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'''Spontaneous Fermentation''', for the purposes of this article, refers to the inoculation of wort for fermentation with local ambient microbes. There is a long precedence of this term being used by Belgian lambic producers to describe the part of the lambic brewing process where yeast and bacteria inoculate their wort, and the term has been adopted by commercial brewers in other parts of the world to refer to this process <ref>[https://youtu.be/OBrRPbdCln4?t=4m Pierre Tilquin. Youtube interview. 09/16/2013. Retrieved 10/01/2018. ~4 minutes.]</ref><ref>[https://youtu.be/m_OJv5O8YL8?t=2m26s Jean Van Roy. Youtube interview. 03/13/2014. Retrieved 10/01/2018. ~2:26.]</ref><ref>[https://methodetraditionnelle.org/standards/ Méthode Traditionnelle standards. Retrieved 10/01/2018.]</ref>. Spontaneous fermentation is commonly achieved by use of open [[File:Tilquin blowoff tubes.jpeg|400px|thumb|right|Lambic fermenting at Tilquin with blowoff tubes]]cooling such as in a [[coolship]] where the wort is left exposed to the air and allowed to cool naturally overnight and autochthonous (native) yeast and bacteria are introduced into the wort as it cools. While spontaneous fermentation is part of the traditional brewing process for [[Lambic]] <ref>[http://lambicandwildale.com/the-mystery-of-lambic-beer/ The Mystery of Lambic Beer. Jacques De Keersmaecker. Aug 1996. Retrieved 05/05/2015.]</ref><ref name="Roos_2018_2">[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6252343/ Wort Substrate Consumption and Metabolite Production During Lambic Beer Fermentation and Maturation Explain the Successive Growth of Specific Bacterial and Yeast Species. Jonas De Roos, Peter Vandamme, and Luc De Vuyst. 2018. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02763.]</ref>, not all spontaneously fermented beers necessarily use other processes that lambic production methods use, and Belgian lambic producers insist that the term "lambic" should only be used for beers brewed in Belgium using the various lambic brewing methods (see [[Lambic#Lambic_outside_of_Belgium.3F|Lambic outside of Belgium]]). Spontaneously fermented beers outside of Belgium have been given names such as "spontaneous ales" <ref>[http://www.blackprojectbeer.com/report/2015/1/28/spontaneous-vs-wild "Spontaneous vs. Wild". Black Project website. 01/28/2015. Retrieved 12/26/2018.]</ref><ref>[https://russianriverbrewing.com/beatification "Beatification". Russian River website. Retrieved 12/26/2018.]</ref>, "spontaneous wild ales" <ref>[http://www.degardebrewing.com/events.html De Garde Brewing website. Retrieved 12/26/2018.]</ref>, "Coolship beers" <ref>[https://www.allagash.com/coolship "Brewing With A Coolship: The Science and Art of Spontaneous Fermentation". Allagash Brewing Company website. Retrieved 12/26/2018.]</ref>, with the term "American Coolship Ales" being the adopted term thus far in brewing science for spontaneously fermented beer produced in the Unitied States <ref name="Roos_2018_2" /><ref name="Bokulic et al., 2012">[http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0035507/ Brewhouse-Resident Microbiota Are Responsible for Multi-Stage Fermentation of American Coolship Ale. Bokulich et al, 2012]</ref><ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341353855_The_power_of_sour_-_A_review_Old_traditions_new_opportunities Bossaert, Sofie, et al. “The Power of Sour - A Review: Old Traditions, New Opportunities.” BrewingScience, vol. 72, no. 3-4, 2019, pp. 78–88.]</ref>. Spontaneous fermentation should not be confused with the various methods of [[Wild_Yeast_Isolation|culturing wild yeast and bacteria]] because many of the microbes that might make a flavor impact during spontaneous fermentation are killed off during the wild yeast culturing processes. Spontaneous fermentation should also not be confused with [https://byo.com/mead/item/1211-open-fermentation-tips-from-the-pros "open fermentation" or "open-top fermentation"], which is a general method of fermenting many styles of beer including English ales and lagers in a vessel that is not closed to the atmosphere.
==Defining Spontaneous Fermentation==