So I like to think out of the box, and do things differently. I am getting ready to brew a Lambic and wanted to go with an off the wall fruit. Was thinking about using Guava. How do you guys think Guava would be in a Lambic? Any other ideas if you think Guava is a bad idea?
Well, let's get some things out of the way here. a. A large number of people will disagree with your calling it a lambic. (me being one of them) Unless you plan on parking your wort in the open air of Belgium, what you will wind up spontaneously fermenting is going to be way closer to an AWA than a lambic. b. If you haven't even brewed your lambic yet, then you don't even have to worry about deciding on your fruit. It almost seems like you're going to add your fruit right now. Traditionally fruited lambics are a either a single aged lambic or a blend of a couple different ages, that are then refermented with fruit. c. I don't think guava would be good at all in a lambic. a Guava AWA may be tasty, but if you somehow manage to make an "authentic" tasting lambic, guava seems like an odd choice to me.
Well thank you for your input. The brew is an extract 3.25 lbs Munton's light DME 3LB Wheat DME 2 OZ Maltodextrin .5 oz Strisselspalt hops and using Wyeast 3278 (lambic blend) Planned on letting it sit in the primary for at least 6 mos. before dropping the fruit.
Never used guava but I've never used the other fruits (flavorings) I will recommend. My short list of fruits that I personally want to try with saisons that I suspect would work with your lambic is: hibiscus, loquat, and apricot
I have done Mango in sours before, which does really well. The FloridaWeisse style is selling like hot cakes. Tropical fruits work well with sours, especially when you need some extra tartness (the citric acid in the fruit) as well as Brett strains that throw lots of tropical notes along with the funk. I would recommend a couple things here. I would wait until the beer is fermented, soured, funked, etc, and then taste it to see what fruits would play well with the flavor profile you already have. The other option is to use a Belgian strain alongside Lacto and Pedio, then get specific Brett strains that do more tropical fruits than funk. With the blend you are at the mercy of what you get in there which is designed for more funk than fruits.
hibiscus lambic? once that's ready I definitely want to trade. What'll it be, about two years? I'll still want to trade. actually apricot sounds tasty too. I don't know what a loquat is so I probably haven't tried it and don't know if I'd want it. But if it came out tasty, sure, why not.
It works just fine in a Berliner. Never had a guava lambic, but only one way to find out One note, it did add a substantial amount of acidity to my berliner (not as much as the passionfruit berliner I did alongside it), but it was noticeable.
