Lambic Digest #0820

eZine lover (@eZine)

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Lambic Digest

 · 7 months ago

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Subject: Lambic Digest #820 (March 21, 1996) 

 

 

 
Lambic Digest #820                             Thu 21 March 1996 

 

 
        Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles) 
                Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator 

 

 
Contents: 
  Re: I'm Back in the E-Mail Loop -- and SUDS for Mac Redux! (Conn Copas) 

 

 
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Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 16:00:37 +0930 (CST) 
From: Conn Copas <cvc at itd.dsto.defence.gov.au> 
Subject: Re: I'm Back in the E-Mail Loop -- and SUDS for Mac Redux! 

 
Tom Ayres posted a while back about the possibility of adding Pedio at 
bottling time for extra character. I was interested in the mention that he 
had employed a sour mash technique. Now I realise that sour mashing is not 
generally favoured by the cognoscenti, for a number of reasons: (a) it's a 
crap shoot as far as micro-organisms go, and can result in off flavours, and 
(b) some of the lactic acid is probably boiled off. In its favour, it provides 
a quick means of generating acidity, and comes accompanied with an automatic 
pasteurisation step for those who are nervous that acidification might proceed 
too far. More about that later. 

 
I, like a couple of others, have been experimenting with a more controlled  
form of sour mashing, using a thermos flask. The drill is boil up some  
unhopped wort, cool it down to 50C, add raw malt, incubate anaerobically for 
2 days, then add this culture to the main batch, either to the unhopped wort 
prior to the boil, or to the hopped wort post the boil. Don't have full results 
to report at the moment, however I can say that controlled conditions 
certainly seem to remove most of the element of chance to which others have 
objected. First, any malt I have tried to date seems to be a reliable source of 
souring bugs, without failure. Second, I have encountered neither evolution of 
gas, a scummy wort, nor off odours, suggesting that those *nt*r*c bugs do not 
survive a prolonged period at 50C. This is in spite of including the occasional 
mouse dropping for interest's sake! The main variation seems to be whether any 
medicinal phenols are produced, suggesting that some yeasts could be surviving. 
Third, I have difficulty envisioning runaway acidity some time down the track, 
because the acidity of the culture seems to plateau at an acceptable level  
quite early. 

 
The main unknown at this point is how the culture affects the hopped wort.  
There are really two options: (a) add it at 50C to a wort which is cooling 
slowly, or (b) pitch it with the yeast. I recently tried the second option, and 
could detect no acidity at the end of the primary. My expectations are that it 
could take at least 3 months for things to become interesting, which raises 
the question of what these bacteria, presumably L. delbruecki, actually feed 
on, and what if anything are the limiting conditions? Warner's words on  
Berliner Weisse are not particularly revealing. Anyone with experience to  
share? 

 
                Conn V Copas        cvc at itd.dsto.gov.au 

 
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