Berliner Weisse Recipe's Please

I made my first one last year and it turned out great. I used a 40/60 wheat/pilsner ratio. I did a 3 day sour mash where I added a bit of boiled water to my cooler everyday to maintain a temp of around 100. Then completed the beer as normal, but with a short boil. Used 05 yeast and that was that. It turned out pretty sour. I've never used bugs before, but if I understand correctly, they can take a while. That's why I went with the sour mash.

 

I brewed this recipe a while ago:
http://www.byo.com/component/resource/article/Indices/51-Recipe Exchange/209-berliner-weisse

I thought it came out nice, but not sour enough for me. Also it had a slight DMS (cooked corn) flavor flaw. But it won me a second place medal in the first comp I entered.

Next time I'm planning to do no boil with mash hopping. And I think I might try adding some pale malt to the fermenter to get the lacto going instead of using the Wyeast 4335 culture.

 

I kegged it. My thoughts were that it was a sour beer, 05 yeast which is pretty quick, and low abv, to only set it in the primary for 2 weeks, if that. Then I kegged and drank, so 3 weeks top. Normally I let my beers sit 3-4 week before kegging.

 

Sounds like you are doing your research, so you probably have the process down, but my first reply was a little sparse so I'll tell you what I did. Do a normal mash around 150. Then I put the cooler in my basement with the lid slightly cracked. Went to bed and checked in the morning and luckily it was around 100, which if I recall, is the sweet spot. I added a few handfulls of reserved grain for the natural bugs, mixed in and closed the lid. I added a quart or so of boiling water as needed to maintain 100. After 3 days the smell overtook my basement when opening the lid to add water and I decided it was time to mash out and sparge. The short boil stopped the souring process and eliminated any fears (not mine) of having the bugs in any other part of the brew process. Quick turn around, sour and tart. Any fears of the short boil and DMS from pilsner were unfounded in this case due the the souring being very promient.

 

You can also try just souring the wort not the mash. Mash and sparge as usual into Kettle, chill to around 110, throw in a couple handfuls of reserved grain, cover with plastic wrap right on top of the liquid, to keep oxygen out and let it go for 3 or 4 days. I just keep mine by the heater in the winter and in the garage in the summer. Then strain the grains out and boil it up. I do a 90 minute boil because I despise DMS and I think it can boil off some of the funky aromas, I add hops at 30mins to get to IBUs of around 5-10. Chill to 65, transfer to Fermentor and pitch a Kolsch, Cali or S05. Ferment for 2 or 3 weeks then bottle, there are no bugs. I have also done this method to sour a saison and a brett pale, with nice results.

I have tried the no-boil method and pitch lacto early technique and was not happy with the results, DMS and not sour enough.

I also just go 50/50 with wheat and pilsner or 2 row. I have not played around with the ratio that much because I liked my results.

Also if you don't want it super dry you can try raising the mash temp from the typical 148-150 to 152-154, that might help or use a different yeast.

Cheers,
Matt

 

What hops are have you all tried? I would hate to think that the only hops to use are "Aged" hops, as I'd like to make one a little sooner than 3 years.

 

Aged hops aren't typically used in Berlinner weisses, you're thinking of lambics. I do a 3day sour mash of 40% wheat 60% pilsner, do a 15 minute boil with a touch of hallertau and pitch a clean yeast.

 

I had excellent success with the no boil method. I think I did 50/50 pils/wheat.

I added an ounce of Hallertauers to the mash. This resulted in <5 ibus, which is ideal (or so I hear). Did a decoction mash, no boil, pitched a large Lacto starter, let it go for a day before adding German Ale yeast, and bottled 7 days after. The sourness was sharp, and it turned out very well.

 

I do not know if Chris Kennedy still looks on here, but he posted a genius way to mash for no boil. He put the mash in a corny keg and purged the oxygen with carbon dioxide. I have not tried it but if I did that is what I would do.

 

I agree that that's an awesome way to do it. O2 is the enemy of a sour mash.

 

I have had success with several batches using a partial sour. I pull a quart or two of finished mash, stick it in a plastic food container with a handful of grain. I check it every day until it's gotten good and sour (and it stinks!),then I heat it to 165-170 for about 15 minutes to pasteurize. Spage this with a bit of warm water and throw into the fermenting wort.

Another method I like, and which has been surprisingly consistent in giving me clean, sharp sour notes in my beer, is to do a straight ferment with california ale yeast (or kolsch if you prefer) and then drop a cupful of fresh live yoghurt and a couple of food supplement "probiotic" tabs into the secondary. Way cheaper (and much faster) than using White Labs or Wyeast lacto cultures.

 

Are you adding a cup of real yogurt or a cup of yogurt cultures?? Sounds interesting but I am worried about adding dairy product to beer. About how long does it take after adding the "yogurt"? Cheers.

 

I know this thread is a bit old but I appreciate all of the information. I'm a noob to doing a sour, I've been reading about sours for about 6 months now trying to figure it out and decide how I was going to go about brewing a sour. I've been brewing for about 1-1/2 years now and I think I will be brewing a sour soon. I think I will try the sour mash method.

 

i brewed a 5gal batch of BW back in march, i did a homemade lacto starter out of a handful of grain in a mini "wort" in a glass jar and left with a space heater off an on for a week. then i brewed with a 15 min boil and did a slow cool down and added the lacto starter through a screen into primary. after 36 hours, with 12 hrs being locked up with a space heater i pitched us05 and let it go for a month then did a transfer to secondary and let it go for 3 months. i bottled with a little shy on the priming sugar(all my bottles so far have been undercarbed but i was worried about bottle bombs). the outcome had produced a tart lemon citrusy light beer. so far total success, im going to cellar a couple bottle for a yr and see what happens. oh ya malt bill was 50% on both pilsner and wheat.

 

Could you do this same process, except using wort from extract? I don't see why not, but wanted to check. Thanks!

 

Old thread, but wanted to chime in (in case anyone else finds this on Google).
I did:
60% pils
40% wheat
little acidulated malt to lower PH.

Mash 149-150 F for 60 min, sparge as normal. Brought temp down into the 95 F range.
Purged kettle with CO2 (even down in the wort with an aeration stone) and "kettle soured" with a 1 L starter of Omega Lactobacillus (this stuff is beast).
I have an electric brew system, so I left the temp set at 90 F and let the lacto ride for 2 1/2 days. Hit 3.24 PH.
(apparently this lacto benefits from letting that temp free-fall from the high 90's down to the 70's)

Pulled some wort off into a sanitized mason jar to retain a bit of the lacto for the next batch, and then heated the rest to 190 F for 10 mins. Chill, pitch US-05, and wait.

Weird stuff:
SG was 1.030, after the 2 1/2 days lacto, the gravity was 1.020.
FG stuck at 1.010
Not much of a beer, I think the low PH inhibited US-05 from attenuating out lower.
Not a lot of flavor. Light wheat presence, great tart on the tongue. Nothing else to it.
Next time, I'll pitch a higher rate of 05, and maybe stop the souring at 3.4 PH or so?
Considering German Ale yeast instead of 05.

Pros:
Omega lacto is a champ, next time I'll drop the wort PH to 4.5 before pitching (as recommended).

Cons:
No real flavor, or anything to make the beer 'interesting' and drinkable.