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Liefmans Goudenband is brewed with all barley, including a small fraction of torrefied malt, and is then fermented in open copper tanks for one week at 20–24°C. The open-air fermentation exposes the wort to an uncontrolled inoculation of lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and wild yeasts. After this primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to stainless steel tanks to age for at least three months. The stainless steel tanks limits exposure to oxygen, which results in less acetic acid production compared to Rodenbach's beer that is aged in oak casks. The aged beer is then blended with young fresh beer and pasteurized to prevent further attenuation by ''Brettanomyces'' <ref name="Dusart_2022" />.
The sour flavor of both Liefmans and Rodenbach comes from lactic acid and acetic acid. Oak aged Rodenbach contains 2500-5000 mg/L of lactic acid and around 1500 mg/L of acetic acid. Liefmans contains similar levels of lactic acid, but only around 1000 mg/L of acetic acid due to the stainless steel aging process. This results in beer that is perceived as less acidic compared to the oak aged Rodenbach beer <ref name="Dusart_2022" />. Compared to lambic, the aged red-brown beers have more lactic acid and acetic acid than younger lambic (perhaps due to a higher hop dosage in lambic production), but less than aged bottles of lambic (see [[Spontaneous_Fermentation#Aroma_and_Flavor_Production|Spontaneous Fermentation]]).
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