• Please visit and share your knowledge at our sister communities:
  • If you have not, please join our official Homebrewing Facebook Group!

    Homebrewing Facebook Group

Alferman Imperial Berliner Weisse

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Thanks. Brewed Friday and fermenting heavily this AM. Smells pretty nasty...
 
Just made this adding the lacto here shortly

image-3559378382.jpg
 
Just to update real quick - I checked in on mine last night at 4 weeks in the fermenter (following the recipe exactly) and this was perfectly sour and I taste a sort of musty funkiness in there. I really love it! Should be freeing up a keg this weekend to rack it over as I think the flavor is where I want it. Mine was sitting at 1.004ish. Great, simple recipe for anyone considering a berliner weisse.

edit - Another update 3/6 - kegged 4 days ago and force carbed at 30psi for 3 days. Man, this is good. Like really perfectly sour, highly carbonated and a great wheaty/funky flavor after the sour onslaught. I'm wondering if I can bottle from the keg like I usually do without breaking bottles...
 
I've been wanting to do a relatively simple sour beer for a while, without the wait a flanders red/brown or lambic takes. Came across this, and have plans to try this in a couple weeks with a buddy of mine. I'm pretty damn stoked. This is going to be a trial run, because my wife absolutely loves sour beer and she's pregnant right now. So no drinky for her. If we pull this off well I plan to have a batch done and ready for her for after the kid comes. She's due in July so a Berliner Weisse should be a perfect beer for that hot, humid time of year.
 
A question about boiling: is there a concern of DMS production and lack of volatilzation when no boil or a very short boil is used?
 
A question about boiling: is there a concern of DMS production and lack of volatilzation when no boil or a very short boil is used?

You shouldn't get any DMS because you are never heating the work to boiling temperatures, and if so, it's only for a short time.
 
Just to update real quick - I checked in on mine last night at 4 weeks in the fermenter (following the recipe exactly) and this was perfectly sour and I taste a sort of musty funkiness in there. I really love it! Should be freeing up a keg this weekend to rack it over as I think the flavor is where I want it. Mine was sitting at 1.004ish. Great, simple recipe for anyone considering a berliner weisse.

edit - Another update 3/6 - kegged 4 days ago and force carbed at 30psi for 3 days. Man, this is good. Like really perfectly sour, highly carbonated and a great wheaty/funky flavor after the sour onslaught. I'm wondering if I can bottle from the keg like I usually do without breaking bottles...

Awesome! Glad you like it!
 
I'm planning on brewing this recipe, or one with slight variation very soon, but I have one question. I would like to use a boil to add a touch of the hop bitterness. That said, when using a Rahr 2-row or the more typical Pils if you only do a 15 minute boil, wouldn't that create a lot of DMS? I'm still fairly new, but I thought those paler malts created a lot of DMS when heated and need the full boil to get rid of it.
 
You shouldn't get any DMS because you are never heating the work to boiling temperatures, and if so, it's only for a short time.

Good to know thanks.

A further question not related specifically to the recipe: if one wanted to hop a wort for 20 mins, would it be necessary to start the boil 40 mins before hopping to preliminarily rid the wort of the DMS that will be created during the 20 min boil?
 
@Morkin
I used your method for creating a lacto starter. It's been going for 4 days now in a jar with foil over the opening. I just checked it today, and it appears theres some grey mold developing on the top. Is that supposed to be there, or is my starter shot?
 
Yeah, found out it was just pellicle. Starter is fine. However, I pitched yeast 2 days after pitching lacto and 24 hours later I'm not seeing any activity. I'm going to give it another day or two, then I might need to try to find a way to fix a stuck fermentation.
 
LoneWorlfPR how did it work out? I'm concerned becuase my lacto starter formed a pellicle after 4 days. I can't seem to find an answer of whether or not lacto forms a pellicle. Some people say yes, some say no. I don't want to pitch it if it's gone bad.
 
Tried this recipe. Brewed it about 2.5 weeks ago. This is it in all its glory today at about 1.006.

Tastes wild.

CZ1FD
 
Tried this recipe. Brewed it about 2.5 weeks ago. This is it in all its glory today at about 1.006.

Tastes wild.

CZ1FD

Looks about right!

I haven't made this beer in almost 6 months and I am glad that everyone is enjoying it. I'm going to be making another this Sunday, and will post some pictures to answer any questions anyone has.
 
Looks about right!

I haven't made this beer in almost 6 months and I am glad that everyone is enjoying it. I'm going to be making another this Sunday, and will post some pictures to answer any questions anyone has.

Oooof. Didn't have any yeast, so had to dump the starter.... sad. Will post some pictures when I have.
 
Yeah, I do have a question. Should this be fermenting at a warmer temperature? I have it sitting at 64 right now and it still has a really funky smell kicking.
 
Yeah, I do have a question. Should this be fermenting at a warmer temperature? I have it sitting at 64 right now and it still has a really funky smell kicking.

What I do is rack to my fermentor at around 100 degrees. I will then pitch the lacto. I monitor the temperature, and if it falls below say 85, I put a blanket on it. Over the course of 48 hours, it should get to a temperature of aroudn 70-60 degrees depending on where you are fermenting. 64 should be a fine temperature for fermenting once you have given the lacto a kickstart.
 
Well, I pitched the lacto at 100 and let it sit for 2 days, I get that milky lacto film on the top and then pitched the yeast after that. If i want to give the lacto more of a push at this point, I can just move it to a warmer temp yes?
 
No need if you gave the lacto 2 days to outperform the yeast. It will sour up even after you give it a kick with the yeast. You could warm it up, but I'm not sure it will do you any good, and could be a huge hindrance if you have already pitched the yeast, as it will give you nasty off-flavors.

The only thing the warmer temperature does is give a better environment for the lacto to grow. It would still give you sourness if you fermented the lacto at say 70 degrees, it just takes longer.
 
Lb7M7.jpg


So it's been about a month, have an interesting development I think. Looks like a bunch of biodomes!

Sorry for the crappy picture, my light burned out in the room i ferment in and im out of light bulbs!
 
Well, after much waiting, it's all done. Here's the first small pull off the keg. It turned out beautiful! Bear in mind, this is also the non-imperial recipe I came up with. However, big thanks to Morkin for his. I used your recipe as the base for this, and it wouldn't have turned out nearly as well as it did without it.

finishedberliner.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top