Lambic Digest #0866

Published in
· 11 Apr 2024
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 00:30:05 -0600 
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Subject: Lambic Digest #866 (June 11, 1996) 

 

 

 
Lambic Digest #866                             Tue 11 June 1996 

 

 
        Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles) 
                Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator 

 

 
Contents: 
  Re: Lambic Digest #862 (June 05, 1996) (JRathXXX) 
  AHA Talk (Jim Liddil) 
  Re: Kokomo BS (PivoPrince) 

 

 
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 12:22:50 -0400 
From: JRathXXX at aol.com 
Subject: Re: Lambic Digest #862 (June 05, 1996) 

 
cancel 

 

 
------------------------------ 

 
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 16:26:03 -0700 (MST) 
From: Jim Liddil <JLIDDIL at AZCC.Arizona.EDU> 
Subject: AHA Talk 

 
This is part 1 of my talk/manuscript I will up load the rest a few days at a 
time. 

 
Jim 
********************* 

 

 
A Liddil Lambic Lesson: The Cult of the Biohazard Lambic Brewers 

 
By Jim Liddil  Copyright 1996 

 

 
Introduction 

 
I have been very hesitant to write this article for a number 
of reasons.   Various other  writers have described lambic 
beers and the brewing of them in much more  eloquent terms 
than I could ever hope to.  Michael Jackson comes to mind 
first  and foremost as the person responsible for bringing 
lambic out of obscurity  through writing, TV and even CD 
ROM. (1, TV, CD-ROM).  Another key writer on  the subject, 
from the homebrewer's perspective, is J.X. Guinard with his 
book  �Lambic� (2).  This is considered the definitive guide 
for anyone thinking  about making lambic-style beer outside 
Belgium.  And recently Martin Lodahl  has written some very 
inspiring articles on the subject (3,4).  Following in  the 
footsteps of such articulate writers seems an almost 
insurmountable task.  Also I have not been to Belgium and do 
not live in what  is considered a beer Mecca. 

 
For me, the purpose of this article is to organize and 
present some of the  various information and scientific 
research on how lambic is made in Belgium, and how you can 
make beer in the style of lambic at home.  The information I  
will present in this article is a condensation of material 
from various  sources.  These include research papers and 
dissertations from Belgium,  articles written by various 
other authors, �Lambic� by Guinard, personal  accounts from 
people who have been to lambic breweries, postings from the  
internet Lambic Digest and my own personal experiences.  I 
hope to provide  accurate information that will aid you in 
your attempts to make lambic-style  beer. 

 
First off, I will do my best to refrain from using the word 
lambic to describe any beer made outside Belgium.  Lambic is 
only made in a small area outside  Brussels, even though one 
American craft brewer might have you thinking  otherwise.  
In my discussion of making similar beer by the homebrewer I 
prefer to use the term lambic-style.  On the internet lambic 
Digest one sees the  term plambic being used, which is short 
for pseudo-lambic.  Again with the  point being that real, 
true lambic is only made in Belgium and nowhere else.   If 
you find this view extreme I hope that reading this article 
and some of the other writings cited here will help change 
your mind. 

 
I will not delve deeply into the history of lambic here as 
it has been covered  adequately elsewhere (1,2,3).  Suffice 
it to say that lambic is probably one of the oldest styles 
of beer still made today.  The problem now is that lambic  
brewing is in danger of ceasing to exist.  This is due to 
the changing  European economic market, changes in consumer 
preferences, and the artisanal  nature of lambic brewing.  
It will be a sad day when beers like Cantillon are  no 
longer available. 

 
I live for lambic some would say.  In preparing this article 
I seemed to spend all my spare time reading and re-reading 
and taking notes from the various  technical publications, 
articles and books I have on the subject of lambic.   Being 
a scientist in real life I have tried to do a complete 
analysis of all  aspects of the process of lambic 
production.  From wort production to  fermentation to 
blending and bottling.  My goal has been to try to decipher  
the lambic brewing process and what aspects may or may not 
be important to the homebrewer trying to make a similar 
style beer. 

