Berliner Weisse

[brewinhard]

Wondering how Junket's BWeisse came out. Did you get schwillled on the .8% alcohol? Any suggestions for next time? How was the sourness with your method?

[Junket]

The BW came out really, really good. It's very acidic, like lemonade, and very thirst quenching. It reminds me a bit of a lemonade/iced tea mix. I think that the lacto ate up most of my sugar, so the alcohol content is probably very low. I might try leaving out the hops next time, though the aroma/flavor is barely noticable and might add a subtle complexity.

Try this style out - it's pretty unique and can be a fun experiment with bugs.

[Mylo]

I was bottling up the last of mine from the keg two days ago. I poured a pint first and my wife came by and took a sip. It's still her favorite beer of all time - commercial or not.


Mylo

[Henning1966]

Well to update on mine I ran off from the mash tun to a 10 gallon keg. Pitched my homemade lacto starter and closed it up let it set outside in the heat for 10 days. Then boiled it with 1oz of haullertau for 15 mins. Gravity going into the fermenter with the packet of us o5 was 1.029. A week ago checked the gravity it was at 1.009 so i transfered to the keg. Just went and pulled a taster off getting a nice carb from the rest of the sugar being chewed up. Tastes exactly how junket describes his I love it.

[brewinhard]

So even after 10 days of souring with the lacto starter there were still some fermentables for the Us 05 to eat up? It seems that in Junket's case the lacto chowed down on the majority of the sugars before the yeast could convert them to alcohol. How big was your lacto starter and how did you make it? You soured the wort runoff from the mash right?

[ChrisKennedy]

Theoretically, Lacto D (which is what you would get from WL/WY) can only consume about 1% sugar (about 1P or .004 gravity points) before it produces enough lactic acid to shut itself down. Even heterofermentive lactobacillus strains still produce lactic acid at about a 50% rate, so they would max out at around 2P of attenuation before raising the acid content to a point where it can no longer function. They are not typically very hearty critters.

Even ignoring the practicality of reaching higher acid levels with lactobacillus, would you even want to? Lambics often roam around the 1% lactic acid mark, some more some less. If lactobacillus were to consume 5% of sugars, you would produce a beer anywhere from 2.5-5 times as sour as a "normal" lambic. Yeesh!

The experience Henning had is what I would expect from pitching just a lacto culture and letting it sit for multiple days, though I can't be sure since I didn't catch his OG. Some folks claim to have lacto eat away at most of their sugars, but I just don't think that is supposed to be possible, and it theoretically would produce such a sour beer that it would be unpalatable to even the biggest sour head.

All of this information is only as I understand it and I could easily be wrong. I look forward to a more informed person to correct me on anything or everything that I said wrong!

[brewinhard]

Theoretical or not, that is where the fun experiments come in to play. I always appreciate brewers who share their results and experience with such so we can all reach a better final outcome = BETTER HOMEBREWED BEER!

[Junket]

Great info, ChrisKennedy - I didn't know the lacto would conk out. I going to have to sit down a have an exclusive BW drinking session to see exactly how much alcohol this actually has in it.