I brewed a berliner last weekend. OG 1.038. Pitched a smack pack of lacto. Kept it Mid 70s in my basement for 3 days. Came back to taste it to see if I needed to pitch my primary yeast, but it wasn't sour at all. Bumped the temp up and let it sit for a couple more days. 7 days after pitching, it was still remarkably not sour. I suspected a bad lacto pitch so I bought another wyeast pitch that the lhbs owner told me he had gotten in 2 days earlier. Bumped the temp as much as i could. Probably high 70s. It is now 9 days after brewing and the beer has been sitting on nothing but 2 pitches of lactobacillus and it is still not sour. Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening? If so any suggestions for how to sour my b-weiss? I know i could just throw in lactic acid, but if anyone knows of a way to get this beer to sour that would be awesome. Thanks
See some of the info in this thread: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/another-berliner-weisse-thread.107541/ When I've done a Berliner by fermenting with Lacto, I pitched first with lacto, let it go 4-5 days at 90+, then pitched an ale yeast. It was close to 6 months until it was as sour as I wanted. Bottom line - patience.
Yeah lacto takes a long time to really get really sour. My first Berliner had some nice funk to it when I bottled it at 1 month, but really took several more months of bottle conditioning to really get it as sour as I wanted. I've since left most Berliners in the carboy for up to six months to sour up.
I posted in the previously linked thread: I don’t have an answer to your question but below are instructions from Wyeast on their recipe for Portlander Berliner Weisse: “Fermentation: Pitch Wyeast 5335 (1 liter starter) and maintain a temp. between 80-90°F for 6-8 days, let pH drop to 3.3 (gravity will hardly drop). Then pitch Wyeast 1007 Activator (again no aeration) and let ferment at 68°F until terminal gravity is reached. Keg or bottle.” It seem that it is important to ferment with the lacto at high temperatures: 80-90 degrees F. Cheers!
