Berliner Weiss

[erockdoc]

Another update

What's the update?

 

[humann_brewing]

what kind of activity should I see on the starter for the lacto?

I have not seen anything and it is at 83F right now.

I did a starter before with WLP677 using pasteurized apple juice and saw quite a bit of activity. I tried to keep it in the 90s though.

 

[Bradthoc]

Is this a 10gal recipe?

 

[Saccharomyces]

If you don't want to use a commercial sour culture for this, you can do the following, which I have tried and it worked *very* well:

Start with some weak wort around 4*P (1.016). A few tablespoons of DME in a liter of hot water will do the trick. Toss in a handful of grain. Stick it in your oven at 120*F overnight if it has a warm setting like mine; otherwise you can use a heating pad and play with it until the thermometer reads around 120. Whatever you do make sure it stays over 110*F. You don't want the bacteria to grow that make poopy diaper flavors. *yuck*

The next day, make up a new batch of weak wort but keep the volume at 750ml this time. Toss in a tablespoon of dried milk, or use some milk instead of water. The lactic acid producing bacteria love milk sugars. Pour 250ml of the first starter into this one and toss the rest of it. Stick this second starter in the oven or on your heating pad again and let it work for a full 24 hours.

Now, the important part -- give it a taste. It should be tangy, but clean -- with a cheese-like flavor and aroma. If it's funky, repeat the build-up step to let the lactic bacteria outcompete the funk. If it tastes and smells good you're ready to use it.

 

[JonM]

I think I'm going to try this one soon, and do it per the instructions on the original post, except for one thing - I have 1007 on hand, so I think I'll use that instead of the Brett in the yeast half. (I'll use a commercial lacto culture.) Any foreseeable problems with using 1007 instead of Brett?

 

[JonM]

Question about this one - when you combine the two halves, is that to allow the sacch to ferment the sugars left behind by the lactose half? Or is combining for a month simply to let it all age?

 

[Hanso]

The former primarily.


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I brewed this beer about 1 week ago and both portions have died down with fermentation but I haven't had a gravity reading yet. Any thoughts on the idea of racking each one into corny kegs to free up my fermenters? I wouldn't be mixing the two separate fermentations as of yet. Just trying to free up my fermenters that have the extra head space for brewing this weekend. Thanks.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Moving to keg shouldn't be a problem. The main idea is to let the lactic acid bacteria consume all of the sugars they can before introducing them to the yeast -- and bacteria are a bit slow, especially if they aren't in their ideal temp zone. That said, if you take a gravity reading and it's down near 1.000, it's done and there's no reason to keep them separated any longer.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Moving to keg shouldn't be a problem. The main idea is to let the lactic acid bacteria consume all of the sugars they can before introducing them to the yeast -- and bacteria are a bit slow, especially if they aren't in their ideal temp zone. That said, if you take a gravity reading and it's down near 1.000, it's done and there's no reason to keep them separated any longer.

Well I racked them together/combined yesterday and both the Brett and the Lacto fermentations were at 1.004. This was after 10 days of fermentation. I figured this was close enough as I'm planning a big brew day and needed the fermenters. I was surprised how much the brett sample reminded me of a fresh hefeweizen. Thanks for the advice. I'm intersted to see how this batch turns out. I'll be watching the gravity for any further signs of metabolism but I figure I'll at least give it another 2 weeks before I start to cold condition.

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

I have no kegs. Will this come out proper bottle conditioned? How high can i prime?

 

[Hanso]

Bottling is fine. 3 volumes.
Unless you're ok with a keg, dip tube and line getting infected with bacteria and brett, bottling might be a better way to go about it anyway.

 

[flugelizor]

I got inspired to try my first Berliner Weisse, and I made my own lactobacillus culture from this thread as follows:
Boil a quart of weak wort.
When it cools to 120F, pitch 1/4 cup of whole belgian pale malt.
Put it in a yogurt maker at 115-120F for 24 hours.
At the end of 24 hours, boil 750ml of weak wort, add 1/4 cup of milk, and cool to 120F, top it off with 250ml of previous culture (strained).
It smells faintly of creamed corn, and tastes tart and clean!

So, naturally, being a saccromyces guy I have a few questions for the "bug experts".

If I want to store it for a few days, should I cool it to room temperature and slow the feeding?

What do you suppose I have here? a cocktail of different strains of lactobacillus? Or will one thing dominate?