using 2 yeast strains for lambic...

[wedraper]

i have cobbled together a recipe for a fruit lambic (more or less). based on the information i put together i start out with a belgian ale yeast (WLP550) for 2 weeks, then rack into a secondary containing fruit puree and pitch the lambic blend (wyeast 3278). this makes sense to me. however, the instructions i found say to pitch the lambic yeast and condition at 50F; that seems a little cold to me. any ideas?

bill

p.s. i've also never racked onto fruit before. do you dump the fruit into the secondary and transfer the fermented wort from the primary on top of it?

 

[MileHighBrewer]

I would forget those instructions you found and run far away from them lol. You'll get more info down in the Lambic & Wild forum, but to answer

Fruit goes in later, much, much later. You get the beer close to what you want THEN add your fruit. If you put it in that soon you probably won't get any real character from it.

You can pitch sacch first, a lot of people do. But remember the Wyeast blend already HAS sacch yeast in it, as well as pedio, lacto and brett. Pitching at the same time (both 550 and 3278) will give you more funk/sour character without waiting for 1.5-2 years. Yes, years. Remember lambic are loooooong term projects.

I prefer to keep my sours in primary for a few months before racking to secondary. Brett and bugs will do their work better at higher temps then 50. After your beer is where you want it flavor wise, cellar conditioning is good, but not after 3 weeks.

When you get to the point of adding fruit yes, add fruit to your vessel and rack on top of it. Probably 3-6 months on the fruit.

 

[wedraper]

thanks. the colder temp didn't make any sense to me. i know the lambics are supposed to be a long-term investment, but the wife wants her framboise now dammit

bill

 

[wedraper]

When I rack the sour onto the fruit should I agitate/aerate the wort at all?

Bill