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Taste Notes

Add a bit of raspberry syrup to the glass before pouring for a traditional Berlin flavor.

Notes

I originally posted this in the general forums, but thought it deserved to be moved to the recipe section for anyone looking to brew a Berliner Weisse. This is probably the best beer I have ever brewed, and I'm extra excited to have it as you can't find commercial berliner weisses in the state of Colorado at the moment. This was my first attempt at a sour. After researching various methods, I decided to try the souring method outlined in the March issue of Zymurgy ("Funk with Less Fuss"). For ease, control over sourness, and avoidance of cross-contamination this method is genius! I first created the wort and pitched the lacto bacteria. I then let it sit keeping the temp as high as possible (it was hard to keep it above 90 as Denver hasn't been that hot) by keeping it in a cooler in the sun during the day and my warm garage at night. I tasted it every 12 hours or so until I got to the desired level of sourness, then brought the wort back to a boil to kill the lacto and add the hops. Only 15 min boil time! Left in the primary for about 3 weeks, then went straight into bottles. I decided to skip the secondary as I thought some cloudiness would be OK with the style. This was my first bottling in a few years, and now I remember why I stopped! But I wanted to be able to sample every now and again over a longer period of time to see how it ages so bottles were the way to go. This beer tastes wonderful! It is the perfect amount of sourness for everyday drinking: enough to know it's there but not so puckering that it isn't easy to drink on a hot day. You could easily get more sourness by extending the time on the Lacto before you boil. it's matured a bit since bottling, though I think I may be getting close to peak as I've heard that BWs don't age that well (especially compared to other sours). I will definitely look into this method for souring the next time I decide to brew up a sour!