Berliner Weiss

I've got another sour beer going, a Berliner Weiss. Wyeast has a limited edition Berliner Weiss blend out from January until March 2008. After the great results I got from the Roeselare Blend (FYI its supposed to be re-released this April) in my Flanders Red I decided to give this one a try. 3191 Berliner Weiss is a mix of lactobacillus, Saccharomyces, and a "special" Brett strain as well. The Brett is rumored to come from a Berliner Weiss brewery that has recently gone bankrupt, not sure what brewery or how the Brett strain compares to the other commercially available strains, but how could I resist?

The hops and alcohol are kept low to keep the sensitive lacto happy and putting out acid, unlike Pediococcus lacto will not do an effective job souring a beer after primary fermentation. Even in optimal conditions, lacto will be inhibited by its own acids at only 50% the level that pedio can live in (meaning that lacto on its own will never make a beer as sour as a Lambic).

The kink in my recipe was to add the hops to the mash and preform a decoction to get from the protein rest to the saccharification rest. At least that was the plan, but my decoction didn't raise the temperature enough so I had to resort to adding more hot water. After the sparge I heated the wort until it just barely came to a boil, then chilled it and pitched the blend. Without a boil remember that your efficiency will take a tumble because you can't collect extra wort to concentrate down in the boil.

The number of IBUs mash hops are purported give a beer varies widely between the different hop utilization formulas, but I doubt any accurately account for mash hops that go through a decoction, but no wort boil. It is safe to say that this beer is low in bitterness, 4 or 5 IBUs wouldn't surprise me.

So far I am underwhelmed by the sourness of the beer which should be bright and firmly acidic. I have my doubts about the blend, many people suggest adding the lacto a day or so before the Saccharomyces because the lacto likes simple sugars (which Saccharomyces also likes to eat first) and low alcohol, but this blend is so easy (and cheap compared to buying multiple strains) that it was hard to resit.

The picture to the right is a time lapse, one photo taken every 12 hours for the first 7 days of fermentation (starting 12 hours after I pitched). Nothing particularly exciting, but you can see the krasusen grow, stay in high krausen, then begin to fall.

It will be a few months before this beer is finished, but i thought I would put my recipe and notes up since the yeast/bacteria blend is only available for another 6 weeks or so.

No -Boil Berliner Weiss

Recipe Specifics
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Batch Size (Gal): 3.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 5.00
Anticipated OG: 1.032
Anticipated SRM: 2.4
Anticipated IBU: 0.5 (No idea how accurate this is)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 59 %
Wort Boil Time: 1 Minutes

Grain
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3.50 lbs. Pilsener
1.50 lbs. Wheat Malt

Hops
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0.50 oz. Willamette

Yeast
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WYeast 3191 Berliner-Weisse

Water Profile
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Profile: Pale, Low Hop

Calcium(Ca): 65.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 7.5 ppm
Sodium(Na): 15.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 50.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 96.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 23.0 ppm

pH: 8.25

Mash Schedule
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10 min @ 123 Infuse
10 min @ 136 Decoc (Thick 2 qrts)
45 min @ 146 Infuse
20 min @ 154 Infuse

Notes
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Brewed 1/19/08 with James

Water was 50/50 DC Tap and Distilled water

Added hops to the mash right after dough in. Both malts were from Weyermann.

Pulled a thick decoction 5 minutes after the protein rest started. Brought up to a boil in 10 minutes, then held there for about 12 more.

Batch sparged to collect about 3.5 gallons. Brought to a boil, skimmed, then immediately chilled down to 70. Shook to aerate then pitched a pack of the Berliner Weisse blend, and left it at 70ish

Decent Krausen by 12 hours.

1/27/08 Krausen mostly down, the gravity is down to 1.005. Not much sourness.

1/29/08 Transfered to 3 gallon glass secondary, got just about 3 gallons.

2/11/08 Pulled a sample, gravity still reads 1.005. Still light on the lactic, but increased from last time. Some odd fruitiness as well, hopefully this one will improve with some age.

3/12/08 Finally getting more sourness, another few months and it should be ready to go.

4/16/08 Seems to be getting more sour, pH paper reads below 4.0 (which really isn't that low for a sour beer).

4/19/08 Bottled with 3.5 oz of table sugar. Aiming for around 3.2 volumes of CO2, I'd go higher but I'm concerned about the bottles handling it. The airlock went dry at some point recently, it had water a week previously.

4/25/08 Already pretty good carbonation.

5/10/08 Awarded first in its category at the 2008 Spirit of Free Beer.

5/12/08 Tasted as part of the Alternative Hopping Basic Brewing Radio Episode.

5/27/08 First Tasting, plain, with commercial raspberry, woodruff, and homemade blueberry syrup

8/24/08 Second Tasting, just plain.

7/8/09 Second Berliner Weiss Brew