Wild Ale?

[Trashman]

I've seen people post about their wild ales and I was wondering what it is.

[corkybstewart]

Wild ales are beers fermented with either bacteria or yeasts other than the normal yeast used to make beer-I can't spell it so I won't embarass myself trying. Wild ales are brewed with brettanomyces(yeast) or combos of lactobacillus, pediococus and acetobacters. These beers originated in the Flanders area of Belgium but there are some excellent American examples now. In Belgium the breweries that created these used the wild yeast and bacteria colonies that lived in the brewhouse for spontaneous fermentation, then they were aged in barrels infected with many generations of yeast and bacteria. For sour, try Rodenbach Grand Cru. Brett beers include Orval from Belgium, or Jolly Pumpkin"s La Roja, Bam Noir, and lots of others. For some these are an acquired taste. I love them. Last night I tapped a keg of my first all Brett beer, a saison I fermented with Brett Bruxellis. I also have an all brett wheat beer in primary right now.

[Trashman]

Thanks for clearing that up for me, of course now I have to go find some of these beers to try.

[Vienna Lager]

Trash... a word of caution, if you are a brewer and thinking of fermenting with 'wild' yeast do so in a glass carboy and avoid plastic buckets or bottles. Apparently the plastic/PET or whatever picks up the characteristics of the yeast's sourness and imparts it in subsequent batches you ferment in that vessel.

[corkybstewart]

Trash... a word of caution, if you are a brewer and thinking of fermenting with 'wild' yeast do so in a glass carboy and avoid plastic buckets or bottles. Apparently the plastic/PET or whatever picks up the characteristics of the yeast's sourness and imparts it in subsequent batches you ferment in that vessel.
The wild bacteria are very hard to kill compared to yeast so any scratches in plastic will allow colonies of these critters to get established. I'm not so sure it's the same with Brett since it's a yeast, but I do keep all my wild/sour stuff separate. I have one tap and 2 kegs reserved for Brett beers, but I bottle any beer fermented with bacteria.
If you do decide to brew any of these beers I'd recommend drinking as many commercial examples as you can find to figure out which style you like most. Some are gut-wrenchingly vinegar like, others are cidery so there's a huge range in taste. Also get Jeff Sparrow's book Wild Ales before you brew. And above all, be patient. My Flanders Red has been in secondary since February of 2007 and it's just about ready to bottle.

[Trashman]

My question was more of a curiosity as to what it was, not so much planning a brew. But thank you for all the info, maybe later on when I have more equipment I'll give it a shot.

[corkybstewart]

Goose Island Matilda is an excellent Brett beer, you should be able to find it where you are.
If you can find them the Belgian lambics are the best way to experience the sour beers. Lambics were a way for Belgians to use vast amounts of fresh fruit. When the beer was basically finished fermenting, they would add huge quantities of fresh fruit to the barrels and fermentation would start all over again. Then the beer would be left in the barrels for years, and every year master blenders come in and mix 1, 2 and 3 year old beers for bottling. Look for Cantillon, especially Lou Pepe Krieck, they make the classic lambic. Avoid Lindemans Lambic series, they're flavored with fruit syrups and are very sweet.

[JimG]

Hi Folks, Just wanted to say i really enjoyed reading this thread. I am relatively new to brewing and have learned a lot from this community. This is a keeper! JimG

[wild]

Every ale I brew is a Wild Ale...:D

[beerking]

In general, I agree with Corky on trying sour beers. I will however point out that they can be very much an ACQUIRED taste. That said, I would recommend trying the fruited ones first (Framboise or Kreik), and go with Liefmans (not very sour, not even a lambic, actually it is a Flanders Brown with fruit), and work up to Boon, then Cantillon, and finally, the king of sour lambics, Hanssens.
Once you are enjoying the more sour fruited lambics, try to find some Faro. That is lambic with candi sugar added in the secondary instead of fruit.
Finally, work your way into Geuze, a blend of aged and young lambic (usually ~3 YO and ~1 YO). This will be the most sour/tart/funky of all.
On your journey, COMPLETELY AVOID anything by De Troch, the king of syrupy sweet fruit beverages (I refer to these as "cartoon lambics").
Also, but to a lesser extent, avoid the aforementioned Liefmanns and St. Louis. Actually these two can be quite enjoyable, just don't expect much sourness. You will probably also find that your female significant other enjoys these. They seem to appeal well to the ladies, and for some women, it is the only way to get them to drink ANY beer.

[markaberrant]

Goose Island Matilda is an excellent Brett beer, you should be able to find it where you are.

I've seen this mentioned a couple times, but frankly, I don't get any brett character from it. GI website says it made with "a rare yeast that suggests a fruity and spicy flavor"... sounds like belgian ale yeast to me. And yes, I aged some to see what would happen.

Still a good beer by the way.

[beerking]

I got some Matilda from the Rare Beer Club last summer. Thought it was a decent Belgian pale ale, but did not get any Brett then either.
Then I opened one for New Year's. It was ~3-4 months old at that point, and WOW the Brett really came through.
Note that this is just Brett, no sour character. Some leather notes in aroma, but more the pastey/minty character of just Brett.

[markaberrant]

I gave a bottle of Matilda to a friend, and he was really excited because he is also of the belief that it contains brett. He ages his beers for quite some time and hasn't drank it yet, so I'll have to check with him. I'll also have to buy some more Matilda next time I come across it.

[corkybstewart]

I looked at my last bottle of Matilda last night and read the story about dropping the ring in the lake etc. That's the Orval legend so I figure the "rare" yeast they're talking about is brett. But just to know for sure I'm going to open that last bottle tonight and give it a serious taste test to see if it has the brett flavor I think I remembered.