Berliner Weiss Apr2013 Still not sour

[snv5004]

Hi all, I am new to the forum and an amateur brewer.
I started a berliner weiss cream ale blend in April this year using wyeast lab's blend. I reracked after about a month and a half still and developed a lot of sediment in the bottom in secondary, more than I usually see, but this sat a lot longer than usual.
I bottled about 2-3 weeks ago which would put me around 6 months, but my beer is not sour to the taste at all. The sediment has a hearty sour smell though. So sour and tasty smelling, but no sour and tasty tasting!
As this is a great summer I will probably wait for another 4-5 months to drink. Will bottle aging improve the sourness or did I make a mistake in bottling?
Does anyone have suggestions for next time or experience with this yeast blend?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Pie_Man]

Just to clarify, which Wyeast blend did you use?

Can you post your recipe and process?

 

[Coff]

The sourness could increase over time in the bottle, Ive not had as good a luck with the Berliner blends as I have with my process of pitching lacto hot for a few days then adding a Saccharomyces strain.

It doesnt hurt to age it out a bit, a friend of mine left his in a keg in his hot garage (I think the key here is the heat) all summer and it went from bland to nicely tart in that time. So warm conditioning and time could very well be your friend.

 

[snv5004]

Thanks for the advice! The Blend I used was this I think:
Wyeast 3191-PC Berliner-Weisse Blend.
I seem to have misplaced the recipe I used.

 

[SpeedYellow]

I'm no sour expert, but I didn't think that simply pitching a different yeast was the way to make a sour.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Most likely you used more than a couple of pellets or cones of hops. Commercial lacto strains HATE hops.

 

[Calder]

It might improve over time. Do not be too hopeful.

1) Do not use any hops in a Berliner. Lacto hates hops.

2) Do not use any Berliner yeast mixes. You really want to sour the wort first before adding the yeast.

Use lacto on its own (Probiotic, wlp/wyeast product, grain) and keep about 100 F for about a week. Taste to confirm it is sour (the low ph protects the wort). Then pitch yeast. Do not pitch until it is sour. When you pitch the yeast, use about 2X that you would normally use because the low ph environment is hostile to the yeast. Aerate the wort when you pitch the yeast.

With this method you can be in the bottle in 3 to 4 weeks, and drinking a nice refreshing BW a couple of weeks later. I had one of mine earlier tonight, that I started 6 weeks ago; nicely refreshing and sour.

Next week I'm going to be starting a Berliner that I expect to be ready for drinking at Christmas. When you figure out how to make them, they are really easy.

You might want to check the Lambic Forum. There is lots of discussion and information on BWs.