March | 2015 | The Dude Imbibes

Months after we originally intended to, Gregory and I finally brewed our lambic-style ale on 09 February 2015. We used Jim Liddil’s tek which is a conversion of Brasserie Cantillon’s turbid mash schedule to the homebrew scale. Since we don’t currently have a barrel with neutral enough character, we opted to add French oak spirals to primary (we boiled the hell out of them beforehand so they wouldn’t overwhelm the beer).

We don’t have a koelschip and we didn’t let the beer spontaneously ferment per se, rather we chilled with a wort chiller as usual and pitched both of the batches of wild yeast that I harvested from my house (see my previous post). We also overlooked the fact that our homebrew store wouldn’t have raw wheat and, as we were pressed for time, we just settled on regular wheat malt. Though theoretically this could actually harm our efficiency because the wheat has already been well modified, the real goal here was to conduct the turbid mash, so we went ahead with it and did hit our intended gravity.

We have not yet decided if, when this beer is ready, we will serve it straight, fruit it, or blend it with a younger lambic-style ale to produce a gueuze-style ale; we’ll keep you posted.

Turbid Mash Lambic-Style Ale

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal): 5.0
Total Grain (Lbs): 8.0
Anticipated OG: 1.048
Anticipated SRM: 3.0-7.0
Anticipated IBU: 0-10
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Wort Boil Time: 240 Minutes

Grain

66% – 5.3 Lbs. Belgian 2-Row Pilsner
33% – 2.7 Lbs. Wheat Malt

Hops

3.50 oz. Yakima Valley Hops Aged Lambic Hops (Leaf, 13.0% AA) @ 240 min.

Extras

1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min.

Yeast

Wild yeasts harvested and propagated from home
Bottle dregs from Brouwerij Oud Beersel Oude Geuze

Water Profile

Seattle

Mash Schedule

Jim Liddil’s A Liddil Lambic Lesson

Notes

02.09.15 — Cold crashed and decanted the growlers of wild yeast I propagated morning of brew day

Brewed on 02.09.15 with Gregory

02.09.15 — After a nearly eight hour brew day, chilled wort to 70F and pitched the wild yeast into a carboy with the oak spirals and put in on the brewbelt.

02.13.15 — Signs of fermentation activity

03.25.15 — Transferred off of the oak spirals into secondary fermentor and added the bottle dregs from Brouwerij Oud Beersel Oude Geuze

02.11.16 — Pulled a sample from the carboy and tasted it. Lots of oak character even though we boiled the spirals for quite a while and changed the water numerous times. Surprisingly not too much acidity/sourness yet, will probably pitch some extra bottle dregs soon.

04.05.18 — Tasted beer, and lots of diacetyl present (wasn’t there previously or when the beer was young). Guessing it’s due to pediococcus re-fermentation. Will pitch fresh Brett. Brux. and starter wort to clean it up as I have done in the past with surprise diacetyl in long-aged sours.

04.08.18 — Transferred off it’s long-time yeast/bacteria cake and pitched some Brett. Brux. slurry from the 2nd lambic-style beer Gregory and I brewed. Made a large, fresh Brett. Brux. starter and will pitch half of this into the beer in a few days.

04.11.18 — Pitched about 800ml of active Brett. Brux. starter into carboy.

Calculated OG: 1.048

This is our first beer to undergo primary fermentation in a barrel (a used American oak Parliament Whiskey barrel), and it’s also the first in a series of three beers to feature different yeast strains from The Yeast Bay.

We used the same base recipe for this beer that we used in our Kaberene Fran Sour Pale but pitched the Mélange yeast blend in place of the Roeselare (the barrel also previously held a funked old ale so whatever critters are living in the wood will also have an impact).

Find our process, and tasting notes below:

Barrel Fermented Mélange Sour Pale

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.75
Anticipated OG: 1.069
Anticipated SRM: 4.0
Anticipated IBU: 14.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain

80% – 11.0 Lbs. Belgian 2-Row Pilsner
07% – 1.0 Lbs. U.S. Vienna
05% – .75 Lbs. U.S. Munich – Dark 20L
07% – 1.0 Lbs. U.S. Wheat

Hops

0.35 oz. Magnum (Pellet, 13.0% AA) @ 90 min.

Extras

1.00 Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min.

Yeast

The Yeast Bay – Mélange Sour Blend
Used barrel terroir

Water Profile

Seattle
1.00 tsp Calcium Chloride
1.00 tsp Gypsum

Mash Schedule

Single Infusion – 60 min @ 155F

Notes

No starter on account of fresh yeast and the desire to keep the bugs in the blend at the manufacturer’s intended ratio.

Brewed on 01.21.15 with Gregory

01.21.15 — Chilled wort to 70F, transferred to the barrel, and pitched the Mélange blend

01.24.15 — Signs of moderate fermentation activity

01.29.15 — Transferred into secondary fermentor and took gravity readings

02.11.16 — Pulled a sample from the carboy. Light lemon acidity and balanced funk. Will package soon and may keep some on hand for blending.

05.26.16 — Packaged this by bottling half the batch with Champagne yeast and half the batch with Champagne yeast and Brett.

Tasting Notes 07.12.16 (poured from bottles)

Champagne Yeast Only:

Fizzy white head which dissipates quickly, pale yellow color with good clarity. Vanilla and oak on the nose with a hint of lemon, aroma kind of reminiscent of cream soda. The palate follows the nose with a sharp citric acid like bite mid-tongue. Some mild tropical fruit notes, and a soft-round lactic acid sourness on the semi-dry finish.

Brettanomyces & Champagne Yeast:

Fizzy white head which dissipates quickly, pale yellow color with good clarity. Brett.’s earthy, horsey-funk is up front with oaky notes in the background. Similar palate to the Champagne Yeast Only version, but the barnyard, leathery Brett. character definitely takes center stage. The sourness is less defined and muted, while the funkiness is accentuated, finishes dry.

Calculated OG: 1.075
Calculated FG: 1.000
Approx. ABV: 9.86%