Sourdough Berliner

[brownni5]

Last spring, I brewed a no-boil Berliner Weiss, made 5 gallons into a co-pitch quick sour and pitched one gallon with my sourdough starter. It fermented fast, but just checked it the other day, and 9 months in, it went from 1.031 down to about 1.005. Hard to tell if my starter has any real alcohol- tolerant yeast, but they attenuate really well.

The back end of the hydrometer sample was nicely tart - not mouth puckering by any means, but about where I'd like it. But upon first sip, it's way too sweet, though with nice flavor. What to do in the future? Low AA mash hops? Aged hops? Bitter with something other than hops? I'd like to try this again, but something has to happen with the sweetness.

Even if I never do anything with it, it's cool to see that my sourdough starter will make beer.

 

[RPh_Guy]

But upon first sip, it's way too sweet, though with nice flavor. What to do in the future?

Several things can balance or reduce sweetness.

In no particular order:

• More acidity -- more aggressive bacteria or lower hop rates pre-souring.
• Different acid profile -- a little acetic acid will increase the tang and complexity.
• Higher attenuation -- different yeast strain, mashing for higher attenuation, or even adding glucoamylase enzyme.
• More bitterness -- you can add hops after souring with a hop tea. Other herbs could work too.
• Different water chemistry -- more sulfate, less chloride.
• More alcohol -- higher OG, or you could add some sugar or whatever to help dry it out.

Most/all of these things can still be changed if you haven't packaged it.

Aged hops would not help this problem, they're used to suppress souring while decreasing bitterness.

 

[brownni5]

Thanks - I thought of glucoamylase, but not the hop yes. I might try those. It's less than a gallon right now, so I'm not out anything if I screw it up.