Berliner time.. Bring me your best.

I run right off into a bucket and have no issues. I do purge the headspace with co2 right away and then again after each time I pull a sample to see how sour it has become.

Pour through a strainer and get all that nasty grain out. Aeration isn't a concern here as you noted.

I ferment in the same bucket I sour it in. I just clean and sanitize and run right back into that same bucket. I give it a quick shot of pure o2 so the yeast has something to work with and then just let it go at normal fermentation temps. I make a 1.5 L starter with US-05, cold crash it, pitch it, and then ferment at 68 degrees.

My only concern with the no boil method is when people put in uncrushed grain to sour. You don't know what kind of critters you are adding and there's no boil to kill off the bad ones. If you are clean, sanitary, and know what you're pitching, I am sure it is going to turn out to be a great beer.

 

If you are holding the temp fairly high, you will definitely notice it getting pretty sour in the first 24-48 hours. It will develop more over the next couple of days but not at such an extreme rate. It seems to level off a bit after the first day or so. Keep tasting every 12 hours or so if possible and be ready to boil when it is at the level you want it to be.

 

Maybe I'm missing something but if you boiled the wort, wouldn't that kill the lacto and not allow it to get any more sour than it was before boiling?

I've never done a sour mash/wort btw, only pitched big lacto starters after the boil.

 

The idea is to let the wort sour to a level you are happy with and then boil it to kill the lacto then you can ferment it with a neutral yeast and use the same equip you normally would for a clean beer.

 

I make a 1.5 L starter with whatever clean ale yeast I have on hand. Depending on what data you wish to believe, that should be in the 150-200 billion cell range. On the high end of that range, it'd be equivalent to one pack of US-05. I find that (and a good shot of o2) to be plenty. It gets going pretty fast despite any pH issues. It's not exactly what I would call a vigorous fermentation, but it is done in a week or less and turns out great.

According to some popular yeast calculators, one pack would be nearly double the amount you'd typically need for such a low gravity wort. I would say that you should be completely fine just pitching one pack.

 

It's one of the common points of contention. I'd say doubling what you would normally need is pitching pretty big, but some people out there insist on going well beyond that even. Then others say they pitch whatever the yeast calc tells them and it still turns out fine. I guess I go somewhere in between and am happy with the results.

 

Ok got

ok gotcha! I thought you were post-boil fermenting already, that makes more sense

 

LET IT RIDE!

 

If you ever want to trade some home brew for some things I can get my hands on I'm your huckleberry!

 

Glad it turned out well. Not sure how you are set up for force carbing, but try to hit 3.2 vols at minimum. Getting it well carbonated and effervescent really takes it to another level.

I just bottled some of my regular Berliner and put a new batch on raspberries.

 

This is an awesome thread. I'm hoping to do a "quick" Berliner in the very near future. I appreciate you posting your process and the crooked stave Sunday session has some really good info as well.

Here is some things that I've either heard or read about with sour wort Berliners.
1.). Getting your wort to a ph of ~4.5 will keep the nasty/unwanted bacteria away. (Acid malt)
2.). Keeping the wort in the 110-120f range will help the beer sour faster and also keep butyric acid at bay. (I don't have a solid way to keep 5.5-6 gallons of wort that warm)
3.) If the beer does get strongly butyric (vomit/bile) don't fret, just add Brett and eventually youl get some awesome passionfruit/mango esters.
4.) decreasing oxygen is a must. Flush the container daily or often with co2.
5.) Boiling for 15 minutes post souring allows you to put the finished beer in a clean keg/bottling system.
6.) when in doubt add Brett.

I've yet to do a sour wort Berliner but I've done a lot of research and this process is very interesting and exciting to me. I can't wait to possibly get a nice sessionable Berliner in less than a month. Ill be sure to report back and look forward to hearing more experiences!!

Cheers pat.

 

Also. @dblab33 that fruity French press picture is just downright sexy and is making me crave a fruited Berliner. Thanks!!!