Lambic

A starting point for a 19 liter batch

Aiming at the middle of the range, at 72% brewhouse efficiency, using base malt at 36 PPG:

• 4.1 kg (9.1 lb) of base malt to reach OG 1.047. Specialty malt displaces some of that and usually contributes fewer points.
• 4 g (0.1 oz) of a 10% alpha pellet hop at 60 minutes for 5 IBU. Late and whirlpool additions add aroma without moving this much.
• A yeast attenuating around 88% to finish near FG 1.006. Mash temperature will move this by several percent in either direction.

These are arithmetic, not a recipe — they tell you the size of the grain bill and hop charge you are aiming for, so you can tell straight away whether a recipe you are looking at is in the right territory.

Reading the numbers

At the midpoint of the ranges this style is clearly malt-forward — a BU:GU ratio of 0.11, meaning 5 IBU against 47 gravity points. The gravity range implies about 88% apparent attenuation, which is what you should be selecting a yeast for.

A beer in the middle of this style lands around 5.8% ABV. The ABV calculator will tell you where yours actually finished once you have both gravity readings.

Judges assess against the full written style description — aroma, flavor, mouthfeel and history — not only these figures. The BJCP guidelines carry the complete entry. What the numbers give you is the target to design a recipe against.

Other styles in European Sour Ale

• Berliner Weisse (23A)
• Flanders Red Ale (23B)
• Oud Bruin (23C)
• Gueuze (23E)
• Fruit Lambic (23F)
• Gose (23G)

All 110 BJCP 2021 styles →