Jazzing up Berliner

It's been less than 2 weeks, so I'm not giving up, but my Berliner did not get as sour as I would like. Not sure how long to give it, but if I am left with an unsatisfyingly sour, not hoppy, low gravity and therefore not very malty beer, what are the best ways to jazz it up in your opinions? My previous bw had homegrown grapes and their juices added to it; I have more of the same but it wasn't the greatest.

 

I have about 2-3 cups of this years harvest in my freezer. Will consider. The grapes will also add tartness, if I go that route

 

Hadn't thought of this one. If I wait a bit longer and am still unsatisfied, this is an option.

 

Yes, I have experienced this unpleasant bitterness with citrus pith. In my (two) experiences, the unpleasant aspects seem to fade. Unfortunately, so does the pleasant aspect of citrus skin.

 

Not really the right season for me to get them fresh, although I could pick up some canned purée

 

After thumbing though American Sours and tasting the beer again, I'm leaning towards dry hops.

 

Changed my mind. Decided to do something with ingredients on hand, and I am low on hops. It will be a two step process

(1) I'll add some rhubarb as per ryane's advice to see how that addresses the tartness issue. (2) I'll make make some fruit syrups similar to the German approach that can be added in the glass. The pressed grape juice and wild-picked raspberries and blueberries that are in my freezer can come into play. If the beer still doesn't seem tart enough, I'll lowball the sugar content of the syrups. Could be interesting, or could be a waste of fruit in the freezer. But let's face it, experimenting with fermented beverages was one of the reasons why I have that stuff in the freezer.

 

As indicated in a different thread, I ended up not doing what I said above, and added apricot puree. I bottled today, and am drinking the 20 oz as I didn't have enough bottles cleaned up. It got more sour, and tastes a bit like sweet tarts. It's not going to create intense pucker, but pleasant. Of course, the bottle bucket had a little sugar, so the final product will be less sweet and carbonated.

 

Are you suggesting I might have jazzed it up with the New Orleans spice mixture, or something entirely different? Do you have experience with this? In any event, as you can see from my last post, I went with apricot.

 

Didn't know that. I thought you were inventing New Orleans style gose.