Berliner time.. Bring me your best.

Yea that would work but I would worry about possibly making the beer darker ? Steeping crystal malt in extract brewing adds a good amount of color. May end up with an Amber Berliner which would be cool.

 

Yes.

 

Interesting theory, thanks for the response. I'll probably just go w/ regular base malt, I can take a dollar or two loss on the crystal.

 

Thanks! It's a little stinky coming from the fermenter!

 

Yea mine started fairly stinky, then got a weird green olive aroma, all of which got boiled off. I let mine get tooo acidic tho and my yeast stalled out at 1.016 ....Brett to the rescue!!

 

Just got done listening to the NHC presentation on Berliners in the archives. The WYeast guy stated that the best Berliner from his tests (boiled wort, Sacc and Lacto pitch) came from letting the WY Lacto go for 1 week then pitching the WY German Ale to finish off at a 4:1 ratio. Lowest pH, best taste. This was compared against co-pitch as well as Lacto only. Interesting that he would publish these findings since WY makes a special release blend and he basically said there is no way to make a good Berliner with a blended pitch.

 

@jbakajust1 what's that link? On the aha website I assume?

 

Yes, on the AHA site under let's brew/resources/confrence seminars. Have to be logged in. 2nd presentation for2012.

 

About to try this out. Souring the mash tonight, plan to brew Friday night. Will report back

 

Well, my first attempt turned out great. Many thanks to all the helpful posters here. Went with BIAB.

I soured the mash under a heat lamp for 5 days. Kept it in the pot I used to mash, just covered the wort with foil (no saran wrap at the time) and put the lid on the pot. It slowly dropped from 125F to around 80F over the period of 5 days, was tasting it throughout.

Once it was sour enough I sparged by heating up water to 145F in a separate pot and ladled it over my grain bag...which sucked a lot....I had to hold the bag in one hand and ladle with the other...need to get something to hold the grain bag next time. The bag was also only 80F at most so no worries about burns, need gloves if I'm going to try souring the wort instead of the mash cuz there will be a lot of wort left in the bag if I don't squeeze it.

Fermented for a week or so, bottled and carbed for a week and a half, shit is drinking mighty fine right now. Though I wonder how much the sourness is covering up any mistakes I may have made, the bottom line is I am loving the beer already and look forward to perfecting it.

Already started second batch last night, actually mashed on target this time instead of 10 degrees high, so hoping to hit a lower FG. Using a different yeast strain too...bad scientific method changing two variables but I wanted 05 to begin with so the WB06 was a fly decision.

Anyways, glad for all the info here, surprised at how easy it was and how well it turned out.

 

Why didn't you sparge same day?

 

What did you mash at? Last batch I did was at 152, but after some reading, I think I gonna bring it up to 156-158 and give it a shot.

 

Mashed at 160F by mistake, first mash, I even heated up the grain with the water and didn't stir once so...yeah...
Finished at 1.014 so it's a bit thick, but still tastes great.

 

I just did mine @149. Trying to get it nice and dry.

 

Hi guys,

Nice thread you got going here. I was about to brew a low abv saison, but you just might have changed my mind. I will try the sour worting method. It seems too easy to be true.

One quick question though. Why would you add the crushed grain to the wort? Wouldn't it be better to add it whole, so later on it is easier to strain? And in case it is actually better to crush it for some reason, how do you go about leaving it behind? Does it coagulate and precipitate after the boil or something?

Sorry if this is too basic, I've never fiddled around with sours.

 

You'd leave the grain whole. If souring in a bucket, you'd strain it out as you go into the kettle. If you're souring in the kettle, some folks have had success putting the whole grain in a paint strainer bag. I haven't tried that, as I sour in a dedicated bucket.