Ok, so I did 5 gallons with the WL Lacto at about 90 degrees for 5 days. Added dry German ale yeast and gave it a day. Gravity reading went from 1.036 down to 1.010. It's not that sour, fermentation was very fizzy. I hope I have not poisoned myself drinking this.
Ok, so I did 5 gallons with the WL Lacto at about 90 degrees for 5 days. Added dry German ale yeast and gave it a day. Gravity reading went from 1.036 down to 1.010. It's not that sour, fermentation was very fizzy. I hope I have not poisoned myself drinking this.
dcHokie said:Keyes, how long do you plan on letting this sit before bottling/kegging?
Oldsock said:I can't think of a good reason to add hops to a Berliner weisse as a homebrewer (to get label approval, commercial "beers" have to have hops). As was said the primary "preservative" power of hops is their inhibition of Lactobacillus, which isn't something that is desirable in this case (as it is in spontaneous fermentations).
Sadly White Labs Lacto produces very little sourness. I fermented with nothing but, and a year later the beer tastes like an American wheat not a Berliner.
Initially I felt this way too ... And then I had a few craft (American) Berlinners. First few sips were great, but then I noticed this growing "I just threw up in my mouth a little" type of flavor. After 12 months, my bottle conditioned white labs version (used Grolsh bottles to avoid bottle bombs) were pretty darn good. Not as sour as I wanted, but they ended up as a great summer quencher.
Keyes88 said:If sour mashing is done at such a high temp, why isn't fermentation done at the same level??
Keyes88 said:But what if I only have lacto in my primary? Then I won't have off flavors, right?
I'm just going off the idea of sour mashing at 110 or whatever it's suppose to be. Why not ferment at that if possible?
I think OldSock should try it while in San Diego, it's hot enough there and he's not busy or anything right now!
The problem is that if you let the pH drop too low (< 3.4) you can have issues with the health of the primary yeast.
I've seen this same idea mentioned a lot. Without specifically saying it's 100% false, I feel obligated to point out that apple and grape juices each have a pH below 3.4, and ale yeasts seem to chew through those easily. Whatever off-flavors you get from stressed yeast at a pH of 3-3.5 will probably be covered up by that same pH anyway.
What is a "good" pH level for a berliner weisse? Im going to get some wine strips today and test it out.
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