After doing a lot of Hefeweizen experiments, I was feeling the pull of the sour side 🙂 I’ve made a bunch of clean Berliner Weisse (BW) and I like the idea of a fruited BW as well as maybe some funk to join the party but not sure the best way to approach. So, the idea with this experiment is to make 3+ gallons of baseline kettle soured BW and then split it across three 1 gallon batches. All 3 after primary fermenation will get 1 pound of sweet cherry puree. The first will be white wine yeast fermented only and is the pseudo control and then try Brett two ways – one as the primary fermenter and one as the secondary. I’ve read that Brett in secondary is a lot more expressive but curious to see how that plays out. After reading about the various different Brett strains I settled on Brett Claussenii since it’s actually Brett (unlike Brett Troi), it is fairly mild on the funk and hopefully will have a nice tropical fruit character to play off the cherry. There are also a lot of big open questions. How will the Brett play in a pretty low pH environment? Will I have oxygen issues with my little 1 gallon fermenter setups and just get a bunch of vinegar? Will I just end up with a bunch of bottle bombs? But, I guess that is why one experiments, right? Here is the breakdown on the three batches.
make 3 cherry BW. kettle sour batch with lacto and then split into 3 x 1 gallon batches.
1> ferment with EC-1118, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows then bottle
2> ferment with Brett C, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows then bottle
3> ferment with EC-1118, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows add Brett C and let sit till no more activity then bottle
1 liter starter of brett c – pitch half in into 2> and half into secondary for 3>
Here is the recipe details:
BrewDesign
Recipe Info
Beer Name: berliner_weisse_cherry_experiment_EBIAB_1
Style: Berliner Weisse
Style
Original Gravity: 1.034
Final Gravity: 1.005
Color: 3.6
Alcohol: 3.7 %
Bitterness: 0 IBUs
Brewery
Efficiency: 70
Attenuation: 85
Mash
Mash Fermentable Weight: 7 Pounds
Mash Thickness: 2.6 Quarts per Pound
Grain Temp: 72 F
Strike Water Qty: 6.55 Gallons
Mash Volume: 7.11 Gallons
Strike Water Temp: 130.7 F
Mash Temp: 125 F
Boil
Kettle Gravity (start of boil): 1.030
Starting Boil Volume: 5.625
Boil Duration: 30 Minutes
Evaporation Rate: 1.25 Gallons per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 5
Fermentables
| Weight (Lbs) | % by Weight | Name | Yield | SRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 57.1 | Best Malz Pilsner; German | 80.0 | 1.8 |
| 2 | 28.6 | Canada Malting Wheat Malt; White | 88.0 | 2.8 |
| 1 | 14.3 | cherry puree | 24.5 | 5.0 |
Hops
| Weight (ozs) | Name | AAU | Time (mins) | Use | IBUs / Addition |
|---|
Yeast and Friends
| Amount (Milliters) | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 pouch | omega labs lacto blend OYL 605 |
| 2 pouches | lalvin ec-1118 white wine yeast |
| 1 vial | White Labs WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii |
Misc
| Amount | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tablet | Whirlfloc Tablet | 15 |
| 1 tsp | Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast) | 10 |
| 1 3lb can | Cherry Puree | fermenter |
Notes
1> ferment with EC-1118, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows then bottle
2> ferment with Brett C, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows then bottle
3> ferment with EC-1118, add 1 lb cherry puree as fermentation slows add Brett C and let sit till no more activity then bottle
1 liter starter of brett c – pitch half in into 2> and half into secondary for 3>
Salt and Acid adjustments:
Mash Salts:
Calcium Chloride: 5.0 gram
Mash Acid:
Lactic Acid: 2.0 ml @ 88 %
Sparge/Boil Salts:
Predicted Mash pH of: 5.48
Mash Ions (ppm):
Ca: 68.0 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 119.0 So: 24.0
Boil Ions (ppm):
Ca: 68.0 Mg: 3.0 Na: 21.0 Cl: 119.0 So: 24.0
mash schedule:
mash in at 125F for 10 min
146F for 30 min
158F for 30 min
168F for 10 min
cool to 70F and pitch and raise to 85F
carb to 3.25 volumes
Notes:
12-10-15 Brett C (WL645) ~200mL starter. no stir plate to reduce oxygen update and prevent acetic acid production in Brett. kept in cooler with lizard lamp set to 80F
12-14-15 standard brew day. cooled to 85F and pitch one pouch of omega labs lacto blend. set kettle at 85F to hold and check every 12 hours till 3.2pH.
