Hey everyone. I've been tossing around ideas on how to add more dimension to my Berliner Weisse and I would really appreciate some feedback. I made one last year that was pretty good. I used the sour wort method and hopped it to 7 Ibu's with opal. I would say it was defiantly a success. Here's a pic of it before the boil when it finished souring. As you can see there was no pellicle or film of any kind on the top. I held the temperature at 110* for 4 days and the ph was 3.2 when it finished. It was a pretty solid beer but In my opinion it was still lacking a little something. I've been tossing around a few ideas and would love some feedback on them. I'm thinking that I will use the same process and recipe (60% wheat, 40% Pilsner malt and 7ibu's of opal) but add 2 ounces of citra hops after the boil when the kettle temp drops to 170ish and whirlpool for 30 minutes or so. Instead of fermenting with us05 I think I'm going to use Vermont ale yeast and try to get those elusive peachy flavors by fermenting around 59-60* and then slowly rising until it's about 75% of the way fermented. At that point I will transfer it to a secondary fermenter and pitch some Bret to finish it off. I'm pretty bent on trying the above mentioned process and hopefully I'll end up with a tropical fruit flavored Berliner. So I guess my questions are do I let it fully ferment before pitching the Bret? What strain of Bret should I use? I've never used Bret, so how long should I expect it to take to finish(weeks or months?.) Like I said earlier I've never used Bret, but I've read that Bret likes a little bit of oxygen during fermentation. So I'm assuming that I should use a plastic carboy being that's it's more permeable? Last question, I also have a double hole bung, would it be a good idea to put a airlock in one side and a small piece of a oak spiral in the other end to allow more oxygen to enter the fermenter? Cheers!
You can pitch the brett any time. Since you want to secondary, you might as well wait until the primary is done or close to it. It could take 2-5 months before the brett gets funky. No, you don't need to use plastic. The oak spiral in the bung for oxygen exposure sounds like a bad idea unless you want the brett to make vinegar. Seal the fermentor well. Which brett to use is a matter of what you want to achieve. Brett C = extra ripe pineapple Brett B = leather, horse blanket Brett L = leather, horse poo "Brett" T = mango, pineapple
Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to go with the Brett. T. Hopefully between Vermont yeast, Brett and a citra dry hopping I'll get a nice tropical fruit flavor.
I hear brett can take months to fully develop. I'm in the same boat as you right now. Souring my wort as I'm typing this, and am going to do the boil tomorrow night. I was debating using brett, but will probably wait to see how this batch turns out. It'd be cool to make 2 batches - one with brett, and one without to see the difference. Did you use more yeast than usual? I am doing a big starter with Wyeast 1007 German Ale, and also throwing in a packet of US-05. I hear in those low pH environments it can be hard on the yeast to get cranking.
actually.... Spaepen et al. (1978) found Brettanomyces yeast to produce high concentrations of the higher fatty acids C6-C12, which could be responsible for the observed drop in pH. It seems plausible that strains, which had a greater degree of fermentation during anaerobic conditions, excreted larger amounts of acids into the medium due to substantial TCA-cycle activity, coupled with the need for amino acid synthesis... http://www.brettanomycesproject.com...ntation/pure-culture-fermentation-discussion/ Chads findings seem to indicate acids being made during ANAEROBIC fermentations.
This study published by Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology says more oxygen increases acetic acid and decreases ethanol. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-002-1197-z
I came to the conclusion last night that I will be making a ten gallon batch. I'm gong to ferment it all with vermont ale yeast and then dryhop 5 gallons and age the other 5 gallons with Brett. In my unprofessional opinion I would think you would be fine with either the 1007 or us05. I don't beleive you would need both, last year when I made my Berliner I just used 1 rehydrated packet of us05 and it immediately started fermenting.
Cool, thanks for the tip. I am using yeast nutrient in the boil as well, and if ferment is sluggish I'll hit it with some yeast energizer. Could always have the us-05 as a backup plan. Throwing in small portions of Tettnang and Willamette throughout the 15 min boil, and then dry hopping with a small amount of the same hops. Since this is my first Berliner I'm keeping it clean, but the next batch will probably be fruit fermented or bretted, or both! What'll be nice in your situation is you can drink the clean Berliner Weiss early, then by the time those are all consumed your brett version should be ready. Although, that all depends on how quickly you go through 2 cases of home brew!
Yeah I can't wait to compare the Brett and non Brett versions, it should be interesting. Good luck with your berliner it is a great summer beer. I would suggest when you go to bottle if you have a 1 gallon growler to fill it up and add some raspberries or other fruit. I seperated 1 gallon out of the 5 I made and If my memory serves me correct I added 8oz of raspberries to it and aged it for a couple weeks. It turned out great and looked mighty fine as well.
Lookin' tasty! I'll have to give that a try, thanks man. I'm posting pics of my process as well on my Berliner thread I started here a little over a week ago: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/berliner-weiss-recipe-critique-sour-mash.257913/ It's getting funky looking and the airlock's been bubbling at a steady pace with the lacto. Gonna do the boil tonight on it but it's smelling like creamed corn which is a good thing, I hear..
