Berliner Weisse Equipment issues

[stoneman]

I have been contemplating making a Berliner Weisse using the recipe in BYO December 2005.
4 lb pilsner malt
2 wheat
1.5 oz saaz 3.2%(it called for 1 oz 5 AAU spalt hops, but my Lhbs doesn't carry them)
Wyeast 1007 German ale
Wyeast 4335 Lactobacillus

I am a little scared as I have never tried making a sour beer before. Does all my equipment need to be dedicated to sour beers after this?
I thought I would ferment this in a glass carboy instead of my usual plastic pail, because the glass can't become contaminated.
Do I need a new autosiphon? What about the keg it goes into? Or the beerlines from the keg to the faucet? What about the faucet? etc

Please help relieve my fears, or convince me to stick with Ed Worts Haus Pale Ale.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[Oldsock]

I think it is a good excuse to get a new set of plastic (auto-siphon, tubing etc&#8230 the rest of the stuff (carboy, kegs, faucet) will be fine, but make sure to do an extra thorough job cleaning (hot water and PBW/Oxyclean Free/TSP) and sanitizing (StarSan or Iodophor). I replace plastic every year or so (the sours get the old “clean” gear, and the clean beers get new equipment).

All that said, Lacto is one of the wimpier bugs out there (the commercial strains won’t do much if your beer has more than ~10 IBUs), so you could probably get away with just using all the same equipment as long as you give it a long soak in cleaner followed by sanitizer. I actually made it about a year doing clean/sour beers using the same equipment before I lost a batch to infection.

Good luck.

 

[stoneman]

Thanks Mike!
I feel better about trying now.