27575291294_ef2eab3de8_zTwo weeks ago I started another Lambic using a similar recipe to my Cherry Lambic disaster. This time I have a good feeling. I'm using a similar recipe:

  1. The mash is mostly Pale malt but 25% wheat malt
  2. Challenger hops are put in at the beginning of the boil
  3. A simple dry yeast is used during the primary fermentation

This morning, I inspected the brew after two weeks. I actually thought that it had stuck, but Greg @ BrewUk encouraged me to take a few hydrometer readings. It had in fact fermented quickly. The beer tasted like a young wheat beer - not too strong in flavour. I guess this is ideal for the fruit to take over the beer in the next stage.

Last time I added the cherries at the beginning of the fermentation. This time I've waited two weeks, racked the base beer onto 4kg of frozen raspberries and added some cultures - Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces and Pediococcus. This appears to be a more common approach to a Lambic. I now have to wait 4 weeks to see what happens, but everything seems good so far. It will be another 4 weeks after that before it will be ready to drink, so one for August bank holiday.