Plambic & The Turbid Mash

[Tony]

I knew that mate.......... and believe me........ i have asked myself the same questions!

:blink:

I must be mad.

My 2 long term projects are a sour belgian something and mead.

cheers

 

[revdrjbob]

Hiya all,
I've just recently made the great leap into Plambic brewing after much humming and procrastinating. At the moment I have 15Ltrs fermenting in oak in the garage on a Wyeast Lambic blend. I followed (as close as possible for my first) the Turbid mash schedule from Wild Brews, with the 2 hour boil, and I've got to say that the Turbid mash sucks. 4 hours of mashing? Screw that, but I did manage to get 10 extra gravity points than expected out of it! Anyways, 60% pale to 40% malted wheat and 120g of badly treated 2004 EKGs.

Anyways, fermenting at the moment, and I'm dead keen on full Brett ferments too. Recently brewed a Framboise of sorts with Orval dregs in the secondary. I'm not too sure how long the dregs are meant to take to Brett it up, but after almost 2 months, I'm still waiting... Looking at purchasing a 300Ltr used wine barrel for future Plambic ferments. Am I insane?

TIM

 

[Insight]

Went to check on my pLambic experiment under the house today, and the recent warm weather seems to have kicked things along! The beer is sitting at about 25 degrees right now, which is about the max it should have been since brewing in July. As you can see there is a serious pellicle formation on both carboys, though I'm not seeing any of the ropey strands I have seen in other pics just yet. I not be taste testing until the pellicle drops, can't wait!

 

[kook]

Went to check on my pLambic experiment under the house today, and the recent warm weather seems to have kicked things along! The beer is sitting at about 25 degrees right now, which is about the max it should have been since brewing in July. As you can see there is a serious pellicle formation on both carboys, though I'm not seeing any of the ropey strands I have seen in other pics just yet. I not be taste testing until the pellicle drops, can't wait!

Looking good!

I've got a Belgian Pale that I plan on racking tomorrow, and adding Brett L, Pedio and Lacto to. I need to order some more bottles next week and bottle the druivenbiers, some flanders red and also a little demijohn of "jong" plambic. If only bottling was an easier task

I plan on doing a double batch of Flanders Red and double batch of pLambic this year. The plambic will be split, half in a better bottle, the other in glass. I'm interested to see the difference in them over time.

 

[Spoonta]

Looking good!

I've got a Belgian Pale that I plan on racking tomorrow, and adding Brett L, Pedio and Lacto to. I need to order some more bottles next week and bottle the druivenbiers, some flanders red and also a little demijohn of "jong" plambic. If only bottling was an easier task

I plan on doing a double batch of Flanders Red and double batch of pLambic this year. The plambic will be split, half in a better bottle, the other in glass. I'm interested to see the difference in them over time.

do you want a hand Spoonta (Michael)

 

[kook]

Also bottled two all-brett beers, a berliner weisse and dark funky thing. I was really impressed with the "Dark Funk", it's got a good whack of tartness, yet still has some nice plum-like flavours from the dark candi syrup. I stuck 7L worth of it with 3L of red wine must - will see what happens. Did the same with one of the all brett beers.

Well - I went to taste (and finally bottle) the two druivenbiers today.

The one that was blended with dark funk has ended up ok. It has some nice grape notes, but it is also pretty damn sour. Will see how it comes up in the bottle.

The other one (brett blonde blended), well, lets just say I've tasted more drinkable balsamic vinegar :lol:
I guess you win some and lose some when it comes to these experiments. I've bottled the first, but the second one is going to the sewers. I thought about bottling it as vinegar, but I don't think it's good enough


Will be blending and bottling Flanders Red in a minute once my priming syrup has finished boiling.


Anyone else been tasting their wild creations?

 

[revdrjbob]

Anyone else been tasting their wild creations?

Kook,
I tsted my pLambic off the oak about a month ago now, and all I can say is "Bring the Funk!" Was well funky and super sour, plus plenty of oakyness too it as well - obviously. It'll be a year old in 4 months time. Will start on the 2nd batch soon for getting a solera going, possibly looking at a 300Ltr batch to split with other local wild ale freaks.

TIM

 

[warrenlw63]

Happy this one has been dragged up. Now I have my glass carboys back after racking my Flanders Red I'm tempted to get a Lambic on the go sooner rather than later.

Has anybody who's used the turbid mash schedule (which I plan to use) care to comment how this turned out?

Warren -

 

[kook]

Happy this one has been dragged up. Now I have my glass carboys back after racking my Flanders Red I'm tempted to get a Lambic on the go sooner rather than later.

Has anybody who's used the turbid mash schedule (which I plan to use) care to comment how this turned out?

