Spontaneous Fermentation

[Westco]

Ok so spring is rolling around and I am thinking of doing something crazy. I live in a area that is filled with fruit orchards everywhere. I have been wanting to try a spontaneous fermentation but I am not sure whats the best way to go about it so I am looking for a little help. I was going to brew up a lambic using JZ's recipe and leave it out in the middle of a orchard. I know I should screen off any openings in my fermenter to keep bugs out of the beer, but should I be worried about rain getting into the fermenter? It does rain a lot here. Also do you think a carboy would be good enough to collect the bugs fast enough with such a small opening? Do you have any suggestions at all in fermenting this beer? I am open to whatever opinions you may have on this matter. I am thinking that putting a kettle out there with a wide opening that is screened off would be the best. I am also thinking that once things heat up around here (late spring) would be the best time so that it doesn't get so cold at night and also everything is getting pollinated, does this sound like a good idea?

Please give me ALL of your opinions, I will listen and think about all of them. Thanks guys!

[macgruffus]

You're going to want to cool the wort of course before giving it time to inoculate. I'd still cool and rack off the break material and then put it back into something wide mouthed like the kettle. Traditionally, wort is pumped into a coolship (like a big brownie pan) so that the depth is small and the wort can cool before. The air then blows over the coolship and all the nice beasties take up residence. I'd cover whatever you have with cheese cloth or similar to keep flies out.

I wouldn't worry about rain unless it's a downpour (or your area is known for acid rain!). You don't want the rain to dilute the beer too much either. Put it under a big umbrella. That's keep the rain out but still let the breeze to blow over it.

I don't know where you are Westco but Allagash just brewed another batch of their Spontaneous and Rob once said that his area of Maine had very similar climate to the lambic areas of Belgium so whatever is going on right now must be the right mix to do a spontaneous beer in his area.

David

[Westco]

I was planning on cooling it with my chiller then put it outside. Is it better to let the air cool the beer? I live in Hood River, Or

[bigdan]

It might be cool just to leave it in your kettle, open over night. Like a coolship and then rack it off to a fermentor. Maybe over night would not be enough. Those lambic coolship have a bunch of microbes already in there. It's not all coming from the air. Good luck. I'd like to hear what you decide.

[Bokonon]

It might be cool just to leave it in your kettle, open over night. Like a coolship and then rack it off to a fermentor. Maybe over night would not be enough. Those lambic coolship have a bunch of microbes already in there. It's not all coming from the air. Good luck. I'd like to hear what you decide.

The coolship should be pretty clean to start with. It's the walls, rafters, and whole building that has the bugs living in it

[ApresSkiBrewer]

I plan on doing this at my place as well, and this was the process I had laid out... my recommendations...

I plan on brewing/chilling the beer as normal. I'm going to pick up a new fermentation bucket (I've never used buckets, only carboys) and primary ferment in the bucket. For innoculation, I plan on racking the chilled beer into the bucket on a rain free forecasted night right around dusk. Covering with cheese cloth, or some other loose screen (window screen or the like) and setting it outside over night. Before the sun rises, I'll cover it, air lock it, and monitor it until fermentation starts. From there on out, anything that touches that beer that isn't stainless steel will be for sours only, or for the trash (any vinyl, gasket, hosing, racking cane, etc).

One night should definitely be enough for inoculation of 5 gallons with an opening as wide as a bucket. Most of the belgians inoculate for only one night in their coolship before transferring to their fermentation vessels.

After that, I plan on getting it inside and doing primary in the bucket for 1-3 months, depending. Eventually I'll get it out of the bucket into a carboy or keg, to prevent over oxidation through the plastic, but the slight oxygen permeability of the bucket will help keep the spontaneous fermentation going for the first few months.

There was some brewer/brewery in the mid west (Nebraska? Iowa) that did this... it was talked about on the session back in the day. He brewed as usual, racked into food grade plastic barrels on the back of his truck, covered them, drove them home... and uncovered them over night. Covered them before sunrise, took them back to the brewery and racked into the fermentor. Sounds like it worked like a charm from how it was talked about on the session, but I have no idea what episode it would have been on.

Good luck!

[Westco]

I talked to a Pro brewer who said that some lambics were left out all spring and summer uncovered, so maybe overnight is plenty of time. Who knows how different a beer would be given that amount of exposure to the elements and bugs. If you plan on racking your lambic at 3 months after the primary you will destroy any pellicle you may or may not have formed at that time. I am not sure if this is a bad thing. I just moved and my lambic which is three months old had a super thin pellicle on it. I transported in 20 miles and it was gone. Today I racked my 3 month old lambic onto 5Lbs of boysenberries. I tasted the lambic before racking and it smelt wonderful, it had a light sour character but was still way to bitter from the hops. I did age/artificially age the hops but I guess there still had some bitterness left in them. I would guess there was at least 30IBU (rager) left. This might take 2 years to die out lol.

This is my first sour beer so I am trying new stuff just for kicks. Its a lot of fun.

[brewinhard]

Hey Man!

You have got to check out the past threads on the Babble Belt for spontaneous fermentation experiments. There are loads and loads of posts involving technique, times of year vs. climate, and various ways to pull these off. I know I have seen you over there, so check it out! You will be glad you did.