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From: lambic-request at lance.colostate.edu (subscription requests only - do not post here)
To: lambic at lance.colostate.edu
Subject: Lambic Digest #488 (November 18, 1994)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 00:30:12 -0700
Lambic Digest #488 Fri 18 November 1994
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Wit Supremecy (Todd Gierman)
Followup on Spencer's posting (Jay Hersh)
Crossed bacterial usage (BREWS)
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Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 09:06:44 -0500 (EST)
From: Todd Gierman <tmgierma at acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: Wit Supremecy
I've been a little behind as my bouncing digests finally found my mail box
several days late.
So, first off congratulations to Scott and the others who won. And
congratulations to those who organized the whole show. I would have
liked to have been there, if I could have afforded it (would you consider
a sliding scale registration fee for poor students? :-)). I am very
happy that the SOB went over so well. Hopefully, this will be an annual
event - it looks like the SOB will contribute heavily to the renaissance
of homebrewed Belgian-style beers. The SOB seems like one of the few
forums where all Belgian styles will get a fair shake.
I had the opportunity to judge the Belgian class at our local club
competition in September. I think the situation was typical of most
regional competitions. Although we had one our largest number of Belgian
entries ever (a whopping 9), the classification breakdown lumped them all
together. I found out first hand just how difficult it is to judge a
flight of such diverse styles (whites to doubles, no p-lambics). I was
situated with a BJCP certified judge with little Belgian experience and a
complete novice who had tended bar at youth hostel in Belgium. Clearly,
I was to be the tie that binds. So, with Phil's style guide in hand and
with my emphatic emphasis that the big beers should not necessarily
dominate we proceeded from whites to doubles (with Belgian ales, oud
bruin and strong ales in between). Anyway to keep a short story from
getting longer: the big beer of course won. That's not the way my
scores fell (I scored the 2nd place white the highest), but the
experienced judge really disliked lactic beers and I could only do so
much wheedling and cajoling. The top three beers were very close and in
the end I was satisfied. The consoling factor is that the big beer was
the double that took 3rd at SOB.
However, there were two really excellent wits that showed up at our
competition. The one that took second was an extremely soft and well
balanced beer with a beautiful bouquet of orange and coriander (very
little sourness, though). I would have liked more sourness, but realized
that of the commercial examples that I had tasted (Blanche de Brugge,
Blanche de Neige, and Dentergems) all were very soft. This beer tasted
like a Blanche de Brugge knock-off. Anyway, I scored it at 41 (we were
more liberal than the SOB scoring system). The next white was Scott
Bickham's. This was not the same one that took BOS at SOB, but an early
rendition. Immediately I was impressed by the look: light and very hazy
(a bacterial haze, not a protein haze!). When I tasted its lactic
tartness, I was nearly out of my seat gesticulating like a guy who has
just slam-dunked a basketball. The souring was impressive. A technical
achievement. I knew this one had come from out of town. I scored this
one at 40. Unfortunately, the BJCP judge did not like its lactic quality,
but the ex-bartender thought it quite authentic. However, with some
discussion it was agreed that the lactic aspect threw off the balance
some at the expense of herbal flavors and aroma and my score came down a
few points. Unfortunately, Scott was edged out of 3rd by another big
beer.
I was a little disappointed that a beer of such high technical merit
could not place. However, I figured that Scott's wit would place in a
wit-only category. And it did and with some improvement (and perhaps, a
shorter maturation time, thus less lactic intensity?) it took BOS in a
very impressive field of contenders. I am not surprised. A technical
achievement indeed. Which brings me back to the lactobacillus. I told
Scott that I could not find any in a recent bottle of Dentergems and I
could not. However, after letting a culture sit in some sterile media
for about six weeks, I can now see bugs under the microscope. This may
be a function of when the bugs are added (at bottling?). It takes them
awhile to grow and the beer to sour. So maybe some wits are laying down
beers too.
Anyway, I hope that this ramble has conveyed why I think that something
like SOB is pretty important to the evaluation and improvement of these
styles (but this probably news to no one). Hopefully, the rest of my day
won't be so incoherent. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Todd
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 10:58:13 EST
From: Jay Hersh <hersh at x.org>
Subject: Followup on Spencer's posting
just in case anyone is interested my tour of the De Gouden Boom brewery back in
March allowed me to gain some great inside information. The yeast they use is
the same for all their products (Blanche de Bruges, Steenbrugge Double &
triple, Bruges Triple) and while they filter all but the Blanche de Bruges the
yeast they add back in at bottling time for the Blanche is the fermentation
strain as well. Thus folks wishing to find a good yeast for other styles would
do well to culture yeast from Blanche de Bruges, though I suspect that many
would recommend working it in an intermediate gravity recipe before moving it
up to something as big as the Triple styles.
I had very good results in a double (which I failed to enter in SOB since it
wouldn't cooperate and go into the bottle. I took several double baths before
giving up :-) using yeast culture from Blance de Chembly the Unibrew product
from Montreal. Perhaps I should post the recipe sometime, I'll have to
remember to bring it in to work.
JaH
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 19:29:51 -0500 (EST)
From: BREWS at delphi.com
Subject: Crossed bacterial usage
"Rick Garvin used this method on his beer, and while it is an excellent
beer, the sourness comes across as a separate flavor. Of course, as my
experience with cross-contamination shows, this might be a small price to
pay for security."
Just a quick note to share the pains of cross contamination. Mine was
however the dreaded acetobacter sourness ,much less fun to deal with than
the lacto.Ever had Octoberfest vinegar? Awful stuff. The limited damage in a
doppelbock allowed me to try to save the beer with fruit extract. The
blackberry blends well but the sourness was still too high and unbalanced.
Aerobic bacteria are a major beast and I'm just getting past the havoc
they've caused in the last few batches from this summer. Luckily it's lambic
season here in Maine and opening up the coolships to the air of Novembeer
should be free of this critter. The wild yeasts from the orchard up the hill
drift down to me and I only hope the mice stay out of my fermenters this
season.
Fear is ok and men do cry sometimes.
Brews Stevens - MALT - Winthrop,Me.
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End of Lambic Digest
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