Planning First Lambic - Kriek

[chisena]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1456114216.135123.jpg
Just racked my Kriek over cherries today after 6 months in the primary. Had some leftover that I racked onto peaches. Gonna let it sit until mid August '16 before bottling.

 

[tiggy]

Bottled this up last weekend after about 3.5 months on the cherries. Flavor and aroma were absolutely fantastic in the warm, flat sample. Ended up with about 5 gallons on the nose after trub/cherry loss. Very much looking forward to trying the finished version.

Added champagne yeast to speed the carbing and underprimed a bit in case there were any residual sugars still left from the cherries. If we run into overcarbed issues, I have a lager freezer we can store the rest of the bottles in.

Second batch of lambic base is already going in the basement and we're debating starting up a third so we can get a bit more of a pipeline going and have some extra base to experiment with.

Thanks for all of the advice along the way!

 

[Yeastieboy]

Tiggy, congrats on getting it into bottles! Glad it's tasting great!

I kind of expected to see some activity and then the beer to reform a pellicle after racking over the fruit. After 2.5 months it looks pretty bored in there. No new pellicle. Is that normal?

 

[burninator]

Tiggy, congrats on getting it into bottles! Glad it's tasting great!

I kind of expected to see some activity and then the beer to reform a pellicle after racking over the fruit. After 2.5 months it looks pretty bored in there. No new pellicle. Is that normal?

Are the cherries floating? Fermentation of the sugar in the cherries may have just created a nice blanket of CO2 over the beer, and the microbes don't feel the need to form a pellicle.

 

[Yeastieboy]

I used cherry purée in the 5G carboy but no, it seems to have settled. I did have 1G left over that I racked over fresh peaches. Those were on the bottom at first and many are now floating.

 

[tiggy]

Carbed, this is fantastic! We're really pleased with how it turned out. Only thing is that the carbonation level is a bit light. We purposefully underprimed a bit to avoid bottle bombs in case there were remaining sugars from the cherries. Currently, it's great as is, but I'd prefer it with a touch more carbonation. Will probably be hoarding this one as the next batch still has a year to go!

Yeastieboy, ours never formed a second pellicle. Since we used whole cherries, half floated the entire time while half settled on the bottom. The old pellicle ended up on top of the floaters. The cherries did kick off a small secondary fermentation, but nothing very dramatic.

One suggestion would be to put something on the racking cane to filter when you go to transfer. We used a piece of fine mesh and it helped dramatically. We still ended up with some trub and cherry bits in the bottling bucket, but nothing too dramatic.

 

[Yeastieboy]

@tiggy That's great! Perhaps the carbonation will continue to increase a bit over time. How long did you let the secondary fermentation with cherries go before bottling?

 

[tiggy]

We were on the cherries for about 3.5 months and have been in bottles for about a month now. Since the beer was 18 months old when we added the cherries, the concern was that the brett wouldn't get through all of the cherry sugars and risk bottle bombs. So there's a chance we could get some more carb in the future, but I think it's about where it's going to be.

Beer has a huge cherry flavor and aroma. We'll see how this changes over time. We'll be hoarding these until the next batch is ready about this time next year.

 

[sweetcell]

Since the beer was 18 months old when we added the cherries, the concern was that the brett wouldn't get through all of the cherry sugars and risk bottle bombs.

that was a misplaced concern. there definitely still was viable brett in there. in 3.5 months the brett would have chewed through all the sugars. 6 weeks was probably plenty.

We'll be hoarding these until the next batch is ready about this time next year.

my experience with fruited sour beer is that it peaks shortly after full carbonation is reached, then is good for a few months, then drops off. the first kriek that i made was amazing from month 1-5, good months 6 and 7, and by month 8 it had started to fade. like you i planned to ration these beers. at the 12 month mark they weren't nearly as good as they were in the first 4-5 months. so YMMV, but i prefer my fruited sours on the fresh side.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Listen to sweetcell out proving everyone wrong! [emoji6]

 

[tiggy]

Thanks for the insight!

Since it's our first time bottling something with brett, we opted for the "better safe than sorry" approach. Last thing I wanted to risk was bottle bombs! Final product is good, my personal preference is just a slightly higher carbonation level. Know better for next time!

Will be trying to nurse this supply for about 12 months. Second batch is on schedule to be carbed by then. We'll probably hang onto one or two just to see how they age. Since this was our first attempt, we weren't sure how it would turn out and didn't want to dive in head first. Given the success, we're now working on building up a regular sour pipeline so we're not stuck waiting a year in between batches. In time, that should fix the supply problem. Until then, we're just not going to be sharing this one!