Beer Forum

Just finished my arctic brew. It hit 15 below zero last night but warmed up to a balmy 11° by the time I moved outside to start the boil. Everything went smooth even hit my gravity right on. I did have to shorten my boil because I hit 85% efficiency instead of my usual 75% and I just can't bring myself to water down a beer. I just adjusted the hops for a shorter boil.

First time doing a berliner weisse. It was really strange for me. The thing has an OG of only 1.030. I am used to having preboil gravities around 1.045 or higher! I think the low gravity is why my efficiency was so high.

Just a reminder for folks that use an electric heat stick. Make damned sure you stick it back in the hlt BEFORE you plug it back in! Those water heater elements are really loud when they blow up.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

I thought i was the only one brewing a berliner weiss. I couldn't bring myself to brew something with that low of a OG so I made it imperial.
OG 1.054. Brewed last Saturday just checked it gravity down to 1.008, but not overly sour. Transfering to secondary and let it sit. Good luck with yours.

It was difficult to bring myself to brew something this low gravity. I think my starter was big enough to raise the OG a little. I'm considering entering this in an upcoming competition, so I figured that this once I would stick to BJCP guidelines. I did manage to score some woodruff syrup a couple weeks ago so I am looking forward to the finished product.

This batch will be soured with lactic acid per a suggestion by Ray Daniels. Sometime later I will do one the traditional way with lactic bacteria and then compare the two. My immediate plans are to reuse the yeast cake from this one to make a dunkelroggenweisen. The second berliner will use some of the yeast cake left from the dunkel.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

We brewed a Berliner Weisse last Saturday as well. No starter and I think it was done in a couple of days. We decided on brewing 10 gallons of our regular Hefeweizen, drew off 3 gallons of 1054 wort, added 2 gallons of boiled/cooled water, and pitched a half scoop of raw grain and the Smack Pack. The remaining 7 gallons got the regular #3068. Both have been sitting at a toasty 68f and we hope to prime and bottle in about a week. I heard they need to lay down for a while.