Berliner Weisse technique from Zymurgy

[brewinhard]

White labs lacto strain DOES produce ethanol, CO2, and lactic acid, while the WY version only produces CO2 and lactic acid (no ethanol).

[EllisTX]

White labs lacto strain DOES produce ethanol, CO2, and lactic acid, while the WY version only produces CO2 and lactic acid (no ethanol).

Thanks for clearing it up. Suppose there's any info on the % of each produced?

[patterns]

Just as an update I brewed on Sunday and hit my 1.030 SG (with a little help from DME, this was the lowest my efficiency has ever been. Perhaps from the tiny grain bill in the big mash tun?). I pitched the lacto (WY 5335) at 10 mil cells/ml and finally got around to taking another gravity reading 96 hours later. It is now at 1.026. I've got my wife borrowing some ph test strips from her work so I can measure the ph later tonight as well.
It looks like there should be sugars left after a week for the German Ale yeast (WY 1007) to munch on.

edit: The ph strips she brought home were for blood and not good below 5. The good news is I'm below 5, but I couldn't say how far.

[Ozwald]

Perhaps from the tiny grain bill in the big mash tun?

I had the same problem when I upgraded my MLT from 10 to 30. Didn't have enough cash to upgrade the kettle so I was doing 12g batches out of it. My eff% went from high 80's to 55-60%. I just got the matching kettle so I'm hoping I can get it back up there. I'm not 100% certain since I switched from a non-traditional bazooka to a Blichmann false bottom. We'll see in the next couple days after I clean some kegs to free up the conicals.

[patterns]

I added the german ale yeast on sunday, 7 days after pitching the lacto, and the gravity had dropped further than I had expected. It went from 1.030 to 1.016 in the week with just the lacto. I'm not sure how far the saccro is going to be able to take it.

So now with just my hydrometer what is the best way to figure out ABV? Maybe say the lacto eats another point before the ale yeast slows it down so then it's just the same ol calc assuming the ale yeast going from 1.015 s.g. to what ever my f.g. is?

This ought to be quite the session beer.

[EllisTX]

I added the german ale yeast on sunday, 7 days after pitching the lacto, and the gravity had dropped further than I had expected. It went from 1.030 to 1.016 in the week with just the lacto. I'm not sure how far the saccro is going to be able to take it.

So now with just my hydrometer what is the best way to figure out ABV? Maybe say the lacto eats another point before the ale yeast slows it down so then it's just the same ol calc assuming the ale yeast going from 1.015 s.g. to what ever my f.g. is?

This ought to be quite the session beer.

1.015 to 1.007 will make it a whopping 1% abv. On a lighter note you'll have a 65 calories/pint beer. You could probably drink it while you worked out.

[patterns]

The sourness is definitely there so I was considering making the same wort and fermenting it out fully with the german ale yeast then blending the two together.

And I do find I can workout longer when I have a beer first. Didn't Justin once admit he thought marathon runners were handed beers? That could work with my Berliner Weisse

[BrewerJ]

Just as an update I brewed on Sunday and hit my 1.030 SG (with a little help from DME, this was the lowest my efficiency has ever been. Perhaps from the tiny grain bill in the big mash tun?). I pitched the lacto (WY 5335) at 10 mil cells/ml and finally got around to taking another gravity reading 96 hours later. It is now at 1.026. I've got my wife borrowing some ph test strips from her work so I can measure the ph later tonight as well.
It looks like there should be sugars left after a week for the German Ale yeast (WY 1007) to munch on.

Dont worry about what the ph is just taste the sample. You will know when its sour. I just brewed a berliner on saturday. 1030 OG pitched wyeast lacto at 90 pitched wyeast berliner at 70 16 hours later. Tasted it yesterday and it was nice and sour at 1010. Its ready for me to start cutting up mangos.