Spontaneous Fermentation / Sense of Place
January 20, 2014
Last week we filled twenty 400 liter wine casks with wort inoculated during overnight chilling in our coolship. The fermentation of the wort is 100% spontaneous and is solely the product of the microorganisms present in our barrel room and the night air at our brewery. Additionally, all of the raw wheat we used to make the wort was central Texas grown, and the final brew last week consisted of 100% grains from Blacklands Malt in nearby Leander, Texas. Finally, the water for the brewing came from our well, and while our hops came from aboard, we aged them for months in burlap bags in the attic of a horse barn at the ranch where our brewery is located.
Making beer with a sense of place, i.e. with flavors and aromas unique to our land and region, is hugely important to us. Last week’s work, the initial fruits of which are pictured below, was another step in this direction.
These casks will slowly ferment and mature at our brewery for two to three years. We spontaneously fermented our first beer last winter, we plan to do more spontaneous fermentation before this winter is over, and we’ll continue to do so each winter in the future.
