Berliner Weisse Berliner Weiss

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iamjonsharp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
576
Reaction score
21
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 1007 German Ale/Wyeast 5335 Lactobacillus
Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.030
Final Gravity
1.007
Boiling Time (Minutes)
15
IBU
5
Color
2ish SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 days @ 70F
4# German Pilsner Malt
2# German Wheat Malt

1 oz Spalt @ 15 min

Single Mash Infusion 45 min @ 152F
Mash Out @ 168F

15 minute boil

21 days primary @ 70F

Pitch lacto first, 48 hours later pitch ale yeast

Bottle in Champagne bottles or heavy beer bottles with 8 oz corn sugar

Let's have no bottle bombs. If you can't get these bottles, go with the regular 5oz corn sugar.

The yeast is much more expensive then the rest of the ingredients combined, so when making this, get enough grains/hops to do 2 batches. When done with the first batch, pitch another batch of wort on the yeast cake.
 
We brewed the first batch 3 weekends ago, and the second batch this past Saturday. We bottled the first batch on Saturday also, so it's now just a matter of patience...
We opened a Dogfish 90 minute clone on Friday, it needs a bit more time to carb and clear, but it rocks!
:mug:
 
How did it turn out? How important do you think the yeast type is? I was thinking of using some Wyeast Belgian Abbey II on this.
 
How did it turn out? How important do you think the yeast type is? I was thinking of using some Wyeast Belgian Abbey II on this.

I bottled this too early and it didn't sour up as much as I'd like, the sour aroma was there, just wasn't enough sourness in the flavor. I recommend not bottling until it reaches the sourness you want.

For style, any neutral ale yeast would go well, as the focus is more on the sour aroma/flavor, but trying a Belgian strain sounds like a cool idea, you should get some Belgian aromas/flavors in the final beer, try it! Maybe do two batches, one with a neutral yeast, and one with a Belgian yeast, and compare them down the road.
 
I just brewed this with a 1/2oz of Hallertauer and the WPL677 is on its 3rd day and my starter of WPL011 will be pitched in the morning.
 
I know this thready has been dead for a while, but have a question. I brewed a Berliner Weisse 7 days ago. Pitched lacto, gave it 2 1/2 days, then bitched ale yeast. No starters for either. By the time I pitched the ale yeast, the lacto had formed a decent krausen of its own. Since I've pitched the yeast, no airlock activity or krausen (the lacto krausen fell...). I'm not too worried about lag since that will just give the lacto more time to wour the wort, but I am a little concerned that the yeast won't get a foothold. What are others experience with this?

Thanks!
 
has anyone tried killing off the bugs before kegging? Or should I just brew, keg, serve, then clean the living heck out of the keg and lines that were used?
 
I know this thready has been dead for a while, but have a question. I brewed a Berliner Weisse 7 days ago. Pitched lacto, gave it 2 1/2 days, then bitched ale yeast. No starters for either. By the time I pitched the ale yeast, the lacto had formed a decent krausen of its own. Since I've pitched the yeast, no airlock activity or krausen (the lacto krausen fell...). I'm not too worried about lag since that will just give the lacto more time to wour the wort, but I am a little concerned that the yeast won't get a foothold. What are others experience with this?

Thanks!

I just brewed one yesterday. I made 2L starter for the lacto and let that run for one week... I pitched 1L in each 5gal of 1.031 wort @ 90°F... within about 4 hours, the lacto had developed high krausen. I put on the blow off tubes, dropped the temp to 66°F with a water bath, put oxygen in there for about 30secs (what a mess) and pitched a warm vial of WLP011 European ale for each 5gal.... How did your BW turn out?
 
Planning to bottle mine in early April. Should be cracking the first taste a few weeks after that though I intend to hold off on drinking until June for the most part.
 
I just brewed my first Berliner Weiss last night. Its been about half a day since I pitched the lactobacillus (WPL677, no starter, when the wort hit 75 F) and there's no krausen or other signs of fermentation yet.

How long does it take for lacto to develop a krausen? I was planning on waiting 2 days before pitching in my yeast. Should I wait until the lacto shows activity? Or even pitch in another vial of lacto if it doesn't start up?

Thanks!
 
I had a lacto krausen (probably not the correct term) within 48 hours. I pitched the lacto at around 90F. I pitched yeast after 72 hours, never did get a real krausen after that or much airlock activity. I've got a nice pellicle now and plan to bottle (w/ some fresh yeast) in a couple weeks. I might use some of this beer in the place of a starter for my next berliner or other lacto-sour beer. I figure with the low gravity, low IBU wort, this was effectively a giant starter.
 
Have any berliner weisse brewers reyeasted (or krausened) the beer at bottling? I know krausening is traditional but it seems like a technique more suited to commercial brewing. I was thinking of reyeasting with champagne yeast...

By the time I bottle my BW will have been sitting on WLP001 and Wyeast Lacto for over 2 months (maybe 3 months if I put it off a few more weeks).
 
Does it seem feasible to run this like so:

15.5-16 gallons of finished wort (3 carboys)

9.5# pilsner malt
9.5# Wheat Malt

Mash at 150F until conversion (starch test thoroughly stirred mash, recirculated entire time).

Sparge, boil 15 min
15 min addition of 1.25 oz Hallertauer (4.4%)
Recirculating chill to 140, then run off to carboys at an exit temp of 90F or lower (fast).
oxygenate inline.

Pitch 1 lacto vial per carboy on brewday
on day 2 or 3, pitch 1 packet per carboy of k-97.

finish out a warm fermentation (70F+) until complete, or two weeks, keg, chill, carb...
 
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