Berliner Weisse - not souring

I brewed a split batch of wheat beer. One half got Safale US-05, the other half got WLP630 Berliner Weisse blend. The IBUs of the recipe were a little high for a Berliner at 20 IBUs and I am concerned that because of this the lacto will not be able to do its job.

I pitched the vial of WLP 630 straight into 4 gallons of the unaerated wort. After 1 month in primary at 68 degrees it has dropped down to 1.007 (its been at 1.007 for two weeks) and there is still positive pressure on the airlock with the occasional bubble. However, there is not a trace of sourness in the beer. It tastes and smells like a clean kolsch. Yesterday I racked it to secondary and plan to age it 4-6 months or until it sours.

My question is, at 20 IBUs, is there any chance the lacto will ever sour the beer? Should I pitch another vial of pure lacto or the dregs of a commercial Berliner Weisse while it ages in secondary?

This is my first sour beer. Any Advice is appreciated

The recipe was:

Batch Size 10g
OG 1.040
IBUs 20

Mash Temp: 150

Malts
60% Pilsner
40% Wheat

Hops
1 oz Centennial 60 mins
1 oz Cascade 5 mins

Lacto peters out at a little under 8 ibus. Pitch dregs from a few sour beers into the carboy and see what happens.

Thanks. Thats kinda what I was thinking. I'll toss in the dregs from a Bruery Hottenroth.

yeah, I'd just go with pitching the dregs of a lacto-dominant commercial brew. perhaps even build up a starter? I'd expect to let it sit either in a bottle or a carboy for a good six months.

Another option would to make a small 1-2 gallon batch of no hopped wort (or at least < 5 IBU) and only pitch a pure lactobacillus culture, and then blend them after the second batch gets nice and sour. Dregs could work too, but you never know if you'll also pick up a non-souring yeast that will compete with the souring organisims.

If you go this route, the second batch should be nice and sour after a week or so. If you can keep it warm, that will help too.

maskednegator said:

Lacto peters out at a little under 8 ibus. Pitch dregs from a few sour beers into the carboy and see what happens.

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Depends on the lacto.

But yes... pitch some dregs (Jolly Pumpkin and/or Fantome dregs are highly regarded by others and have always worked well for me- haven't tried any dregs from The Bruery). You could also add a small amount of sugar to give the bugs a little more to eat. I find that my Berliners always get a decent bit more sour after bottling, and I attribute that to the priming sugar.

Thanks guys. I like rorygilmore's suggestion regarding the blended sour beer. I think I might give it a shot.

Whoops delete.

Forgive me if this is sacrilegious but what about adding lactic acid directly? Daniels presents this as a reasonable option. Or is this felt to be the equivalent of hop extract?

ayoungrad said:

Forgive me if this is sacrilegious but what about adding lactic acid directly? Daniels presents this as a reasonable option. Or is this felt to be the equivalent of hop extract?

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Try it on a sample and see what you think. I've had good luck with it on beers that already have some sourness/funk, but I haven't used it as the sole source of sourness.

Isn't a month a bit short to expect a palateable difference?