Changes

Lambics are spontaneously fermented, meaning that they do not receive any pitched cultures. Hot lambic wort is pumped from the biol boil kettle to a [[coolship]], a shallow vessel with a large surface area to volume ratio, where it cools overnight open to the air. During this time the beer is inoculated with microorganisms from the environment and resident in the brewery. Lambic is only brewed the late fall, winter and early spring when nighttime temperatures are sufficiently low to cool the wort appropriately overnight. The morning after cooling the lambic wort is transfered to barrels or foeders where fermentation occurs slowly over the course of months to years. Lambic fermentation is characterized by distinct phases when different microbes are active.