Berliner Weisse

I have wanted to try my hand at making this beer for the last couple of years:  basically, since I heard about it.   Now seemed like the perfect time, since summer is coming up and it is supposed to be a somewhat crisp and refreshing beer.

The style is a really light, low-alcohol ale with a good bit of wheat in it.   But it's also got a strong sourness due to the presence of Lactobacillus (The same genus of critters as the ones who make yogurt and pickles).   It has almost no hop bitterness, partly because lactobacillus is the primary critter that hops are antiseptic against.   The one that I've gotten to try (One that New Belgium brought to Brewgrass) tasted a bit like an unsweetened lemonade, really.  This should be an awesome lawnmower beer.

This was probably my easiest and shortest day brewing a beer.   It's 100% extract, so there was no grain to mash, or even steep.   I chose to do all extract because I see this beer as more of a fermentation experiment than as a full-on brew, and I don't mind spending a little extra money on the wort to not have to spend the time and effort for such a simple wort.   The boil is merely 15 minutes, which is essentially enough time to get things heat sanitized and a tiny bit of flavor, aroma, and bitterness out of the hops.   The bacteria like a warm environment (human body temperature is perfect for them), so the long tail of wort chilling time was non-existent.   No oxygenation/aeration, so I just dumped the bugs into the fermenter and started keeping them warm.  Though, I'm currently in a bit of a quandary, since I'm not entirely certain how long to let the bugs go before pitching the yeast.   I think I want to pitch the yeast relatively cool, so I may cut the heat and pull the blanket off of the fermentor tonight before I go to bed, and then pitch in the morning.    Hopefully the pH won't get too low for them before the beer is finished.


Berliner Weisse

Batch Size (Gal): 5
Total Grain (Lbs): 3.50
Anticipated OG: 1.032
Anticipated SRM: 3.4
Anticipated IBU: 3.4
Wort Boil Time (min): 15

Grain
85.7% -- 3.00 lbs. Munton's Wheat Dry Malt Extract
14.3% -- 0.50 lbs. Munton's Extra Light Dry Malt Extract

Hops
0.50 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet, 5.20% AA) @ 15 min.

Yeast
White Labs WLP677 - Lactobacillus Delbrueckii
Fermentis Safbrew T-58 

Water Profile
Clearview, degassed overnight

Notes

• Brewed on Saturday, April 30, 2011
• Actual OG: 1.032
• Lactobacillus likes it warm and doesn't like oxygen, so after racking the beer to the fermenter, I pitched the vial of bacteria and brought it in to sit on the heat mat set to 94F, without aerating or adding oxygen. 
• May 1, 7:00AM no activity
• May 1, 8:00PM airlock bubbling merrily
• May 1, 10:00PM cut off heat mat
• May 2, 7:00AM airlock still bubbling, temperature: 87F, removed blanket
• May 2, 6:00PM 76F, pitched 6g Fermentis T-58
• May 3, 7:00AM 70F, still bubbling