@ 10pm pH 5.59
12.-15-15 @ 1:30pm pH 3.21!!!!! Wow!!!!
@5:10pm pH 3.15 -> boild for 10 mins, cooled to 70F, split across three 1 gallon fermenters and put in fridge with heater set to 80F. gravity was 1.032 so no change in gravity with souring
1> half of EC1118 yeast pitch (one sachet that was reconstituted in 1 cup of boiled and cooled filtered water)
2> other half of yeast pitch
3> 150mL of Brett pitched (remaining Brett saved for 2> for secondary)
12-16-15 1> & 2> are kreusened and fermenting nicely 3> shows no activity
12-17-15 1> & 2> appear to be done fermenting 3> is showing a little kreusen.
12-18-15 added 1 lb of oregon fruit sweet cherry puree but pulled a sample before.
1> 1.012 clean and quick sour
2> ditto
3> 1.030 clean with a little bit of funk.
12-22-15 1> , 2> appear done and dropping clear 3> has 1″ kreusen and but no bubbling so fermenter must be leaking. that night i pitched the remaining brett into 2> to do secondary brett and moved 3> to a bubbler and now seeing bubbling so leak is fixed. not a fan of the big mouth bubbler for that reason. they are hard to get to seal.
12-23-15 1> done 2> bubbling every ~28 seconds 3> still kreusened and bubbling every ~25 sec
12-24-15 1> and 2> appear done 3> still bubbling every ~25 sec
12-25-15 > same
12-26-15 > same
12-27-15 3> ~40 sec
12-28-15 no bubbling. 3> took about 3 weeks to finish active fermentation vs 2 days for sacc.
12-29-15 same
12-30-15 bottle 1> , 1.4 gallons, 1.3 oz per gallon for 3.5 volume did 1.8 oz in 1/2 filtered boiled water. bottled 8, probably could have bottled 10 fair amount of cherry solids into bottling bucket would be good to find a way to filter out from fermenter to bottling bucket.
+++++after the fact i realized the markings were wrong on my buggy bottling bucket. my 1.5 gallon market was actually 1 gallon so my 1.4 gallons was actually 0.93 gallons. uh oh. wo will be more like 4 volumes on 1> rather than 3.5 volumes. hopefully no bottle bombs. fingers crossed.
1-9-16 bottled 2>
0.9 gallons targetting 3 volumes b/c or brett and want to lower risk of bottle bombs. 35 grams of dextrose in 1/2 cup of boiled filtered water. filled 8 bottles just barely.
1-13-16 same as 2> bottled 3> except 31g of table sugar instead of corn sugar.
1> and 2> were both fully carbonated after 2 weeks.
1-27-16 opened a bottle and 3> does not seem to be at all carbonated.
2-6-16 3> was more carbonated but not fully carbonated. there was a little pellicle in the neck. will wait another few weeks and try another bottle. maybe @ 6 weeks. nice beer. very fruity (maybe pineapple layered on top of the cherry?) and low funk. just a hint.
1> still very good. nice clean berlinner character with nice cherry level. only issue is it is a bit yogurty due to lots of yeast in the bottle.
2> nice brett character but a little bit of rubber on the backend. subtle but there. definitely more funky than 3> and it has gotten more funky since last tasting a couple of weeks ago but the funk is still subtle and nice.
3-7-16 1> good but a bit yogurty. cherry character is really nice. a bit thin maybe. seems to be getting worse with age (more yogurty).
2> very nice. brett character is subdued but noticeable. rubber is gone.
4-6-16 1> very similar to 3-7 tasting
2> similar to 3-7 tasting but brett character has kicked up just a notch. really nice beer. no yogurt flavor.
3> carb is getting pretty good. still a little undercarbed but close. crazy cherry juice aroma and flavor with just an edge of funk. less funk than 2> nice beer.
5-11-16 1> very similar to last tasting and yogurt may have dropped a little. aging quite well.
2> brett character is now really good. low in the aroma and flavor but really nicely rounds out the beer. aroma and flavor are cherry forward but a nice blend of funk. body is a bit thin but not way off. carb is spot on.
3> aroma and flavor are clean bold cherry (more than 1 & 2) with an edge of pineapple and funk and a little cheese. body is medium and good. carb is now really good. a very nice beer although i prefer 2>