Any ideas for a historic wit?

[Nateo]

After reading about wits in Brewing with Wheat, I've been thinking about trying to recreate a pre-Celis wit.

In a nutshell, wits had very low attenuation (45-50%), unconverted starches, sour character, some spices and low hops. They were partially boiled.

The book didn't have much info on how those old beer were made, IIRC (I don't have the book in front of me) but it sounds kind of like a very young lambic base beer, or a Berliner weisse.

So maybe a turbid mash? Maybe a sour turbid mash? I know of a few different methods for making sour beers (via the mad fermentationist), but I'm curious if anyone has tried to make something like I'm describing. I'm also not sure to get my attenuation that low.

 

[passedpawn]

Capture some wild yeast. There's no guarantee where the beer will end up, and that is probably close to authentic for old beers.

 

[Nateo]

I've used wild yeasts before, but I was really underwhelmed by the flavor. Similar to German ale yeasts. I've gotten much more interesting flavors from Belgian strains.

I forgot that I ran out of brewing spices, so the wit is on hold for now. I'll try just doing a Berliner Weisse now and tackle the wit later.

 

[passedpawn]

I'll try just doing a Berliner Weisse now and tackle the wit later.

Good luck. Lacto needs heat if you want sour.

 

[Nateo]

I have three 1L sour starters going, in case one of them gets too funky and unusable. I don't have pure cultures on hand and can't get them quickly enough, so I'm trying to culture Lacto from grain. They're in growlers, in my ~100* shed wrapped in a brew belt. So I'm betting they'll get hot enough.

From my limited research, L. delbrueckii is thermophilic and homofermentative, but lots of Lactobacilli and most other bugs are mesophilic and heterofermentative. So I guess the idea of keeping the media hot is to preferentially grow L. delbrueckii, since I just want lactic acid and not alcohol or other byproducts?

There's quite a bit of info around about lactobacilli and cheese cultures, but it's kind of daunting when I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.