Berliner/ lacto delbrueckii

Not a fan of lacto d. I'd say bottles/keg this one and rebrew on the same day to add onto your existing yeast/bug cake, but add in a shot of Good Belly for l. plantarum and/or some l. brevis. I like a mix of bugs in my Berliners to give a solid complex sour. I really like the Wyeast Berliner blend too...it gets nice and tart and is a perfect mix of sacc/lacto/and just enough Brett for a prefect Berliner! Avoid the White Labs Berliner blend though, unless you just want to make an average saison (they use a saison yeast as the "clean" yeast, instead of a German or american clean yeast that actually ferments out neutral in flavor and aroma).

 

Raspberries are my first thought.

 

I've yet to use preblends. Can you run them a second/thrid/forth time without having the yeast take over?

 

Yep...I'm on the 4th generation of a Wyeast Berliner blend cake and it still ferments out completely and sours with that perfect touch of Brett. Couldn't be happier especially after using other commercial blends and my own couple of blends.

 

Keep the yeast/bug cake after you bottle/keg and add a fresh beer on top of it with some more lacto...no need to fret! I'd pitch a vial or 2 of brevis along with a shot of Good Belly with and let it ride for a month or two. You'll keep your dregs active, diversify your bugs and hopefully put some pucker in it

I add wort onto an existing yeast/bug cake when it's cooled to 120, not 70 or whatever you usually pitch your normal yeast at, and I keep it up in the high 80's or 90's for the duration of the primary. Lacto likes heat to make the pucker and this method has consistently provided me with excellent Berliners/sours over the past few years.

 

On the other hand, you can toss lacto plantarum (Good Belly) into the fermenter and heat it up for a few days and see what happens...plantarum drops pH at room temp but faster when it's a little hotter. Give it a taste in a week or 2 and see if it's changed. If not, then go with the bottle/keg + rebrew & add more lacto.

If you are going to be regularly brewing sour beers, you should join the Milk The Funk group on Facebook. It's THE best resource for brewing sour beers and you'll get the best advice compared to anywhere else! If you need someone to add you (don't have any friends in the group already), send me a pm and I'll get you in the group. Not sure what recipe you used for this current beer,but the MTF no boil Berliner (available on their website) is what I normally brew, except all grain instead of DME and have great results. Brew day is REALLY short without a boil and only dropping temp to 120...it's less than an hour longer than your mash!

If any of my advice helps, I'll gladly take a scoop of your yeast/bug slurry as payment I'm always looking to start a new Berliner fermenter (I've currently got 3 different batches going right now).

 

Thanks for not calling me on the the 'yeast' above. I should have said sacch.

Great to know. I've got a double batch of Berliner coming up after I get moved into my new house.

 

You should be able to buy Good Belly (contains plenty of lacto plantarum) at a local grocery or health food store. Its a probiotic drink usually in the dairy/yogurt section and comes in single shots and cartons...I suggest plain if you can get it, but go with what flavor sounds good in a Berliner if not...it won't add too much flavor, but still a hint possibly. You should check into it as its usually pretty inexpensive compared to brewers vials of lacto.
http://goodbelly.com/

 

Here's a blog post with a brew recipe from info collected from a member of the MTF group too...
http://goodbelly.com/2016/06/01/goodbrew-lp299v-beer-recipe/

 

That's really cool that they're embracing the sour worting technique. Helps them sell to a whole new market!

 

No doubt! They got on the Milk The Funk group and gave out coupons for free Good Belly once the found out about this niche...they were very happy to see their product talked up so much from such an unexpected market!