Lambic

Lambics are spontaneously fermented beers native to the Senne Vally of Belgium which are made from barley malt and unmalted wheat (30-40%) and aged hops. They form the base of a number of lambic products including unblended lambic, gueuze, and fruit lambics including kriek and framboise.

Production Methods

in progress

Mashing and Boiling

Lambic grist is composed of a barley malt such as pilsner malt and a large percentage of unmalted wheat (30-40%). This grist is carried through a multi-step, labor intensive multi-step mashing process known as a turbid mash. During turbid mashing, a portion of unconverted starchy wort is removed from the mash and heated to denature the enzymes. This starchy wort is carried to the boil without full conversion and it supplies wild yeasts and bacteria with carbohydrates that Saccharomyces cannot ferment.

This starchy wort then goes through a long boil (on the order of 4 hours) where it is heavily hopped with aged hops (~2.5-3g/l).

Cooling and Fermentation=

Lambics are spontaneously fermented, meaning that they do not receive any pitched cultures. hot lambic wort is pumped 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. (see the spontaneous fermentation page for more info on lambic and other spontaneously fermented beers)

Blending

Lambic is traditionally blended (with other lambic and/or with lambic aged on fruit) before being sold, and it is uncommon to find straight (ublended) lambic for sale.In the lambic producing world, there are both blenders and brewers. Brewers produce lambic wort and all of the current brewers also blend their lambic. Blenders do not have a brewing facility and buy wort from other producers. This wort has been inoculated in the brewers coolship and is delivered to the blenders on the morning after brewing, where it is aged in the blender's barrels. There are currently 4 main lambic brewers supplying their wort to blender and all but one of the current lambic blenders buy their wort from more than one producer.

Packaged unblended lambic is available from some producers. Notably Cantillon (Grand Cru Brucsella, noteworthy in that it is an old lambic), Girardin (lambic bag in a box) and Oud Beersel (young lambic bag in a box). Lambic from other producers is available by the glass in select cafes in Belgium.

Types

Unblended

A spontaneously fermented unblended ale that is indigenous to the Senne Valley of Belgium. Lambics traditionally use a large percentage of unmalted wheat and turbid mashing, a labor-intensive mashing process to retain a high level of dextrins which are unfermentable to normal brewing yeast. The flavor is dominated with a unique tartness and brettanomyces character from the wild yeast and bacteria that inoculate the brew. These microbes are sourced from both the ambient environment when the beer is open cooled and from the barrels in which lambics typically ferment.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.0-8.0%

G(u)euze

Gueuze (also written geuze) is a blend of lambics, traditionally 1 year old, 2 year old and 3 year old which undergoes bottle conditioning to become a highly carbonated product.

Fruit

In the case of Fruit Lambics, whole fruits are traditionally added after spontaneous fermentation has started. Kriek (cherries) and Frambroise (raspberries) are the most common fruit lambic, although other fruit lambics can be found including Quetsche (plum), Peche (peach) and Cassis (black currant) among others. Once the fruit is added, the beer is subjected to additional maturation before bottling. Malt and hop characters are generally low to allow the fruit to to come forward. Alcohol content tends to be around 5-6%, although certain fruits such as grapes may raise the abv.

A number of non-traditional sweetened fruit lambics can be found. These may sometimes be identified by especially low abv (<3%). Breweries producing sweetened lambics frequently use fruit / sugar syrups rather than whole fruits.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 4.0-8.0%

See Also

Additional Articles on MTF Wiki

• Spontaneous Fermentation
• Gueuze
• Gueuze and Lambic Character
• Cantillon
• 3 Fonteinen
• De Cam

External Resources

• "Flemish Red Brown Beers", Presentation by Rudi Ghequire at CBC 2012. (Contains differences with Lambic)
• lambic.info