Fixing a Berlinner Weisse

I attempted to make my first Berlinner Weisse back in October. I pitched the German Ale Blend and the Lacto at the same time and I'm regretting this decision. I just tasted it from the fermenter the other day and there is zero sourness to it. I wish I would have pitched the lacto first and then the yeast so that the Lacto would have a nice head start.

Does anyone know how I could fix this beer to make it sourer?

or

Can anyone recommend a way to fake sourness in the beer when I bottle it?

Thanks!

add some lactic acid to the beer, you should be able to get it at any LHBS if not heres a link

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/lactic-acid-4-oz.html

I am an armchair quarterback, as I have not done this, but Ive read and heard lactic acid additions with the caveat that you have to be careful how much you use. I do not recall the limit.

How much would you recommend adding to a 5 gallon batch? I like things quite sour. Not too puckering, but sour like Boon's Oude Gueze sour.

cmdrico7812 said:

How much would you recommend adding to a 5 gallon batch? I like things quite sour. Not too puckering, but sour like Boon's Oude Gueze sour.

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Figure it proportionally. Pour a pint and add lactic acid in small amounts and taste. Once you've hit a level you like, redact that to the total 5 gallon volume.

Flyangler has a pretty good approach, although I tend to do it very slowly in the bottling bucket (before adding priming sugar)

I like things pretty sour as well, and I added about 1/4 to a 1/3 of a bottle to a berliner in the past that didnt get sour at all

ryane, when you say 1/4 to 1/3 of a bottle, what size bottle were you using? I just want to get a rough idea of how much I need to go buy. Thanks.

i just looked it was a 4oz bottle and it may have been more like a 1/3 to a little less than half of the bottle

remember its all based on taste though, so when you do it, add a very small amt, mix and taste, then repeat until it tastes good

I like mine fairly sour, which i normally drink straight, but if you like to mix with fruit syrup it might even be a bit better to make it slighly more sour than you would otherwise prefer to offset some of the sugar

I am having the same issue with mine and I did let the Lacto go 3 days prior to adding my yeast. It smells sour but no sour taste whatsoever. I'd like to know how much you added. I really like mine sour as well and some puckering wouldn't be bad for me. I am giving mine another month or 2 and will goto the lactic acid.

I used 2 oz of lactic acid in a pale wheat beer that didn't sour with good results.

I've had fine sourness pitching lacto and yeast at the same time, the key is having a strong/healthy culture of lacto going at pitching. When you pitch lacto first you run the risk of the low pH disrupting the yeast fermentation (as happened to a friend of mine).

I added 15ml to just under a gallon, and it seems to have a nice level of sourness. Can't entirely confirm this immediately, as it's presently carbonating, but I'll get back to you on it after another week or two.

I did a bit of taste testing last night. I pulled 8oz. out of the fermenter and began adding acid, stirring, and tasting. I started with 1/4 tsp. and it wasn't enough. I then added another 1/4 tsp. and it was starting to get there. Then I added another 1/8 tsp. and this seemed to be about right.

So if my math is right, that's 5/8 tsp. for every 8 oz. I have in the fermenter. There's 640 oz. in 5 gallons so that would be 50 tsp. of acid for the entire 5 gallon batch (640 / 8 * 5 /8). There's 0.1666 oz. in a tsp. so I would need 8.3 oz. The bottle I bought is only 5 oz.

However, according to others on here, they aren't putting nearly this much in their Berlinners. I guess it all depends on taste. Thoughts?

Keep in mind that carbonation also lowers the pH of your beer considerably, and adds to the sourness. So your lactic acid will "bite" more once the beer is carbonated.

I'm in the process of making my first Berliner Weisse as well, using only lactic acid for souring (I'm a lazy noob). For a reference sample, I got a bottle of Weihenstephan 1809 (sadly the only Berliner I can find around here), poured some into a sanitized glass, and covered it with foil. I then let it sit alongside my fermenter for about a week before bottling, so that it could decarbonate and be at the same temperature as my beer.

The 1809 wasn't that sour to begin with (not nearly as sour as I remember Berliner Kindl being). But once it was decarbed, I could taste ZERO sourness. So it really wasn't all that helpful as a reference sample -- although my wife and I did enjoy drinking the other 80% of the "leftover" beer when we first opened the bottle!

I went with 3 fluid ounces of 88% lactic acid in 5 gallons. This contributed a noticeable lactic flavor, without it being too sharp. Hopefully once it carbs, it will be perfect. I bottled last weekend, so I won't know for sure for another couple of weeks.

I read somewhere on the Interwebs that most Berliners have somewhere between 0.3% and 0.5% lactic acid in them. That would work out to 2.18 - 3.64 fluid ounces per 5 gallon batch if you're using 88% food grade lactic acid solution.

Like I said, I haven't even completed my first sour ale at this point. So I'm no expert. But I would recommend you take a sample of something you like that is sour and let it come to room temperature and decarbonate for a few days. Then taste it and notice the difference. That should give you a better idea of how things should taste before they go into the bottles/keg.

Thank you so much for this. Your advise is very helpful. Let me know how yours comes out. I'm thinking of using about 4 oz. in mine because I really, really love sour beer. I really want that nice tart refreshing kick of a berlinner in the summer. Thanks again.

cmdrico7812 said:

I did a bit of taste testing last night. I pulled 8oz. out of the fermenter and began adding acid, stirring, and tasting. I started with 1/4 tsp. and it wasn't enough. I then added another 1/4 tsp. and it was starting to get there. Then I added another 1/8 tsp. and this seemed to be about right.

So if my math is right, that's 5/8 tsp. for every 8 oz. I have in the fermenter. There's 640 oz. in 5 gallons so that would be 50 tsp. of acid for the entire 5 gallon batch (640 / 8 * 5 /8). There's 0.1666 oz. in a tsp. so I would need 8.3 oz. The bottle I bought is only 5 oz.

However, according to others on here, they aren't putting nearly this much in their Berlinners. I guess it all depends on taste. Thoughts?

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I did the same calculation last week with my mostly unsour BW. My calculation came up with 7+fluid ounces, so I just dumped in the 4oz bottle that I had and crossed my fingers (it's only beer, right?). It came out pretty nice. If I were you, I'd just go an ounce at a time if you want to take a more conservative approach... For me 4 was on the money, and I like mine really sour too.

Munsoned: I assume you did your taste testing with uncarbed room temp. beer?

Nope. I threw it into the kegerator for a while to cool it down, then came back and quick carbed it up before doing my tastings/adding of the acid (rocked the hell out of that keg at 30psi).

Of course, I had to bleed off the pressure to open the keg to add the acid, and I probably lost a bunch of carbonation in the process, but it has been back in the kegerator for a week+ now, and seems to taste ok to me (like I said, I like my sours REALLY sour).