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Lambic Digest #0957
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Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 00:30:05 -0600
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Subject: Lambic Digest #957 (October 06, 1996)
Lambic Digest #957 Sun 06 October 1996
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Deja vu (Jim Liddil)
My pellicle has fallen (Troy Jesse)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 16:33:15 -0700 (MST)
From: Jim Liddil <JLIDDIL at AZCC.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Deja vu
Kinney wrote:
> I, too, have heard the story of Pediococcus surviving an autoclaving and,
> like Jim, find it difficult to believe. But that kind of story is a
> testament to the tenaciousness of those little buggers. Of that, there is
> no denial.
Exactly that, a story. If spore forming bacteria and heat tolerant bacteria do
not survive PROPER autoclaving then niether will pediococcus. If the object
infected reaches 120 C for minutes in saturated steam, then it is sterile. The
absence of all life. How do you think surgiccal supplies are sterilized
(besides ethylene oxide)? Proper cleaning first followed by proper sanitation
will do the task.
> A final point, since I post so little here, has to do with the manner in
> which the Belgian brewer's innoculate their beers.
>
> I'm going to go out on a limb and (for the sake of provoking a discussion)
> make the claim that this whole business of innoculating the wort by opening
> up the louvres onto the coolship is nothing more than marketing hype and
> some of the Belgian brewers attempting to wrap their procedures in the
> cloak of mystery, a red herring to throw off people trying to duplicate their
> efforts.
>
I think I have made the popint more than once that the key is indeed a properly
infected brewery (micro-environment). This includes the casks and all the
associated equipment. The same is true for Rodenbach. It was report that the
Melbourne brewery in England, that is making the sourish furit things, sprayed
the brewery with lambic. Don't try THIS at home unless it is the only beer you
brew. This is of course true for these breweries.
Jim
> In saying this I don't mean to denigrate their beer or their efforts
> because I hold these guys in the highest of regard.
>
> But after touring Cantillon, it is clear to me the most important means for
> innoculating the wort has to do with the casks in which the beers are fermented
> than anything else. Let's face it. Cantillon is located in downtown
> Brussels. About the only bacteria you're going to get from the outside air
> are the diesel fumes from all the busses and cars!
>
> But those casks! Wow! They have kreusen head caked all over them. The
> floors, the walls, everything in the place reeks of souring bacteria. The
> Cantillon character has been developed from years of brewing in the same
> place and the brewery itself is the reason Cantillon is what it is. I
> can't see how the air outside the brewery can be nearly as responsible as
> we are led to believe.
>
> The Belgians are marvelous people and they love mystery. Consider the
> manner in which Pierre Celis has managed to engage us all in the elusive
> search for the "mystery ingredient" in the marvelous wits he brews! I
> suggest that Cantillon has done the same thing.
>
> And more power to them. But there's a small, mischievous glint in their
> eye when they start talking about the mystery and secret behind their beers
> that makes me wonder whether they're just trying to "play with our feet",
> as they say in Wallonie.
>
> Food for thought.
>
> Cheers!
>
> - --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and
> baughmankr at conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work.
> - --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 4 Oct 96 13:36:49 CDT
> From: Brian Bliss <brianb at microware.com>
> Subject: Re: oak casks
>
>
> > I believe that I want to get most of the oakiness out of the
> > cask before I start making pLambic/pLambiek in it.
> >
> > Comments?
>
> I'd try making up a batch or two of mead in it first, and if the
> mead turns out oak-less, then try some lambic. Mead is easy & quick,
> so you shouldn't shed any tears whislt pouring it down the drain
> if it was over-oakey. Alcohol helps leach out the oak taste, so
> I would not rely on the fact that water doesn't abosrb much of the
> oak as an indicator of the casks' readiness for lambic brewing.
>
> As for me, the things are expensive, they leak, you've got to keep
> topping them up, and even if everything else goes right, you stand
> a good chance to ruin your lambic with too much oak. I'll stick with
> plastic (unless, of course, I happen to run across a *real* lambic cask
> that has already been used for lambic brewing, and the beer was good).
> Excuse me while I perform a reality check :-)
>
> bb
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> End of Lambic Digest
> ************************
> -------
>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 05 Oct 1996 19:07:24 -0500
From: Troy Jesse <tjesse at students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: My pellicle has fallen
Hi All,
I am pretty new to plambic brewing, so I thought I might pick your minds.
My first plambic just turned 6 months old. It has a really nice pellicle,
now it has disappeared. I have my brew in a 6 gallon plastic bucket and
I've tried both airlocks and a sterile cotton bung in the lid. Should I
repitch another culture, or will it reappear in time?
Thanks
"Fermentation is the consequence of life without air"
- Pasteur
Troy Jesse
tjesse at students.uiuc.edu
------------------------------
End of Lambic Digest
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