Berlinerweisse Questions...

OK... So I brewed my first try at a sour beer this weekend...a Berlinerweisse....Brewing went fine...

After I brewed I cooled down to about 90 degrees... and Pitched White Labs Lacto WLP677.... So My plan was to let the wort sit on the Lacto for 36hrs and then pitch White Labs WLP011 European. So last night at 24hrs I checked the wort... there was no signs of any activities... This morning at 6am (approx 37hrs since I pitched the WLP677) I went down to pitch my yeast (WPL011) and there was a krausen and signs of fermentation.... I was kind of shocked... wasn't sure what to do (I hadn't had my morning coffee yet)... So I went ahead and pitched the WLP011....

So what is going on... I was surprised to get fermentation out of WLP677..... Should I have just let it go... or was pitching the WLP011 the right thing to do.... What is going on??? General Thoughts?


Thanks,

Craig

When I used the Wyeast lacto culture I don't recall seeing any visible signs of fermentation. As such, my concern would be that you got some wild yeasties in there. If that's the case, then at least pitching might give your yeast a chance to beat out the wild yeasts before they do too much damage. On the other hand, maybe what you thought was yeast activity really was the bacteria and for some reason it just looked different than what I recall from my experience. Either way I think I would've pitched the yeast too if I were you.

When I do my berliner weisse I pitch the lacto a full 72hrs ahead of the sach. I also keep it warm in the 85-90 degree F range then cool it down for sach fermentation. This come out pretty sour in the end kind of like sour granny smith apples. The lacto dont produce a krausen or much co2 but you will notice a small film on top of the wort as well as it being pretty cloudy.