My 1st Berliner Weisse Experiment

[Natdavis777]

I recently brewed a BW and wanted to do a sour mash, but keeping my temps up over 95F in my MLT seemed to pose a problem, since I use a keggle. So I altered my process. Instead of sour mashing, I mashed and sparged as normal. I then ran 11 gal split between two buckets and cooled to 122F, then pitched my malted grain. I snapped the lids on halfway, and purged with Co2 for awhile for each bucket. To maintain my temps, I put the buckets in my attic above the garage, where is easily maintains 95-100F. This was all done on Sat. I figured I would let it ride for three days, since I have Tues off, and I would be able to finish then (today).

I brought the buckets down from the attic and popped the lids off. To my surprise, no nasty, puke smell. It was different to say the least, but it wasn't nauseating. Had a good tartness to the aroma. Grabbed a sample to taste, and I was shocked! Tasted awesome! Great tartness upfront, but not overpowering. I'm anxious to see how well this beer turns out.


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[Dirty25]

Cool,I really dispise the berlinerweiße style because of the puke taste/smell. I figure I'll try making some anyway if this summer ever gets warm.

 

[Natdavis777]

I did a lot of research before I brewed, and the main points I took from what I found were:
1) Keep the temp above 95F
2) purge all oxygen before sealing up the sour mash to inhibit other bacterial infection, such as acetobacter.



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[Natdavis777]

Update on the Berliner Weisse. Beer turned out pretty well. The attic was able to keep the temps in range, and with the good amount of CO2 purged into the buckets, no other bacterial infection. It has a nice tartness to the palate but not overwhelming, like what I thought I might get from a 3 day sour mash. Fermented out pretty quick, too.




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