Smoked Berliner Weisse - No Boil - BOS

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mysteryshrimp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
230
Reaction score
35
Location
Acworth
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
S-33
Yeast Starter
Dry
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
Lacto
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.032
Final Gravity
1.004
Boiling Time (Minutes)
1
IBU
6
Color
2.5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
45 @ 75
Additional Fermentation
Lacto alone @ 85 for the first 24h.
Tasting Notes
Smoke flavor more than background, but not overpowering. Sour enough.
I just heard that this was awarded BOS at Crystal Coast Brew-Off.

5 gallon batch @ 75%
3 lbs Flaked wheat
2 lbs Pilsner malt
1 lbs Weyerman Smoked malt
.5 oz Hallertau (Mash hopping)
1 packet S-33 or similar yeast
1 vial Lacto or bottle from your last batch



Sanitize your mash tun and your brewpot. Mash with hops @ 155 for 90 minutes. Sparge @ 170.

Do not boil. Chill to 85 degrees. Put in Primary, pitch Lacto or a bottle from your last batch. After 24 hours (or to taste), pitch S-33 or another fairly clean or fruity Sacc yeast.

My primary was 45 days, but it didn't change much in primary after 3 weeks. Carb to at least 3.5 volumes.

The result is a beer that is sour enough, with smoke more than in the background but not overpowering.
 
Congrats on the BOS! I need to give this recipe a try sometime, although I need to read up more on the process as I have never used Lacto before, or even attempted a sour. Cheers!
 
This sounds a lot like a smoked berliner weisse I had at Bellwoods in Toronto. Since that was quite good, I will be brewing this.
 
Is the wyermann smoked malt the beech smoked barley or the oak smoked wheat?
 
Thanks for the idea! I've had a few smoky-sour beers that I've loved. I'm planning to tweak this recipe this week using midnight wheat instead of flaked and dregs from Tart of Darkness for a light-bodied, dark n' smoky sour.
 
Just brewed this up yesterday and pitched the yeast tonight. Used WLP011 and 0.5 lbs. of Simpsons Smoked Malt, and plan to bottle around 2/12 for drinking around first of March. Excited to see how this turns out.
 
Just brewed today. Excited to see how this turns out. Didn't have enough flaked wheat so used 1lbs flaked rye.
 
I know flaked wheat and white wheat are different but I have a TON of white wheat laying around. Think it would still turn out alright if I substitute for one another?
 
Brewed this up using just a .5lb of Simpsons smoked malt and WLP011/Wyeast 5335lacto. Came out with much more smoke than I anticipated. Halved it because I was brewing this up for my daughter's birthday party; something the adults could enjoy. While everyone enjoyed it, the smoke was a bit too prominent, and kept everyone at two beers. I enjoy a smoked beer, but I'd almost consider doing just .25lb next time of the smoked malt. Just my preference though, with this style. Thanks for the recipe! It was definitely a hit, and look forward to drinking through the final 20, or so bottles to see how they hold up.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
@bradthoc I think that you will find that the type and age of your smoke malt will have a big effect on the qty needed. You might have to play it by ear depending on the main Nd what you are trying to get out of it.

I am curious. Did you find that the smoke faded at all in those last 20 bottles?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Never had Simpson's Smoked Malt, but I know that the Briess is way more smokey than Weyermann.

I can tell you that the smoke faded slightly over the year or so that I kept some bottles of this.
 
I am curious. Did you find that the smoke faded at all in those last 20 bottles?


No. I was kinda hoping it would, but it didn't. All gone now though, except for one I'll try at a year old.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
The only Simpson's smoked malt I know is peat smoked which is INSANELY potent stuff.

What makes a "smoked Berliner weiss" different from a Gratzer / Grodziskie or even a Lichtenhainer?


Gratzer/ Grodiziskie uses oak smoke, so that may be a difference. I've only managed to find one German Lichtenhainer and it's a modern recreation but it was only mildly sour and only mildly smoky -more of a rauch malt smoke than an oak smoke. -It was actually an incredibly easy drinking summer beer -lightly tart and lightly smokey -I could easily drink a few liters of it and I'd never say that about really any other lactic soured or smoked beer.

If the Lichtenhainer I tried was an actual reflection of the style then it's just a beer that's held in perfect balance -the acidity brightens the smoke and the smoke makes the beer more substantial -it fills out the "middle section", if you will -kind of like how Munich malt fills in the middle section in a pure basemalt beer but obviously the smoke allows you to keep the finishing gravity very low. ---I struggle with words to describe it and this as close as I can get.

There may well be room for a properly lactic sour beer like a Berliner that contains the mild rauch malt smoke that wouldn't techically be a Gratzer or a Lichtenhainer and may well best be called a "smoked Berliner" but these styles rapidly get very close together.


Adam
 
Brewed this with the original grain bill, and am finding it not excessively smokey. Used acidulated malt in carboy instead of pure lacto culture and happy with sourness.
 
Though I have to say, my wife described it as drinking an ashtray. But, then again, she doesn't like beer to begin with.
 
Forgot to mention that I pitched s33 and acidulated grain concurrently instead of
lacto first. Turned out fine, but maybe not as tart as it would have otherwise.
 
I will say that, by the end of my stash of this, it was very tart. I considered it mostly undrinkable at that point and took to mixing it with more raspberry syrup or adulterating it even further.
 

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