I’m reading Wild Brews right now by Jeff Sparrow and there is a section in there about ways of going about homebrewing a sour. One of the ways mentioned was using a big dose of Brett for about 8 months before adding the Pedio. I forget the exact reasoning but since that seems to be where I’m at right now, I guess that’s what I’ll have to do.

Yeah well I gave up a big gun for it. It was damned good but basically tasted like all the other Cantillon brews, just with some blueberry

I haven’t tasted the beer yet, and given the kind of pellicle that’s formed I’m beginning to think that there isn’t much in the way of pedio or lacto in there, mainly brett. I’m also going to add dregs soon from a couple Cantillon bottles I’ve had in the cellar. Blabaer, eh? I’d give half my cellar for that one!

In addition to the link above to Steve Piatz’s article in BYO, I’ve also learned a great deal from this guy:

http://hbd.org/brewery/library/LmbicJL0696.html

Have you tasted the beer at all?  Has is soured up at all?  I recently brewed a Lambic and also used the 5526.  I know the package says it contains Brett and other cultures but I’ve heard conflicting reports of pedio and lacto being included (check my blog and read the Danbear comments: http://half-assed-dan.blogspot.com/ ).  If yours has soured up a bit, I’ll feel better.  If not, I hope the dredges of the Blabear I pitched had enough bugs to do the job.  Any other tips you have would be appreciated as well.

Cheers!

The starter idea is Steve Piatz’s. If you have not read this, I’d recommend it. http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/979-lambic-brewing

Nice pic, how long did that pellicle take to develop? I was considering adding some more pedio and lacto, because I know based on aroma that there’s plenty of brett in there already. But I hadn’t considered the dregs idea, which is a good one.

First, consider doing only part of it on fruit. I did 1 gallon on raspberries, and 1 gallon cranberries. While they are fun to try and different than my “straight” lambic, they are perhaps overall less enjoyable. If you really want most of it to be on fruit, maybe you would keep one gallon “straight” for future drinking.

Also, I have some pics of the pellicle I developed here: http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/Beer_Log2007.htm#plambic (look in the notes for 7/17/07 too).

Perhaps you didn’t add enough critters? You could get a yeast starter going and just periodically add the dregs of lambics you might drink over the period of say a month. Get a few in there and the starter will start to get funky. Then add that to your carboy and let her rip.

Mine turned out about as good as I could have hoped. It’s no Cantillon, but how could it be? It is a strong, sour beer that satifies my craving for a sour beer when it arises.

good luck,
Don