 
Lambic is made by what many consider an anachronistic 
process.  The grist is  made up of 30-40% raw unmalted wheat 
with the remainder being malted barley.   The mashing 
process is carried out using a technique called turbid 
mashing.  Unlike decoction mashing the liquid portion of the 
mash is removed and boiled,  leading to poor conversion and 
large amounts of unconverted starch ending up  in the 
finished wort.  Whereas most brewers want the freshest hops, 
lambic  brewers use hops that have been stored in the open 
for 2-3 years.  The wort itself is not inoculated with a  
pure strain of yeast.  Instead the brewer allows the wort to 
cool overnight in open  cool ships.  This way any 
microorganism in the brewery can get into the wort and  
grow.  These organisms include various bacteria and wild 
yeast.  And finally, the  beer is fermented not in stainless 
steel but in oak casks for upwards of 3 or more  years 
before bottling.  So as you can see lambic is not your 
ordinary beer. 

 
These are the essential defining characteristics of real 
lambic.  Again, as  homebrewers we do not have to follow 
tradition to the letter.  We do not live in  Belgium and 
most of us have not been making beer by this method for 
hundreds of  years.  But also remember that these points 
only define lambic in the broadest  sense.  They do not 
provide insight into the nuances involved in obtaining a 
product  of the character and flavor profile of a Cantillon 
Rose de Gambrinus or a Boon  vintage dated Mariage Parfait. 

 
I have always felt this quotation by Michael Jackson really 
describes how I feel about  lambic beer.  �The lambic family 
are not everybody�s glass of beer, but no one with a  keen 
interest in alcoholic drink would find them anything less 
than fascinating.  In  their  �wildness� and 
unpredictability, these are exciting brews.  At their best, 
they are  the meeting point between beer and wine.  At their 
worst, they offer a taste of  history.�(2) 

 
Quite often people are quite shocked by the extreme flavor 
profile of lambic or my  attempts at recreating the style.  
Too often people immediately dismiss the beer as  
undrinkable and infected without really �tasting� the beer.  
Of course this reaction is  not unlike the that of a 
hard-core Budweiser drinker tasting a beer like Chimay for  
the first time. 

 
Making a lambic-style beer at home can be as simple as 
boiling up some extract  with hops and adding a few yeast 
and bacteria cultures. Or one can go to extremes  using 
traditional turbid mashing schedules, spontaneous 
fermentation and aging in  oak casks. As a homebrewer you 
have many choices available.  But based on my  experience do 
not expect to have a product of similar character to any of 
the real  lambics in a few weeks or even months.  It will 
take years! 

 
Using the various resources at my disposal I have a very 
general idea how lambic is  made in Belgium.  Remember 
lambic making is an artisanal craft and the brewers  are 
somewhat secretive about giving exact details of how they do 
things.  Most  Belgian brewers seem to be willing to �make 
up� an answer rather than give none at  all.  And because it 
is a craft, there is a great deal of experiential knowledge  
involved which one can not learn by simply following a 
recipe.  So remember this  information is only very general 
and should not be taken as the gospel truth. 

 
Philosophy 

 
Making lambic-style ale requires a great deal of patience.  
Most homebrewers who  want to make such a beer think that 
because they can make a regular ale in a few  weeks that 
they should also be able to make a lambic like beer in the 
same period of  time or maybe a little longer.  Many brewers 
expect that within a few months they  will have a product 
that is ready to bottle and that after that it will be ready 
to drink in  another few weeks.  I have seen this view 
expressed on the internet and also in the  recipes I have 
seen from the AHA National Homebrew Competition.  
Unfortunately  the recipe section of �Lambic� (2) does 
little to dispel this belief.  Real lambic is not  made in a 
few weeks or months.  It takes years for it to become the 
complex product  you find in the bottle.  There is no magic 
formula for �instant� lambic-style ale.  The  microorganisms 
used in the fermentation grow very slowly and are equally 
slow at  producing the flavor profile that gives a product 
that has depth of character. 

 
Do not think that a few months is enough time to make such a 
beer.  I feel you need  to wait at least a year before you 
even consider bottling the beer or adding fruit to it.   If 
you are not prepared to wait this long then I suggest you do 
not try in the first  place.  This may seem like an extreme 
view, and it is, but lambic-style beer making  is not 
something I take lightly.  You must be prepared to fail even 
after investing a  great deal of time and effort in the 
production of such a beer.  Don�t �imagine� the  beer 
developing a pellicle, ropiness or Brettanomyces character.  
Either it will or it  will not.  There is very little you 
can really do to change what ultimately happens in  the 
fermentation vessel. 

