Quick Berliner Weiss

The method for this brew is a little different than normal. I started by tossing a handful of MO and wheat malt into 1L of starter wort. After a few days the pH had dropped to 3.5 which is low enough to kill off most of the funkier bacteria, like enterobacter, that lead to vomit aroma in the beer.

Once the starter was ready I did a normal mash with the grain, followed by a 15 minute boil to kill off anything alive in it. The sour starter is then pitched and the wort is allowed to sour over a few days at a warm temperature. My garage should be alright this summery time of year. Then, another 15 minute boil with the hops for just a few IBUs. This kills off the souring bugs. After chilling, WY German Ale yeast is pitched and the beer ferments and is dealt with normally from then on.



Quick Soured Berliner Weiss

brewed on: 4/20/12
OG: 1.036
IBUs: 5.7 IBUs
SRM:  3.1
mash temp: 153F
 
6 gallon batch
75% efficiency assumed

malt:
4 lbs Pils
4 lbs Wheat malt


hops:
25 gm Hallertau @ 3.9 - 15 minutes

yeast:
step 1 - sour starter
step 2 - WY 1007 German Ale

Berliner Weiss

Over the winter my friend Jesse brewed a Berliner Weiss that turned out delicious. He used a historically influenced no-boil method where he did a normal mash, boiled a tiny amount of hops in the sparge water, then sparged with that, and then did not boil the resultant wort at all after lautering. It had a butyric vomity character for several months, but it has faded significantly now into a tart, complex beer that is aging nicely. He happen to save the yeast/bug slurry from that batch and made a second BW with it as well that, as far as I know, hasn't been bottled yet.

I got him to share half of the resultant slurry from that batch with me and brewed one of my own following his original method yesterday. I was brewing a Habanero Pale Ale, and happen to have a bunch of Belgian Plis and German wheat malt I bought in bulk just sitting around, a thermos full of BW yeast slurry, and I bought the hops awhile back so I could brew it at my leisure without having to make a trip out for a tiny bag of hops. Here's the recipe:

Berliner Weiss

brewed on: 9/26/2010
expected OG: 1.028
Expected IBUs: 4 IBUs
mash temp: 150F

mash:
3 lbs. Belgian Pils
3 lbs. German Wheat

Hops:
0.5 oz Hallertauer - boiled in the sparge water for 20 minutes prior to sparging

Yeast:
Jesse's yeast/bug slurry

Boiled the hops in the sparge water, but otherwise this was completely a no-boil recipe. I collected the wort, let it cool naturally in the basement with a lid on it, then transfered it to a carboy and pitched the slurry while it was lukewarm (to encourage a bit of bacterial growth before the yeast kicked in.)

10/4/10 - SG ~0.999. Appley, malt w/ slight sourness developing.