Quick Berliner Weiss????

[RickyLopez]

Can anyone share an easy way to make tart beers? I'm reading up on sour mashing and lactic acid, and it all sounds great! But, me and my girl just got back from Germany where she had maaaany Berliner Weisse with the cordial syrup they add and she challenged me to make one. I'm not sure if yhe entire effort of making a whole sour mash and using bugs and waiting months is reasonable especially if I'm just going to add the syrup in the end! Si ejats a good way to have that nice tartness in the beer? I'm just trying to get a nice tart light beer to compliment the fruit cordials. Help?

 

[edecambra]

Hey man, what I can say is make a lacto starter, take about three table spoons of whole base malt and throw it in a pint of table sugar solution at about 1.030. Let it sit and get crusty for about a week. It will smell like tart green apples and you know its good.

Then mash, heat it up to 180 to pasturize, then chill it to about 110-115 and hold it there! wrap it in a blanket or similar and pitch your lacto starter and keep it warm for 24 hours or so.

You can taste it and when it is sour enough, cool it down and pitch us 05 or similar neutral yeast and you have a berliner in a week or two's time

I did this and got some medals in comps for sours, and everyone loved it, even non-sour drinkers.

 

[Calder]

Hey man, what I can say is make a lacto starter, take about three table spoons of whole base malt and throw it in a pint of table sugar solution at about 1.030. Let it sit and get crusty for about a week. It will smell like tart green apples and you know its good.

No vomit smell from the Clostridium? I might try that. I usually make a lacto starter with Lactobacillus (to avoid any foul smell), kept at 100 F for 5 days, pitch into wort, and then keep that at about 90 F for 5 days, then pitch yeast ..... In the bottle in 3 to 4 weeks from start.

For the Op: Typical Berliner Weisse is only about 1.032 OG, so pretty low. Can be made easily with Extract. When souring the wort it should not have any hops. Hops will slow or stop the Lacto from souring. After it has soured to the extent you want (before adding yeast), you can boil all or part of he wort and add hops if you like (not required). Once boiled, the Lacto will not sour any further.

 

[RickyLopez]

forgive me if Im a bit slow.... i like youre idea a lot...and it seems easy enough, BUT:

the lacto starter... i can do this in any bottle/flask as a i would a normal starter? should i hold it at any particular temp? is ambient temp ok?

then, i mash more grains separately, yes?

and pasturize the starter to 180, chill the same starter to 110-115 and pitch in the "separate" wort? and i keep this "new wort" combined with "lacto starter" at 100 for a few days.... cool as normal, and pitch yeast?

 

[RickyLopez]

also, will acid malt work for the lacto starter? i happen to have a whole pound of unmilled acid malt....

 

[Calder]

forgive me if Im a bit slow.... i like youre idea a lot...and it seems easy enough, BUT:

the lacto starter... i can do this in any bottle/flask as a i would a normal starter? should i hold it at any particular temp? is ambient temp ok?

then, i mash more grains separately, yes?

and pasturize the starter to 180, chill the same starter to 110-115 and pitch in the "separate" wort? and i keep this "new wort" combined with "lacto starter" at 100 for a few days.... cool as normal, and pitch yeast?

Do the lacto starter just like any other, but don't aerate. If you can keep the temps at 90 to 100F it will work much quicker. Below about 65 F, and it might not do anything.

You do not pasteurize the starter. Cambra meant; make the wort and pasteurize the wort at 180 F, and then add the lacto starter to the pasteurized wort. Then keep it close to 100 F if possible.

Acid malt has lactic acid on it. I don't know if it has active lactobacillus. You want regular pale or 2-row malt.

 

[edecambra]

Hello, exactly that.


As far as the foul smell, I got the idea in zymurgy. If you smell it the first day or two it is very foul. The article went along the lines that as the ph drops it kills/ suppresses any other "vomit" type bugs. So after several days there should be a nice tart aroma and you are good. If it stinks the dont, use it!