.

4 lb of 2 row
3/4 lb of 6 row
2 lb unmalted wheat
1 oz Saaz hops (60 minute boil)

US-05 yeast for Primary

White Labs Burxellensis and Wyeast Lambic Blend for Secondary w/ 3 lbs of pineapple and 3 lbs of mango

Yield: 3 gallons after boil

Anyway, I have never attempted a fruit lambic, and I am curious as to know on average, how long should I expect the beer to ferment and condition for? Is this something I should be brewing now in preparation for next summer? It seems like just from a quick search on the forums on the subject, I should be starting it this coming weekend. How long should I ferment this particular recipe for each stage? Of course, the final question being, should I make a starter before going to secondary?

 

[Dcpcooks]

You can go a couple of ways. A traditional lambic takes time amongst other things.

It sounds like you have 3 batches you want to rack on fruit and then blend them as needed? Is that correct?

If so you won't need another starter you can rack directly to the fruit and it will give you a nice secondary fermentation. It will be done pretty quickly at that point.

I'd make sure your science experiments taste where you want them and then check your balance of fruit to beer. I'd add fruit closer to when the beer is ready to go. I'm not a huge fan of extended time on fruit.

 

[AMessenger]

Giving the Lambic blend time to develop is really the long pole for the fermentation. I would put the timetable at a year or more for that (longer is better on the first pitch).

This long aging period is why fruit is usually added as the final step as a lot of the character of the fruit will likely be lost over the course of the aging.

 

[DrunkenCanuck]

You can go a couple of ways. A traditional lambic takes time amongst other things.

It sounds like you have 3 batches you want to rack on fruit and then blend them as needed? Is that correct?

If so you won't need another starter you can rack directly to the fruit and it will give you a nice secondary fermentation. It will be done pretty quickly at that point.

I'd make sure your science experiments taste where you want them and then check your balance of fruit to beer. I'd add fruit closer to when the beer is ready to go. I'm not a huge fan of extended time on fruit.

No, just one batch that I am going to do on fruit. The one's I currently did are 100% Brett fermentations, this batch is going to be entirely different.

 

[DrunkenCanuck]

Giving the Lambic blend time to develop is really the long pole for the fermentation. I would put the timetable at a year or more for that (longer is better on the first pitch).

This long aging period is why fruit is usually added as the final step as a lot of the character of the fruit will likely be lost over the course of the aging.

Good to know, thank you for the advice. Pineapples and mango's aren't exactly seasonal and won't be until the winter anyway.

How long should I bottle condition for?

 

[Sourz4life]

They can take anywhere from around 6 months to a couple years. At which point you'd then normally throw fruit and and wait another 1-3 months. Then if you bottle, bottle conditioning is another 1-6 months, lots of variables there. Also as a side note, its not a lambic beer. Just a sour beer. True lambics are spontaneously fermented and only are called so if done in a particular valley in Belgium. Not trying to be knit picky but alot of people are touchy on that name.