Lambics

My last day in Brussels gave me an opportunity to visit the Cantillon brewery and museum which specializes in Lambic beers. Lambic beers are unique to Belgium and are distinguished by using spontaneous fermentation by the wild yeast and bacteria of the region.

After the barley malt and wheat has been mashed and heated to extract the sugars, the hot mixture called wort is cooled overnight in the fall and winter months in large, shallow, open topped copper containers such as the one shown here.


The louvers are used to control the air flow over the wort. This open air cooling inoculates the wort with the local microorganisms that are responsible for the fermentation. After inoculation the wort is placed into large wooden barrels to ferment and age for 2-3 years.



Finally, young and old Lambics can be blended to create Gueuze or a secondary fermentation with fruit such as cherries, raspberries or white grapes can be used to moderate the distinctive sour taste of Lambics. When I was there the brewery had just received a large shipment of cherries.



An interesting bit of trivia is that the use of large quantities of fruit attracts many insects. Since pesticides could get into the beer, spiders are used to control insect numbers. No cobwebs are swept up or destroyed in the brewery. Here is a picture of a spiderweb on a painting of a Lambic barrel.