1st Berliner Weisse, missing anything?

Ok, I know, another BW thread, but since there are so many different variations, I just want some reassurance. I am down to one Crabtree BW and am not headed back to Co. anytime soon so I thought it is finally time to brew this up.
Planning on something along the lines of OG 1.035 or so FG 1.007ish, close to 50-50 wheat and Pilsner malt, and .5 oz of noble hops. Not really sure on the water to grain ratio as I plan to do the full sour mash for 48 hrs (cooler tun) and would like to be able to add small amounts of boiling water to the mash to heat it if needed. I also have a brew-pad that I am considering using to try and maintain the temp, not sure if it will even work with the cooler? Also, what is the best temp to mash in at? with this type of full sour mash should I mash in at the low end, say 149 or stay in the range of 152-154? Planning on heating sparge water to 168 and then doing my normal 2 step batch sparge follwed by the hops and a quick 15 min boil and the pitch clean ale yeast. Am I missing anything?
Wondering if my coller will hold the temp around 110-120 for 48 hours if the room temp is at least 70F and wrapped in heavy towels?

Forgot to mention I will be adding 1lb of raw pilsner malt to the mash for the lacto.

Anyone?

ChadChaney said:

Anyone?

Click to expand...

Some solid advice here:
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Berliner-Weisse-The-Jamil-Show-10-08-07

I did a no boil but choose to create my own lacto from some pilsner malt before hand. I didn't want to risk having the grain in the mash for 48 hours and stinking up the house. I heard way to many horror stories about that.

I'm on my phone, so I can't post a link but if you search my blog below I have some pretty good notes on my Beliner Weise called Delbruck. From getting the lacto starter to the beer itself. It was a great project. Really need to do that one again.


Updated with link

http://www.lewybrewing.com/2012/03/delbruck-berliner-weisse.html

Mash temp depends how sour you want it. The lacto you get from grain will eat more complex sugars than will lab cultures, but a lower mash temp will give you a more sour beer. You don't need a whole pound of pils--although that amount will speed things up--a generous handful is sufficient. The lacto works fastest at 98.6, but it will work just fine at room temps as well. If you're going to sour mash, I would no-sparge, or pretty close to it.

OK, so if I "no SParge" do I just add the full water volume to the mash tun then?

Yeah, if you can fit it all. It might slightly impair your efficiency. You can add most of your volume as smash water, then add the remainder as ice to drop the temps from145ish to 100ish. Another option is an overnight mash, which might make your wort a little more fermentable.

i want this to be nice and sour, so how low are we talking here, 120?

Ok, well I think I have decided to go with the sour process after now. Going to do a double infusion mash, mash hop, 15 min boil, cool and add raw grain. this way I can put the glass carboy right on the brewpad. What about adding a Lacto culture as well? then I am going to pitch San Diego Super after about 3 days. Thoughts?

I have never done a sour mash, but many reports use 'vomit' to describe the smell. If you are going to use a lacto culture, why use the raw grain? That way you can avoid culturing clostridium which, I believe, is the source of the awful smell.

If you use the lacto culture, I would taste it before adding the yeast to make sure it is sour enough.. It can take a while for the lacto to get going. You really want it sour before you pitch the yeast as the alcohol will slow or stop the lacto. If you use grain, I'm not sure you would want to taste it.

I've done 2 with Lacto, and they both took 5 days at 95 F to get nicely sour.