First shot at a Sour; issues?

[RoughRiverBrews]

Tried my first Berliners style Weisse recently. Used BeerSmith to develop a recipe base on some others I have seen. Brew process went well I believe and pitched WLP630 Berliner Weisse Blend (I know... should have used a L bacillus strain and then yeast a few days later) at about 24 degrees Celsius (75f) and fermented in primary for 14 days (@21C) then a 2 day cold crash at 3C.
Upon opening the fermenter, noticed a pretty strong smell (can't describe it, not out of character for primary, just quite strong).
The first taste was extremely acidic (almost the same level as stomach acid in your mouth). The beer did NOT look contaminated, nothing mold like growing on top, no funny colours. So I'm not thinking it's spoiled. After a few sips, drinkable but can still taste it.

Questions:
1) is that characteristic of this yeast/l bacilli product? Everything I read mentioned that it would take months to get the sourness.
2) will this get better with age? Or worse? Hate to take up a 5gal keg for 6 months if I should have dumped it.

I've had berlinerweisses before from small breweries but don't remember them being this strong. Plan was to serve this at our farm wedding this summer, but considering a rebrew of a simple blonde or something.

In other news;
currently drinking; Belgian Chocolate milk Stout
currently aging; Munich Dunkel (also for the wedding)
Next up; Hoegaarden Wit clone recipe from ByO Magazine

 

[timdillon36]

If you have the space i would shelf this one and see how it turns out in a few months.

If you want to serve a berliner at the wedding i have a simple recipe that i have done that went from grain to glass in 8-9 days.

My recipe and process:

Make a lacto starter from whole grain.

The beer:
Grain bill:
Pilsner malt to get to 1.040
Single infusion mash @150 for 90 min.
Full volume no sparge.
Cool to 100ish and pitch lacto starter.
Leave for 2 days.
I keep mine in the oven with just the light on to keep it warm.

I have a "dirty" fermenter so i dont bother to heat after the kettle sour. Then pitch a ridiculous amount of yeast.

I use batch management to do this, for example, you talked about making a blond, when that is done. Plan on your berliner going into the fermenter when your blond goes into the keg and use at least half if not all of the yeast cake. Most any nutral yeast will work, 1056, 001, us-05.

I dump back and forth between my kettle and "dirty" bucket to get some O2 in there because i tried to keep it out up to this point. Then swirl up the yeast cake and pitch. Fermentation should take off and be done in a few days then keg it up.

This is my method that works for me but may not suit everyone.

I usually drink it straight from the keg but traditionally you would add syrup to the glass when serving. Woodruff is usually used but i have also used frozen juice concentrate. Blueberry and strawberry work well.

 

[RoughRiverBrews]

Great, thanks a lot for the recipe. I think I'll give it a try.
The sour is currently at 3 degrees Celsius. Is this the best temp to leave it at? Other options are 20C or 10C in the cold cellar.

 

[timdillon36]

If the yeast and bugs have work to do i would let them finish up at 20. Most long term sours are aged in the 18-22 range.

My guess is this what you are dealing with on this brew.