Anyone Ever Brewed Berliner Weisse?

I just had a bottle from our shop the other day. You don't see it much anymore, but it's really a great style...and this guy over in Germany is painstakingly recreating classic forgotten styles. Really great stuff, like a hefe but with a touch of sourness that is extremely refreshing.

So I'm guessing that the sourness comes from acidulated malt. Here's what Weyermann's site recommends:

40% Weyermann Pilsner Malt
45% Weyermann Wheat Malt Pale
7 % Weyermann Carahell®
8 % Weyermann Acidulated Malt

But then...on Wyeast's site, they have Lactobacillus delbrueckii, which they say can be used in Berliner Weisse. So, do I need the lacto if I use acidulated?

Any input? I'd love to try this style.

I can't help you but you might want to try the brewmaster at the nodding head brew pub in phila, they brew a Berliner Weisse served with Woodruff syrup.

Their number is on their crappy website
www.ripsneakers.com/nodding

http://byo.com/feature/1401.html

here's what byo has to say...

You can always add lactic acid and sour to taste after fermentation. Gives you a chace to skip and or add to the acid malt or lacto. Maybe a little more controled, but a lot less fun I would imagine.

I've been planning on this, but I was planning on doing a sour mash instead of using acid malt. Of course, lacto is always a good option.

I had both the red and the green ones in Berlin just to say I had them, but since I lived in Bavaria for 9 years nothing beats banana! (those mugs should be weizen glasses...MODERATOR!!!! Can we get a smily icon with some of the proper glasses here????)

That BYO article is eeevil. I wanna brew every one of those beers.

Yeah I have been looking into this as well. My view on it is you can attain sourness from making a pre-boil soured mash (that has some tricks in it's own right), or you can season with the lacto's later in the life of the beer. I think the second would be more authentic, but the first might be easier. You can use pre-acidulated malt, but where's the fun in that?! :fro:

I'd probably just go the BYO route...hehe, 2 week starter for the lacto...