Berlinner Weisse (Extract)

Weisse As Nice Berliner Weisse
~4 Gallons

2 lb Pilsner LME
2.375 lb Wheat LME
.5 oz Hallertau 4%AA hops (15 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 1338 Euro Ale
Lacto: Wyeast 5335

OG: 1.031
FG: 1.011

This was my first attempt at a sour. After researching various methods, I decided to try the souring method outlined in the March issue of Zymurgy ("Funk with Less Fuss"). For ease, control over sourness, and avoidance of cross-contamination this method is genius!

I first created the wort and pitched the lacto bacteria. I then let it sit keeping the temp as high as possible (it was hard to keep it above 90 as Denver hasn't been that hot) by keeping it in a cooler in the sun during the day and my warm garage at night.

I tasted it every 12 hours or so until I got to the desired level of sourness, then brought the wort back to a boil to kill the lacto and add the hops. Only 15 min boil time!

Left in the primary for about 3 weeks, then went straight into bottles. I decided to skip the secondary as I thought some cloudiness would be OK with the style. This was my first bottling in a few years, and now I remember why I stopped! But I wanted to be able to sample every now and again over a longer period of time to see how it ages so bottles were the way to go.

It tasted amazing at bottling! I can't wait to crack one open in a couple weeks.

My FG came out high on this, and I had a hard time figuring out why. Given that I only made 4G and had a low OG, I thought I had pitched plenty of yeast (though I didn't make a starter).

I just read from Chris Kennedy at Heretic that it could be because the pH may have been too low for the sacc as a result of the souring process. I didn't check the pH so I'm not positive, but this seems like a good explanation, unless the boil would have affected the pH?