Muscat grapes?

[Gedge]

I'm thinking of doing a lambic and aging it on muscat grapes. Is this a common grape variety that I could pick up at a decent market?

[matt7215]

i dont know about the availibility of the grapes but i do know you wont need them for about 6 months so thatll give you time to find some.

id love to see what your recipe is!

what are you planning on pitching?

[viggo]

I'm thinking of doing a lambic and aging it on muscat grapes. Is this a common grape variety that I could pick up at a decent market?

Are you going with the proper turbid mash? You might have to check a place like Whole Foods or St. Lawrence for Muscat, I don't think they are very common. In the primary it will look like someone puked on top of the beer.

[Gedge]

what are you planning on pitching?

I'm going to use the yeast cake from something I brewed up with the Wyeast Flanders Golden Ale to make the base beer, then I'll pitch the Wyeast lambic yeast.

Are you going with the proper turbid mash? You might have to check a place like Whole Foods or St. Lawrence for Muscat, I don't think they are very common. In the primary it will look like someone puked on top of the beer.

Honestly, I hadn't heard of turbid mashing, but having looked it up now and having tried my first decoction last month I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks for mentioning it.

Basically, I was inspired by the Cantillon Vigneronne I tried last summer in Montreal (I was shocked at how much lambic was available). I see they've done lambics with other grape varietals. Maybe I could try cab sauv grapes? Or would it be easier - and would results be similar - if I just got the juice from a winemaking store?

Still trying to find more info on the quantity of grapes I should use and how to prepare them if I want to go with "real" fruit.

[grub]

Honestly, I hadn't heard of turbid mashing, but having looked it up now and having tried my first decoction last month I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks for mentioning it.

if you've done a decoction (especially more than single) it'll seem somewhat familiar. it's a whole different idea (saving unconverted liquor vs boiling to develop colour+complexity), but some of the procedure is similar.

here's a pretty good link on it that clarifies some of the other resources (such as wild brews): http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/ ... -mash.html

[matt7215]

if possible try to pitch some dregs from a bottle or 2 of cantillon or 3 fonteinen when you pitch the wyeast blend. i found the wyeast to be a little boring on its own. also id do your primary with the golden ale cake, then pitch the wyeast+dregs, leave that for ~6 months, then rack onto the fruit and leave it another ~6 months or longer. IMO having the fruit in primary muddles the fruit aspects but fruit in secondary will add a more noticeable fruit touch to the final product.

[grub]

oh yeah, dregs are always a good call too. we wanted to add a little more interest to ours (which started with the wyeast lambic blend), so we added dregs from a bunch of bottles (goose island sofie+juliet, russian river beatification 002+003, jolly pumpkin luciernaga+madrugada, orval, and cantillon lou pepe frambois... maybe something else...)

[matt7215]

oh yeah, dregs are always a good call too. we wanted to add a little more interest to ours (which started with the wyeast lambic blend), so we added dregs from a bunch of bottles (goose island sofie+juliet, russian river beatification 002+003, jolly pumpkin luciernaga+madrugada, orval, and cantillon lou pepe frambois... maybe something else...)

when is that batch going to be ready?

[Gedge]

I'm fresh out of dregs. I'll just pop out to the LCBO and... oh.

[viggo]

oh yeah, dregs are always a good call too. we wanted to add a little more interest to ours (which started with the wyeast lambic blend), so we added dregs from a bunch of bottles (goose island sofie+juliet, russian river beatification 002+003, jolly pumpkin luciernaga+madrugada, orval, and cantillon lou pepe frambois... maybe something else...)

when is that batch going to be ready?

Sometime next fall at the earliest I'd think. I'll grab some more Montmorencies in the summer to make a proper Kriek

[matt7215]

I'm fresh out of dregs. I'll just pop out to the LCBO and... oh.

thats why i put "if possible" when i mentioned it. maybe you could host a sour tasting when you need them and a bunch of bt'ers could supply you with the necessary bugs?

[grub]

when is that batch going to be ready?

Sometime next fall at the earliest I'd think. I'll grab some more Montmorencies in the summer to make a proper Kriek

yeah, something like that. and we're planning to save about half of it and work toward a proper gueuze in a couple years.

[matt7215]

when is that batch going to be ready?

Sometime next fall at the earliest I'd think. I'll grab some more Montmorencies in the summer to make a proper Kriek

yeah, something like that. and we're planning to save about half of it and work toward a proper gueuze in a couple years.

i have a batch of lambic that has just over 7 months of age that im saving for a similar attempt.

my pellicle just dropped on my second wild ale at the 11 month mark so now im deciding how much to bottle and how much to save for a later blend.

[grub]

i have a batch of lambic that has just over 7 months of age that im saving for a similar attempt.

my pellicle just dropped on my second wild ale at the 11 month mark so now im deciding how much to bottle and how much to save for a later blend.

cool. did you include oak in one/both? we've got 3 staves from a barrel that we added a few days into the primary. the wood should end up nicely inoculated for future wild brews.

[matt7215]

i have a batch of lambic that has just over 7 months of age that im saving for a similar attempt.

my pellicle just dropped on my second wild ale at the 11 month mark so now im deciding how much to bottle and how much to save for a later blend.

cool. did you include oak in one/both? we've got 3 staves from a barrel that we added a few days into the primary. the wood should end up nicely inoculated for future wild brews.

i havnt oaked any of my brews. the main reason i havnt is because im worried that the fresh oak (spirals or chips) would overwhelm the beer. in the future id love to try it but i havnt taken the plunge yet.