 
You can use traditional mashing techniques, use all the 
right ingredients and add all  kinds of wild yeast and 
bacteria, ferment in a cask for years and still end up with 
a  totally disappointing product.  Do not say you were not 
warned.  Your beer may end  up so acidic you will want to 
use it for cleaning calcium deposits off of your brew  
kettle or it may be so mild that it barely passes as 
infected beer.  And even after  bottling, the beer can 
undergo large changes in flavor.  So be prepared for a large  
amount of uncertainty all along the way.   

 
Give up any notion that you are going to make a product like 
Boon or Cantillon even  with a great deal of experience.  
You cannot buy a kit or follow some recipe in a  homebrew 
shop catalog and end up with a well balanced, complex 
product.  Your  beer is not going to develop Brettanomyces 
character, nor will it develop the proper  acidity in a few 
weeks.  It will not develop a melange of flavor after two 
weeks in the  bottle.  Am I making myself clear?  The path 
to the Holy Grail may take a lifetime.   Now having said all 
this I still feel that with a bit of effort and patience 
anyone can  produce a reasonable lambic-style ale in the 
home setting.   

 
Some comments on Lambic by Guinard 

 
By far the most complete and really only book available to 
the homebrewer on  lambic beer brewing is �Lambic� by J.X. 
Guinard.(2)  This book describes all aspects  including the 
history of lambic brewing, traditional processes and the 
breweries that  still make this style of beer.  It also goes 
into a fair amount of detail outlining the  microbiology of 
spontaneous fermentation and how to go about making a pure  
culture lambic-style ale at home.  The information in the 
book is accurate and  concise except for a few minor 
details.  For example I have yet to find a reference  that 
indicates that Kloeckera apiculata have any proteolytic 
activity as described in  the book. 

 
Having spoken to Dr. Guinard I realize the he felt the 
recipe section could not  possibly do justice to this style 
of beer.  Also he was working within the constraints of  
what was considered practical for the average homebrewer.  I 
think most brewers  who have tried to make pure culture 
lambic-style beer will agree that the times he  suggests for 
fermentation and bottle conditioning are far too short to 
achieve a  product with a character truly similar to the 
real thing.  He suggests that a few weeks  of fermentation 
and a few weeks of bottle conditioning are all that is 
required to  achieve a beer with lambic-like flavor.  As 
stated, myself and others would largely  disagree with this 
assertion. At the same time I think he and Brewers 
Publications  realized that few homebrewers would even think 
about buying a book that had  recipes that suggested the 
beer be allowed to ferment for a year or two and then  
undergo bottle conditioning for another year or more.   

 
But of course those of us who have pursued this type of 
brewing have found this  book to be an invaluable resource 
and an excellent stepping stone.  Using it as a  guide we 
have been able to locate other sources of information and do 
testing on our  own.  We have found that the traditional 
fermentation and aging process is indeed  necessary to 
achieve a truly characterful beer.  We have learned an 
appreciation for  the craft of lambic brewing and the fact 
that it is a dying art.  I highly recommend  �Lambic� (2) to 
anyone considering making pure culture lambic-style beer.  
Just keep  in mind that you are better off getting the beer 
started and then forgetting about it for  a year or two.  
Great beer is not something that can be rushed. 

 

 
------------------------------ 

 
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 00:23:03 -0400 
From: PivoPrince at aol.com 
Subject: Re: Kokomo BS 

 

 
>>The hoax does seem to lead back to Jim Dorsch, who is 
now the editor of American Brewer.  The 1-800 thing is new, and a real hoot.  
I've called it half a dozen times already.  Since it's only a voice mail 
service, with the BS spiel as the outgoing greeting, it's probably not 
costing much money.<< 

 
Well actually........the cost of "800" calls is zoned by long distance 
carriers. The further away you are from them, the more it costs them. Soooo, 
all of you homebrewers in Hawaii and Alaska might want to call 
1-800-954-0064, get a laugh and pay the American Brewer back in kind. 

 
PivoPrince 

 
------------------------------ 

 

 
End of Lambic Digest 
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Lambic Digest #0866

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