tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post2123189324306614788..comments2024-02-23T15:34:32.816-05:00Comments on The Mad Fermentationist - Homebrewing Blog: Lambic the Real King of FunkThe Mad Fermentationist (Mike)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07379932734747507258noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-50526729798458001172012-09-20T06:46:38.253-04:002012-09-20T06:46:38.253-04:00Sounds delicious. Always happy to try some homebre...Sounds delicious. Always happy to try some homebrew, shoot me an email if you'd like to send me a few bottles for evaluation.The Mad Fermentationist (Mike)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07379932734747507258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-10237310244090922232012-09-19T21:58:06.863-04:002012-09-19T21:58:06.863-04:00I brewed my first round of Lambics and 2 came out ...I brewed my first round of Lambics and 2 came out too sour to drink more than 12oz. Way more than Cantillon. I added 2 viles of Brett from East Coast yeast and used the yeast cake from my Berliner Weisse which was just lacto/saccro mix. My blueberry(my last one) came out damn perfect but using the same old yeast cake from the first ones. I only had it sitting on the bugs for 5 months before bottling. I added cherries to one, and apricots to another both very funky and tart but left on fruit for about 2 months each. The Blueberry one I added the fruit and bottled 2 weeks later. Would love to let you try and let me know what you think??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-13774793964761534412008-06-22T09:08:00.000-04:002008-06-22T09:08:00.000-04:00Great stuff, thanks for commenting. Glad to hear ...Great stuff, thanks for commenting. Glad to hear a regular step mash has gotten you such good results, going that way will make my future batches easier. <BR/><BR/>What sort of gravity is left after the initial Saccharomyces fermentation? I've never had luck getting enough sourness for my taste with a clean primary fermentation.<BR/><BR/>I have moved to rubber stoppers and airlocks as well, the oak peg was too much of a hassle, the Flanders Pale is the last of my sour beers with a chair leg. <BR/><BR/>I'm planning on doing another batch of Lambic this August, I'll figure out what I am going to do with my 2 year old batch based on how it tastes at that point. I'm actually a bigger fan of some other sour beer styles so I don't have the effort to brew Lambic as often as you. I may blend some of my 1 year old Flanders Pale (pils, wheat malt, carahell, 20 IBUs, Roeselare) into the 2 year old Lambic for some freshness and complexity.<BR/><BR/>Those carboys live with my parent's so those pictures are all I've seen of them since December, I'm looking forward to seeing (and tasting) them for myself in a few weeks. The mold in the airlock was cleaned out, do you see anything that looks like mold anywhere else?<BR/><BR/>Nice site, good info on the philosophy behind your blending, I'm looking forward to hearing how the batch changes.The Mad Fermentationist (Mike)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07379932734747507258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-51778506632514116352008-06-21T11:52:00.000-04:002008-06-21T11:52:00.000-04:00Interesting post. I've been doing homebrewed lamb...Interesting post. I've been doing homebrewed lambics for about five years now and have built up abpout 100 galons in various carboys. My recipe is 67% pils malt and 33% falked wheat. I do a step mash as opposed to a turbid mash. I also ferment in normal fermenters with straight ale yeast for 1-2 weeks before transfering to carboys at which time I pitch the bugs. <BR/><BR/>I use a wide variety of bugs (generally a mix of White Labs and Wyeast and a mix if premade sour blends plus single strains of various brett, pedio and lacto). I've found that more variety in the base beers makes for better blends. Our typical blend is normally 25% 3-4 year old, 50% two year old and 25% 1 year old. <BR/><BR/>You should start more now and blend them. It really is better than working with single carboys because you never know what you'll get. <BR/><BR/>As for tartness. We found that some of the carboys (aged indorrs year round as opposed to the garage) get much tarter. Also, brett produces more acetic acid in the precense of oxygen than without it. I prefer lacto acidity to acetic, but it's wrth pointing out. We've also added extra lacto bugs to some batches to drop the acidity further). So we have gotten some carboys as tart as cantillon but we blend them in to other batches. I have some tasting notes on the individual batches and the final blend of our last batch on my blog here:<BR/>http://thebeerguy.blogspot.com/2008/06/blending-lambic.html.<BR/><BR/>Last note (for now). I stick to rubber stoppers because they still allow enough oxygen in. If you get too much oxygen (from a lose top or sried out arilock) you often get a white fuzzy mold in addition to the pellicle. Not harmful, but kind of ugly. Some of your photos look like you may have some mold and a pellicle as well. I know people like to use wood stoppers but we ditched those ideas in favor of rubber stoppers years ago and have been very happy with the results. The whole "oxygen tansfer" and wood aging thing with homebrewed lambics is overblown. Stick to rubber stopeprs. You'll get more than enogh oxygen over the course of several years. <BR/><BR/>Nice site. Thanks for sharing your info.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04035333954984728995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-56981593958505054652008-05-28T08:33:00.000-04:002008-05-28T08:33:00.000-04:00I have had one truly commercial quality homebrewed...I have had one truly commercial quality homebrewed Lambic, it was from Dave and Becky Pyle. They won best of show (Homebrewer of the Year) for their Straight Lambic in the 2005 NHC. <BR/><BR/>They have four used wine barrels in their garage with various vintages of their lambic. They apparently started with commercial pitches of the various bugs when they got started years back, but now just use whatever lives in the wood to do the job.<BR/><BR/>I doubt mine will be as sour as Cantillon, even the Pyle's was closer to the softer acidity of a Drie Fonteinen. Cantillon does everything they can to make the acidity as aggressive as possible, no temperature control, a medieval barrel cleaner, and conditions and microbes that that go through a “sick” period.The Mad Fermentationist (Mike)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07379932734747507258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8066877917844499643.post-19496166619817946592008-05-27T12:33:00.000-04:002008-05-27T12:33:00.000-04:00Very interesting. Of all of the homebrewed lambic...Very interesting. Of all of the homebrewed lambics I've tried, none of them have had that huge sourness that I come to expect when drinking something like a Cantillon lambic. I'm curious as to how the sourness in yours develops.<BR/><BR/>Keep us posted.Kevin Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04033741865709049036noreply@blogger.com