NewFranconiaBrewing
Active Member
As I've been stuck at home due to shelter-in-place order, I decided to try my hand at a Berliner Weisse. Although I love these beers, they require quite a bit of oversight, so until recently I haven't had the time. As my LHBS is closed due to the pandemic, I've had to rely on mail order ingredients, so this is my first attempt with dry bacteria and dry yeast since I started homebrewing 9 years ago. I only make 3 gallon batches, as I'm the only one that drinks at home, and it takes me months to drink what I make.
I went with a kettle sour method, as it seemed easy and able to produce consistent results.
I don't have a beer fridge, but I have a soft cooler (BrewCooler) that I can use to maintain temps fairly effectively.
I have an old Johnson Controller for measuring fermentation temperature. I used to use it for temp regulation for my beer fridge, but the fridge was taken over by my wife for food storage a few years ago, hence the BrewCooler.
Recipe:
1 lb 12 oz Pale Malt ( 1lb Mecca Grade Pale and 12 oz MaltWerks pale, using up left overs)
1 lb 10 oz Malted Wheat
Mashed @ 151 for 30 minutes
Boil for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria or yeast from mashing
2 grams Lactic Acid to lower pH. Dropped to 4.3, which was within range according to the manufacturer.
OG 1.031, which was just above my target of 1.030.
Added Lallemand Sour Pitch - Targeted 2 grams, actually pitched 5 or 6 due to an error with the scale
Pitched Lacto @102 degrees, held temperature at 98 degrees for 9 hours. First pH reading showed pH had dropped to 3.3 and sample had a strong, delicious tropical fruit flavor. I decided to boil it right away to stop the souring process (Note: I may have misused my pH meter [oh well], so I'll measure at the end to confirm). Boiled for 10 minutes, then cooled to 64 degrees.
Added Fermentis K-97 - 6 grams of yeast total (Picked this yeast to be more authentic to the style, and John Palmer states in How to Brew that European ale yeasts are more pH tolerant than American strains). Rehydrated in previously boiled water for 30 minutes, then pitched into wort.
I had yeast activity at 12 hours and the largest krauzen I've ever seen at 24 hours, it came close to blowing out of my 5 gallon carboy despite only having 3 gallons of beer.
It's been fermenting for 3 days around 64 degrees (plus or minus 1 degree). I'll report back with final results.
I went with a kettle sour method, as it seemed easy and able to produce consistent results.
I don't have a beer fridge, but I have a soft cooler (BrewCooler) that I can use to maintain temps fairly effectively.
I have an old Johnson Controller for measuring fermentation temperature. I used to use it for temp regulation for my beer fridge, but the fridge was taken over by my wife for food storage a few years ago, hence the BrewCooler.
Recipe:
1 lb 12 oz Pale Malt ( 1lb Mecca Grade Pale and 12 oz MaltWerks pale, using up left overs)
1 lb 10 oz Malted Wheat
Mashed @ 151 for 30 minutes
Boil for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria or yeast from mashing
2 grams Lactic Acid to lower pH. Dropped to 4.3, which was within range according to the manufacturer.
OG 1.031, which was just above my target of 1.030.
Added Lallemand Sour Pitch - Targeted 2 grams, actually pitched 5 or 6 due to an error with the scale
Pitched Lacto @102 degrees, held temperature at 98 degrees for 9 hours. First pH reading showed pH had dropped to 3.3 and sample had a strong, delicious tropical fruit flavor. I decided to boil it right away to stop the souring process (Note: I may have misused my pH meter [oh well], so I'll measure at the end to confirm). Boiled for 10 minutes, then cooled to 64 degrees.
Added Fermentis K-97 - 6 grams of yeast total (Picked this yeast to be more authentic to the style, and John Palmer states in How to Brew that European ale yeasts are more pH tolerant than American strains). Rehydrated in previously boiled water for 30 minutes, then pitched into wort.
I had yeast activity at 12 hours and the largest krauzen I've ever seen at 24 hours, it came close to blowing out of my 5 gallon carboy despite only having 3 gallons of beer.
It's been fermenting for 3 days around 64 degrees (plus or minus 1 degree). I'll report back with final results.