berliner (the cliff notes version)

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Liberatiscioli, Jun 19, 2015.

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  1. corm44

    corm44 Pundit (847) Aug 28, 2014 New York
    Trader

    i just did a berliner last Wednesday. I mashed like normal and then added about a pound of uncrushed pilsner malt to the top of the wort, covered the top of the wort with plastic wrap, bubbled some co2 to purge the o2, and let it sit in the tun until Monday (5 days) with a fish tank heater keeping the temp at 90+ degrees. that soured the mash pretty well. Then I racked the mash to my fermenter without a boil and pitched white labs' berliner weisse blend (WLP630- a mix of Sacc yeast and lacto).

    it tasted fine before it entered the fermenter. hopefully it still tastes fine after it leaves the fermenter in a few days.
     
    #41 corm44, Jul 2, 2015
  2. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Had another thought/ question.... In a week or when sour enough after boiling transfer to a clean fermentor? Same fermentor that sort was soured for a week? Does the hop addition matter after that week and boiling. American sours says less than 15 ibu but at that point does it matter or stick to the 15. Found some German hull melon by accident today. Description sounds like it would work perfect (melon and strawberry)
     
    #42 Liberatiscioli, Jul 4, 2015
  3. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    If you intend to boil it after souring, you can add as many hops as you want during the boil.
     
    #43 Brew_Betty, Jul 4, 2015
  4. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    This may be sort of dumb question but after boiling use a clean fermentor? Not the one I just soured in for a week
     
    #44 Liberatiscioli, Jul 4, 2015
  5. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    At that point flavor would be the only consideration.

    If you want to ensure the beer is stable, a clean fermentor would be ideal. If you had "sour" gear and "clean" gear, post-boil would be the time to move to clean gear if you wanted to run the beer through your clean bottling/kegging gear for example.
     
    #45 OldSock, Jul 4, 2015
  6. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    That's what I thought. I tread lightly throughout this sour journey. Your re- assurance is greatly appreciated. I feel like I'll own 10+ glass fermentor in the nearby future. Off topic - who thinks they own the most and how many?
     
    #46 Liberatiscioli, Jul 5, 2015
  7. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Day one batch one pitched half lb. Pilsner. Starting to bubble exhaust from the airline lock stinks like shit. No differences in color yet from yesterday's brew day. Average garage temp low mid 80's. Wish I knew how to post pics to BA otherwise I would do a daily update for the souring process.
     
    #47 Liberatiscioli, Jul 7, 2015
  8. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Day 2 souring process surface bubbling a bit more maybe every 5-10 sec temp dramatically increased in garage mid 80-low 90's. Still smells like crap just not as bad as yesterday.
     
    #48 Liberatiscioli, Jul 8, 2015
  9. Buck89

    Buck89 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,782) Feb 7, 2015 Tennessee
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    What's the smell? My batch smelled like rotten creamed corn.
     
    #49 Buck89, Jul 8, 2015
  10. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Day one like my 8 month olds diaper. Day 2 not as bad more like rotten creamed corn. Maybe I am being impatient but shouldn't this thing be going nuts (airlock going crazy , foam in the headspace).
     
    #50 Liberatiscioli, Jul 8, 2015
  11. Buck89

    Buck89 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,782) Feb 7, 2015 Tennessee
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    My batch didn't bubble much. A small amount of "krauzen" but not a lot. Here is a pic after 5 days of wort souring:
    [​IMG]
     
    #51 Buck89, Jul 8, 2015
    Liberatiscioli likes this.
  12. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    Depends on the Lacto. Some species produce CO2 (heterofermentative) some do not (homofermentative).

    Those descriptions sound awful. I'm sticking to commercial Lacto...
     
    #52 OldSock, Jul 8, 2015
    SixThousandDollars likes this.
  13. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    I'll make my brother in law be the guinea pig Saturday to taste it.lol. I will try and update progress every day until boil day hopefully Sunday.

    Thinking ahead parameter checklist:

    Gravity reading needed? (OG before hand was right on @1.04

    pH- 4.2-4.5?

    Honestly not sure what else. Suggestions?
     
    #53 Liberatiscioli, Jul 8, 2015
  14. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    A pH of 4.2-4.5 is a good pH for an IPA... you want ~3.3-3.5 for a Berliner (10X more acidic).
     
    #54 OldSock, Jul 8, 2015
  15. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Gotcha must have gotten my readings confused. Glad you saw that! Now just in case scenario. What to do if the pH does not drop that low?

    Let it go longer in the fermentor ?
    Add acid malt?
     
    #55 Liberatiscioli, Jul 8, 2015
  16. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    No great solution. It may be that you don't have an aggressive acid producer (so it won't drop that low no matter how long you wait) and acid malt really won't help at this stage. I'd probably just roll with it and pitch yeast and see where you end up.
     
    #56 OldSock, Jul 8, 2015
  17. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin


    Mmmm..poopy diaper Berlinner. Yum!
     
    #57 Brew_Betty, Jul 8, 2015
    TickleMeTony likes this.
  18. Liberatiscioli

    Liberatiscioli Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Day 3 (yesterday) not too exciting bubbles on the top surface. Murky almost looks like a swamp. I feel like tadpoles and frogs should be swimming around. Stink is not nearly as bad.

    Any tell tales of readiness without opening the lid?
     
    #58 Liberatiscioli, Jul 9, 2015
    monkeybeerbelly likes this.
  19. monkeybeerbelly

    monkeybeerbelly Initiate (0) Dec 6, 2012 New York

    @Liberatiscioli

    you got me motivated. I want to do my first berliner this weekend, i've waited long enough!

    @Lukass @OldSock Im gonna do a 3 gallon batch to start, will it be a problem to do a 3 gallon batch in a 6 gallon bucket?
    will the headspace affect the souring process?
     
    #59 monkeybeerbelly, Jul 9, 2015
    Liberatiscioli likes this.
  20. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    If you are pitching a known culture, I wouldn't worry. If you are trying the wild route, I'd purge with CO2 after opening it each time.
     
    #60 OldSock, Jul 9, 2015
    monkeybeerbelly, Lukass and ChrisMyhre like this.
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