Berliner Weisse

I first sampled a Berliner Weisse at Tria the summer before when my sister was working there.  It was a Dr. Fritz Briem 1809 served with woodruff syrup and was amazing.  It is a nice intro to sour beers.  So I set off researching the style and the multitude of techniques for brewing this beer.  I settled on going with a 15 min boil and using lacto.  I used my single kettle e-BIAB setup with a full volume continuous recirculation.  The European Ale was slow to ferment and after a week I pitched a packet of S-05 for safe measure.  I let it sit for 3 months and kegged it, which was a big mistake.  It had no sourness and was very boring.  I almost poured out the keg but decided to bottle the remainder with my new bottling adapter that lets me go right from the tap to the bottle without changing any pressure.  A few months later I cracked a bottle and was stunned, the beer was perfect, great carbonation, great head, great sourness.  Just a great Berliner Weisse all the way around.  Lesson learned, always bottle this beer.

Grains:

4.2# Pils

3# Wheat

Mash at 149 for 90 mins       

           

Additions:

15 min boil    

1 oz Hallertau at 15 min

Wyeast 1338 – European Ale and Wyeast lacto

OG 1036
fg1006

 
Poland Spring water with no adjustments