Berliner Weisse-Round 1

I introduce to you "Higgins der Eroberer Berliner Weisse" (german for: Higgins the Conqueror)!

Thats Higgins off to the left here ;)

So ever since I first tasted Dogfish Heads "Festina Peche" I've been interested in the Berliner Weisse style..however the $15 per 4 pack price set by these folks and moderate sourness (those who know me know I love me some sour beers..) has made me a little more stand offish about this particular brew..and had kept me from learning more until I ran across a random brew at my favorite local beer warehouse which was titled simply "1809" .


I noticed on the label that this style was once labeled (supposedly) by Napoleon as being the "Champagne of the North" and was very much appreciated as he swept through northern Germany. This style is unique in that the bulk of the grains used are German wheat, and the remainder being German pilsner and hops..well you don't need to worry much about those..just use a 1/2 oz of something with a Alpha higher than 5 (now if your really savvy with today's raw grain costs you'll notice that wheat is much cheaper than other grains..and the costs of hops have literally doubled in most cases..and tripled in others).

But the most interesting factoid in brewing a Berliner Weisse..and I mean this is F'ing HUGE is that this particular brew does not require a boiling stage of the wort which easily shaves off 4 hours of the brewing process..leaving a batch just 2.5 hours (with cleanup) to complete! Now if you couple that with my appreciation for sour and refreshing ales..well...you've got a front runner in beers that I will continue to brew and attempt to perfect at home.

Another cool factor is that this style is damn near extinction..not that many breweries are really attempting to replicate any sort of Berliner Weisse recipe state-side. Now in Germany that's another story..this would be considered a very common beer there which is mixed with syrups and served at almost every pub and restaurant (not confirmed but I have had 2 barkeeps tell me this and according to what I've read is the case).


Considering the Lactic culture introduced you can guarantee that this brew will continue to sour over the next 10 months or so until its ready as a summer brew for the obnoxiously hot and humid summers of Chicago, IL. I also plan to toss a new batch of heavier Berliner onto the yeast cake of this Round 1 batch, thinking something that will end up around 5% ABV (Round 1 will have 3.8 ABV when its done...damn near child friendly!). So by mid October I should have roughly 4 cases of Berliner aging relaxing in anticipation of the summer of 09.

Here is the process. For my first time out of the gates I took 5lbs of German wheat and 2lbs of German pilsner (and 1 lb of rice hulls to stop any sort of stuck mash when draining off) and mashed at 153F for 1.5 hours. Sparged with 175F water and collected 5 gallons of wort into my fermenter. Chilled, and pitched my Lacto culture and let sit for 24 hours. After which I pitched a smack pack of German Ale yeast to finish off fermentation (2 weeks in primary max).

For future batches I plan on utilizing the existing Lactic cultures on the raw malt and allowing a portion of my grain bill to sour naturally (like you would with Sour Dough) which is much more traditional to style...


Cheers!