Doing my annual berliner weisse this weekend, mashing tomorrow night. I've been doing the whole sour wort method for the past few years. Here's a quick synopsis of how mine goes: Boil strike water to remove O2, then let cool down to strike temp. Collect my first runnings after a multi-step mash into the fermenter. Boil sparge water to remove O2, and let cool down to 180F or so. Batch sparge and collect around 5.75 wort into fermenter. Let cool to below 120F, and inocculate with some sort of lacto source til desired pH is reached. I also flush head space with CO2. I'm trying to cut back on time, and am wondering if boiling the strike/sparge water to remove O2 prior to infusion in the mash cooler is really necessary? Somewhere I've read that this is good practice, to reduce oxygen exposure as much as possible, but I'm thinking of skipping this step. I use tap water in case you were wondering. Has anyone NOT done this and still produced a clean tasting sour wort? Just trying to eliminate some possibly unnecessary steps from my brew day. Thanks!
I'd say no. There isn't much oxygen dissolved at 180F anyway. If you are using pure Lacto, the concerns about oxygen are overblown anyway. Lacto doesn't "do" anything with oxygen, the risk is that the other microbes from grain (or wherever) will cause off-flavors.
Thanks for the quick reply! I guess that leads me to another question – if you mash-out at 168 ºF, then the odds of microbes from the grain surviving that temp are pretty slim, I'm guessing?
You can pasteurize at 161 in just 15 seconds (I'd only trust that if the wort came out above that temperature). I used to bring up nearly to a boil (210F), but if you can't chill quickly this may lead to DMS. Just added rhubarb to my first one that I only heated to about 180F. Worked well!
Great, thanks. I should be good then since the mash-out will be 168F, and sparging around that temp as well. That sounds tasty. I'm adding apricots to mine, fermenting with Brett C. and mosaic dry hop.
Boiling then cooling is totally unnecessary, especially if you're pitching pure strains. Flushing the head space is probably not needed either, but that may be a more contentious point due to staling mechanisms. I have a dedicated gose/berliner tap as I live in the Sunshine State and those styles are year-round workhorses here. After 20+ batches I've settled on a process that is super easy and is producing some delicious beer. Gose little like this; Heat 3g strike water to temp ~15min Mash for 45 min (at 30 min mark start heating mash out water addition) Add 3g mashout water (target 168*) and let settle ~10 min Vorlauf til clear ~5 min While still above 165 drain wort into keg and install lid. ~ 10 min Clean mash tun ~5 min Wait for wort to cool to pitch temp (90* for l. plantarum)(this can take a few hours at room temp) Remove gas post and tube, install blow off tube, and inoculate/ferment as desired If I take my sweet time, from set-up to clean-up it's about a 3 hour brew session.
Ha, I see what you did there ! I've got a pretty good process down for sour worting in the fermenter, except I'll be using goodbelly probiotics this time around – pitching around 30-40 billion cells of L. Plantarum, so around 2 servings once wort gets down to around 100F. I need to squeeze the mash, sour worting, and 10-min boil in by Monday evening so I'm looking for a faster souring method than my usual innoculation with grain. I love brewing these styles, because it splits brew day up into 2 separate, 1-1/2 hour-ish sessions. I boil mine for just 10 min once pH gets low enough, with some small hop additions. It makes for a nice beer that I can brew and still get other things done on the weekends!
There are a few people doing it. I do it for easy temperature control and easy oxygen exclusion. -> Here's <- a link to my rig.
I'll be using that same ferm wrap on mine. One of the best investments I've made for sour worting and fermenting during the colder winter months.
Yeah - I am going to pick up some for the winter. I am a little concerned on how to keep my fermenters cool this summer. Moved to a new place (basement is finished/living space), don't have a temperature controlled fridge or freezer. Fermenting temp control and kegging are on the top of my list of improvements now that I made a gravity fed tier AG system and making the switch to AG.
Easy! swamp cooler. The cheapest way (for me) is to get a large tupperware container (one that's large enough to house your fermenter), put your fermenter in there, then fill with water to about the halfway mark on your carboy. Get yourself one of these to slap on the side of your carboy so you can monitor the temp. Feed it frozen 2L water bottles to keep the temp down during the first few days of intense ferment. ...or you can ferment with strains that do well in the 80s
Great idea! Are you familiar with PID temperature control/monitor systems? I was thinking about picking one up. Monitor my HLT so I don't have to climb up the ladder so much, monitor mash if I choose too, and fermenter temp.
I've seen 'em, but I don't have one. I'm pretty old school with my equipment... Will probably invest in one down the road though
