Shawn M. Johnson writes:
Thanks a lot Steve, and congratulations. I was hoping to have something
drinkable within a year's time though.
What if I leave out some of the strains that cause sourness? Would that
leave it less sour, less dry, and perhaps require less aging? If I did
this, would I then end up with something that didn't taste at all like
a lambic, or would I care?
I'm not sure what you would get if you leave something out of the
lambic. In general the sourness develops over time and the
micro-organisms will eat sugars that regular brewer's yeast can't
digest.
Alternative styles would be the Belgian sour ales and the Berliner
Weisse but they also take time to mature. While the Berliner will take
less than a year to mature it is typically very sour and the fruit
syrup is added at serving time.
I wouldn't try to take shortcuts except that I'm living in a townhouse
and have enough carboys in my living room as it is.
I have an unfinished basement for brewing so the row of buckets for
lambics isn't a big deal.
By the way, leaving it out overnight to cool sounds pretty scary. Has
this ever caused you problems? How would I tell if I had some uninvited
guests in my wort?
You will get a lot of stuff that you wouldn't want in any other style of
beer. In fact, you are trying for an enteric culture at the very
start. I leave the open bucket in the kitchen which is supposedly the
most infected room in a house. The enteric stuff will die off once the
regular fermentation starts up and the yeast lowers the pH and produces
a little alcohol. Lambic is a very unusual fermentation when you
compare to other styles.
--
Steve Piatz piatz(a)cray.com
Cray Inc. 651-605-9049
1340 Mendota Heights Road
Mendota Heights, MN 55120