Brewing Classic Berliner Weisse

What is "Classic" Berliner Weisse?

That's a good question to ask: as it has changed over its (roughly) 250 year documented history. I'll follow up with a deep dive on the history of the style, but I will give a quick run down here as well: Berliner Weisse is thought to have evolved from another "white" beer called Broyhan, from a time when sour white beers were common across Northern Germany.^[1]

In this context, "classic" could mean using air-dried malt, something I've taken on for a version 2, but I suppose the attribute that speaks to me the most is the mixed-fermentation character. A single hop addition in the mash, during the decoction, is also pretty traditional.^{[2 p.9]}

Most modern beer labeled Berliner Weisse is soured ahead of time and then boiled to lock in the sourness. This "kettle souring" approach dates back about 120 years.^[3]

In the old days, it would have been soured by a symbiotic fermentation of Lactic Acid Bacteria and Saccharomyes, and then would have also picked up Brettanomyces, since nearly all beer spent time in wood. This multi-faceted fermentation leads to a less sharp sourness, but much more of a fruity character. A "vinous", wine-like character was prized.^[4]

But I digress... On to the recipe!

Recipe

For version 1, I decided to use modern kilned malts and focus on the variable of the fermentation. I've done a Berliner Weisse like this once before. I remember thinking it wasn't dry or sour enough, and pitched some Brettanomyces Clausenii to dry it out further. Hilariously, it turns out that was pretty much exactly the right thing to do from a historic standpoint!

While researching the style, I became familiar with the work of the now defunct Schneeeule (meaning Snowy Owl) brewery in Berlin, who specialized in old-style Berliner Weisse, and decided to leverage the recipe from one of their flagship beers, Marlene:

Brewing Notes

There are a number of things to keep in mind while brewing this beer:

As it uses Lactobacillus on the cold side, the choice of strain is critical if you want to use hops at all. Many varieties, such as Lactobacillus Plantarum are hop intolerant above 10 IBUs. Choose the right yeast strain and shoot for 5 IBUs of noble hops added to the mash, during the decoction to mash out step.

For pitching the yeast, it is a good idea to build up a Lactobacillus starter several days in advance, and shoot for a ratio of 4:1 Lacto:Yeast. The Lacto starter grows best warm, under 120F, and does not need oxygen.

First pitch the Lactobacillus starter, give it a day or two to sour, then pitch the Saccharomyces. I used a Bavarian Wheat strain, which isn't usual, but thought it might go nice with everything else going on.

The Brett strain is Omega Yeast's "All the Bretts", literally a blend of whatever they have. The package arrived quite swollen.

For carbonation, I shot for 3.5 vols of CO2 in heavier bottles, and added a slurry of Lalvin QA23 Wine Yeast at bottling time.

References

[1] Jörg, Krüger: Berliner Weisse (Autumn 2015) https://braumagazin-de.transla...
[2] Pattinson, Ron. Weisse!
[3] Pattinson, Ron. Kettle Souring (September 2020) https://barclayperkins.blogspo...
[4] Krennmair, Andreas: Historic German Beers