Hops in a lambic

[HopNutz]

I was saving some Goldings from 2016 that had an original AA of 4 but I accidentally threw them out. I plan on brewing a lambic with yeasties brought back from Drie Fonteinen. I've read 3 oz of lambic hops at 60 minutes. How low do I need to keep the IBU's?

 

[RPh_Guy]

What size batch?
With dregs, personally I recommend 0.5-1.0 oz of noble hops (aged or not) per 5 gallons. If using young hops, I would keep bitterness under 15-20 IBU.

I recommend using a lightly hopped starter (1g/L) when propogating dregs. This helps preserve the hop tolerance of the bacteria.

With the use of PET fermentation vessels (Fermonsters), relatively low hopping rates, leaving it in primary, and aging in the 70-75°F range, I find that my traditional sours are ready to bottle and drink in about 5-8 months. At this point they still have a lot of the delicious fruity (young) Brett character, with some light funk, and are sour, making them good as-is without the need for blending.

 

[HopNutz]

I've got lots of Mittelfruh. I'll use that. 5 gal batch. I just ramped up my starter the other day so I should be ready to brew in a couple weeks

 

[RPh_Guy]

FYI dregs should generally be added after primary fermentation.

 

[brownni5]

FYI dregs should generally be added after primary fermentation.

I've had good results co-pitching and pitching post-primary.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I guess I should have elaborated.

It depends on the dregs/brewery. Lots of breweries add bottling yeast, which you probably don't want conducting and/or interfering with the primary fermentation. Many wine strains used for bottle conditioning produce kill factor that will inhibit your Sacc, potentially stalling the fermentation, and also the esters from the bottling yeast may be undesirable.

You're using your preferred Sacc strain(s) for primary in addition to the dregs, which explains your success, especially if there's no wine/bottling yeast in the dregs you're using.

I got the impression threat the OP might be trying to do the whole fermentation with only dregs, which isn't a great idea. It might work out fine, but it's definitely more risky.

Also, dregs don't need to be stepped up with a starter when using a traditional process like this because the pitch rate for Brett and bacteria doesn't matter. A small starter is good to make sure that the microbes are alive, but increasing the cell count isn't needed. An appropriate amount of Saccharomyces should be pitched to conduct the primary fermentation, preferably well before adding the dregs if there's any doubt whether it contains a bottling yeast.

Cheers