Berliner Weisse suggestions

[smh]

This is a double post from another forum, but might also fit in here:

I was in Philly and at Nodding Head tasted one of the most unique, best beer I've ever had in the Berliner Weisse. I'd like to take an attempt at making this. Its my first go at a beer; done mead and plenty of cider. I want to keep this small because I'll bottle and hate doing it. Also, I only have a 3Ga carboy. I entered a 2.75Ga batch size into Beersmith, assuming that I have to leave headspace.

This is partly a stab in the dark modifying some all grain recipes I've read here. I'd appreciate any and all pointers/corrections/tips/abuse.

1lb Extra Light Dry Extract
1lb Dry Wheat extract

I'm only going to boil for 15 minutes. BeerSmith suggests that I need 5oz of Tettnanger pellets to get an IBU of 5.4. This seems like a lot to me, no?

These all seem to hit Beersmith's BW targets, except colour which I don't care about. The est OG is 1.032.

I'll pitch Wyeast Lacto for 48h before pitching Wyeast German ale on top.

Am I way out to lunch here, or does this seem reasonable? How long can I expect before this is drinkable? It has to be gone by end of September since I"m likely moving by then.

 

[dwarven_stout]

Looks like a plan to me. 1oz of hops should do it- don't worry about the bitterness numbers.

 

[step]

Please don't use 1 oz of hops. Literally one hop pellet would fine. We generally call this the "token" hop pellet as it might not be "beer" without at least one pellet. Really though, lactobacillus is very sensitive to hop compounds and the general consensus is that 10 IBUs is the max lacto can overcome.

 

[dwarven_stout]

Please don't use 1 oz of hops. Literally one hop pellet would fine. We generally call this the "token" hop pellet as it might not be "beer" without at least one pellet. Really though, lactobacillus is very sensitive to hop compounds and the general consensus is that 10 IBUs is the max lacto can overcome.

He's boiling for 15 minutes.

 

[step]

According to my software 1 oz of Tett(4.5%) for 15 min will give 18 IBU in a 3 gal batch with 2 pounds of extract in a 3 gal batch

 

[smh]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong with BeerSmith. To get this recipe to hit 5 IBU with a 15 minute boil it suggests I need 4oz....?

 

[dwarven_stout]

According to my software 1 oz of Tett(4.5%) for 15 min will give 18 IBU in a 3 gal batch with 2 pounds of extract in a 3 gal batch

I missed the 3gal batch.

Yeah, I'd cut it down. Don't worry about the software telling you to put in 4oz or whatever. I put 1oz of 4% in 5gal for my BW with a 15min boil (actually a mashhopped decoction, but whatever) and it turns out fine. It's not too much to overpower the lacto.

 

[smh]

Thanks for the suggestions. I brewed this up a couple days ago. Ended up using 0.5oz for 5 minutes in the boil. Pitched wyeast 3191.
It was really hot here ~85 for the first three days, now by room has cooled to 70. Took a couple of days to get going then bubbled strongly for about 24h. There is little activity now, but is still very cloudy.
How long should I wait until transferring and/or bottling?

 

[smh]

I just racked this off to the bottling bucket, finished at 1.005, so right about 3%. Just about perfect abv for me. As for tartness I think it's at a decent level. It's not lemon sour, but there's a definite bite. I don't drink this with syrup so keeping it a little less sour isn't a bad thing to me. Will bottle tomorrow with ~2.5vol of CO2.

Overall, I'd say 2 weeks is a decent wait to bottle a sour beer like this. Very happy and will almost certainly do again depending on how it comes out of the bottle.

If one were to harvest this yeast, is it safe to assume that the lacto will survive too?