Warren -

I tried this 12 months ago (see post #47). I ended up with a little leftover lambic, which went into a 5L demijohn. I'm going to rack this onto some frozen raspberries either tomorrow or Thursday. Will take some pics and let you know how it tastes.

 

[warrenlw63]

Hey thanks kook. Now I know my first "wildbrew" shows some promise I'm fairly keen to keep the whole process going. Makes for some highly interesting HB.

Next step is to hunt down some unmalted wheat.

Warren -

 

[kook]

Well I had a taste of the little demijohn of pLambic '08 today, and blended it with raspberries. The pellicle had subsided on it, and it actually tastes quite mature and balanced. Nice level of acidity, good horsey funk there too.

Took some pics in the process:


"Funky Belgian Pale". Just a BPA, fermented with a blend of 3522 and 3526, then racked to a better bottle along with Brett L, Pedio and Lacto. Nice pellicle on it now. Theres a sweet mead hiding behind it too.


From the left: some Flanders Red '07 (other fermenter was blended/bottled), pLambic '08, pLambic '07. You can see the older plambic has much less pellicle now. Lots of "sour beer" accessories too - keep seperate fermenters, racking tubes, airlocks, bungs etc for all the funky beers.


Ready for the plambic!


Little demijohn...

 

[3G]

Nice work kook, they look interesting but a little scary. One day i will venture into Lambics.

 

[schooey]

Any recent updates, kook?

 

[mika]

I heard that one got thrown as it turned into concentrated balsamic vinegar. Regular listeners of the BN will have heard about an Autralian brewed beer labelled the 'Dark Funk' that got tasted on air, I think on the same programs as the BNA's. You should be able to figure out who it came from

 

[Asher]

Did my yearly car pit cellar tasting of the pLambics on the weekend. The plan was to blend up the 3yo with some 1yo but decided to leave it as a vintage and just bottled the whole 2008 batch in Champaign bottles c/w corks & caps. The 2009 vintage is tasting watery, musty and danky. I think its destined for the sewer. The 2010 batch has formed a good pellicle and is tasting surprisingly full of life. a good level of acidity & funk with an amazing spritzyness that I put down to cool winter fermenting. Decided to just leave this batch to see how it develops for another couple of years. I'll definitely be repeating the recipe from the 2010 batch next year.

While on the topic of funk:

Here are some pics I took of a 6 month old Funk Pellicle from a batch of Flanders Brown Ale. I pitched with a Wyeast 3763PC Roeselare Ale Blend
Its fermenting in a BetterBottle.
I am no longer fermenting anything in Polycarbonate - My side-by-side tests (against BetterBottles) with pLambics over 4 years has left any beer in it badly oxidised.

Now, back to carpet bombing (19!! )

 

[Stuster]

What pretty bubbles!

Interesting about the Better Bottles. I found the Flanders Reds did not have a noticeable amount of oxidation but they were only in plastic for a year or less. My lambic is in glass as I did think that would save me worrying about the issue.

Would be interested to see your lambic recipe. Did you think the turbid mash had a positive effect?

 

[Asher]

The base recipe is still the same 60% Pils Malt, 40% Raw White Wheat
The turbid mash rests are still the same as the schedule. Just tweaked water additions & Temps to suit my system

I think the resultant starch-rich wort from the turbid mash is key to a full complex flavour development over the two year Lambic ferment. Having something in reserve for the slow eaters is needed. You could probably cheat here and just add some flour to the boil to achieve something similar. But its as much a path travelled thing for me.

Biggest change to the recipe is the de-bittered hops. 5-6g per litre impart a lot of something to the beer.
I've been building up a base of de-bittered hops after the first years disaster. (We ordered some de-bittered hops from the US and I swear they had a %AA above 10!!)
Remember back in the early AHB days when GLS organised the Tassie Hop Flower bulk buy. I had a 1kg plug of cluster + some Tettnanger laying around. So I broke these up and put them in a dodgy 40l plastic non sealable storage container in the rafters of my hot shed for a couple of years. This is the base stock I use now and have some NZ Goldings flowers in paper bags hanging ready to blend in in a couple of years time. Its like making a very slow stock.... Makes entering a hot shed in summer nearly enjoyable. + you know when their ready by the smell that greets you!

Still using WY Lambic Blend. 1 pack per fermenter & no starter now + Add a little something special from my favourite Lambic brewery on brewday

Asher

 

[raven19]

Thanks for continual updates Asher. I really enjoy reading this thread each time it crops up.

Awesome pics too.

 

[winkle]

Ditto Asher, makes me really feel I should get off my lazy a*se and get a Flanders Red or a pLambic happening :icon_cheers: .

 

[BrenosBrews]

I started reading this thread at work today & it got me all riled up and wanting some lambic. Went via Cloudwine on way home and they had closed 2 hours early!
Bottles of various Cantillon sitting there only a mere 2 metres away.