Lemon and Lime Berliner Weisse

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strange-steve

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This is probably one of my favourite beers that I've made. I've had a pretty poor track record when it comes to adding flavours/fruit/spices to brews but this one turned out exactly as I hoped it would. It would make a great summer beer, it's light, fruity, and tangy and I'm rather pleased with it.

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 21
Total Grain (kg): 3.9
Total Hops (g): 120
Original Gravity (OG): 1.045
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.4 %
Colour (SRM): 3
Bitterness (IBU): <5
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 77
Boil Time (Minutes): 15

Grain Bill
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2.4 kg Pale Malt (62%)
1.500 kg Wheat Malt (38%)

Hop Bill
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20 g 3 Year Aged (<0.5% Alpha) See Method for Usage
100 g Sorachi Ace (13.8% Alpha) 5 Days Dry Hop


Method
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Mash as normal at 66°C for 60 mins

Sparge until you have about 22-23L of sweet wort

After sparge bring to boil for 1 min to pasteurise

Cool the wort to 38°C

Pre-sour the wort to around 4.4 pH with lactic acid, this required about 10ml of lactic acid (this step isn't essential but it's strongly recommended to prevent growth of unwanted organisms during the souring)

Pitch the contents of 8 lactobacillus capsules, I used Swanson L. plantarum which I bought online. I also pitched the dregs from a bottle of lambic but this isn't necessary.

Place some sanitised cling film onto the top of the mash to reduce contact with the air, this will also help prevent unwanted bug growth. You could also purge with CO2 if you have it.

Maintain a temperature of 38°C, I made this in the Grainfather so it was very easy but it's possible to maintain mash temperature in other ways, I did it previosly in my fermentation fridge with just a 100W lightbulb as a heat source.

Monitor the pH every 8 hours or so and when it reaches about 3.5 pH (this took about 24 hours for me) move onto the next step. If you don't have a pH meter you could just use a taste test which I've done in the past however this may not be a good idea just in case something nasty has grown in there.

Next I added the aged hops then raised the temperature to 82°C for 15 mins to pasteurise (if you don't have aged hops then a small amount of low AA hops will work, it's not for bitterness but for the preservative quality)

Cool to 20°C then pitch 2 packs of dry yeast, I used CML US pale ale

After a week or so add the zest from 2 lemons and 2 limes to the fermenter along with the dry hops and leave for a few days before bottling.

Carbonate to ~2.8 vol CO2

---------------------

I've sent this to a few forum members, including the March competition where it came 3rd with a score of 40. Feedback so far:

@BeerCat - Nice level of sourness and strong floral flavour. Better than the examples I have tried in local craft boozer. Perhaps a bit under carbed compared but very drinkable. I am not really a sour expert so far I prefer yours. Had a gooseberry sour the other night which was not as good.

@brewhaha - Fantastic beer that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks!
Aroma - 10/12
Masses of lemon and lime with a yoghurty sourness - gave it a lemon meringue vibe!
Appearance - 3/3
Super pale and a touchy hazy but really inviting. Great fluffy white head.
Flavour - 16/20
Great level of sourness that combined well with the citrus fruits.
There's a biscuity malt flavour in the background which helps give this lemon meringue idea that I couldn't shake! Loved it!
Mouthfeel - 3/5
Nice light body with decent carbonation although I perhaps wanted a little more to accentuate the sour?
Overall - 8/10
This will be a stellar summer beer. Loads better than pretty much all commercial Berliners I've tried. I had this as the last beer on my first judging day and it was a perfect end!
Total 40/50
 
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Definitely going to give this a go in the near future, possibly with some rhubarb or redcurrants from the garden instead of the lemon/lime.

@strange-steve how long did you carb / condition this for before I tasted it?
 
Definitely going to give this a go in the near future, possibly with some rhubarb or redcurrants from the garden instead of the lemon/lime.

@strange-steve how long did you carb / condition this for before I tasted it?
This is a quick turnaround brew, it was in the bottle 4 weeks when you tasted it but it was good to go as soon as it was carbed.
 
Well, it's in the hands of the Gods now. Wort is tucked up in my Klarstein with 8 lacto tablets & the dregs of a Boon Oude Gueuze. Fingers crossed it sours enough by tomorrow afternoon so I can finish it by the end of the weekend.

Great instructions as ever Steve. 10 ml of lactic acid was bang on for me as well (approximately 23 litres of wort).
 
Well, it's in the hands of the Gods now. Wort is tucked up in my Klarstein with 8 lacto tablets & the dregs of a Boon Oude Gueuze. Fingers crossed it sours enough by tomorrow afternoon so I can finish it by the end of the weekend.

Great instructions as ever Steve. 10 ml of lactic acid was bang on for me as well (approximately 23 litres of wort).
Nice one, what fruit addition are you going for?
 
Well, it's in the hands of the Gods now. Wort is tucked up in my Klarstein with 8 lacto tablets & the dregs of a Boon Oude Gueuze. Fingers crossed it sours enough by tomorrow afternoon so I can finish it by the end of the weekend.

Great instructions as ever Steve. 10 ml of lactic acid was bang on for me as well (approximately 23 litres of wort).

I did lacto from greek yogurt & the dregs of a Boon Oude Gueuze for my face off and didn't bother to boil. If you want something a bit more subtle like a BW then a day or so should do it. If you leave any longer it will ferment itself, no yeast needed. +1 for purging headspace with co2.
 
I did lacto from greek yogurt & the dregs of a Boon Oude Gueuze for my face off and didn't bother to boil. If you want something a bit more subtle like a BW then a day or so should do it. If you leave any longer it will ferment itself, no yeast needed. +1 for purging headspace with co2.
Yeh definitely after a mild sour so will boil once it hits pH 3.5. Purged the headspace as best I could with a soda stream bottle & an old pressure barrel lid so hopefully nothing nasty will take hold in 24 hours.
 
Just having one of these right now, it's a great hot weather beer and it's aged pretty well actually. This one had the sediment stirred up a tad which is why it looks more like a NEIPA :thumba:
wOWYdRi.jpg


@brewhaha I reckon this'll be great with rhubarb, though I've had limited success with fruit additions so I'm maybe not the best person to ask for advice. The lemon and lime was easy because I just washed them and gave them a spray with starsan before I zested them. I'm not sure the best way to use rhubarb but I suppose you could do the same thing?
 
Just having one of these right now, it's a great hot weather beer and it's aged pretty well actually. This one had the sediment stirred up a tad which is why it looks more like a NEIPA :thumba:
wOWYdRi.jpg


@brewhaha I reckon this'll be great with rhubarb, though I've had limited success with fruit additions so I'm maybe not the best person to ask for advice. The lemon and lime was easy because I just washed them and gave them a spray with starsan before I zested them. I'm not sure the best way to use rhubarb but I suppose you could do the same thing?
Yeh I've had a rough time with fruit in the past. Going to Starsan this lot or maybe some vodka?

Just checked pH after 24 hours & it hasn't budged. I've slung some more lactobacillus tablets in but any other suggestions?
 
Smells fine. Was hoping to get it all done today but looks like I'll have to finish it off tomorrow night.
 
Well, it got down to pH 3.6 by 10pm last night so whacked it up to 82C & then left it to cool overnight. Just pitched the yeast so I've got a week to decide how to deal with the rhubarb!
 
I’ve ordered everything I need to make a Berlinerweisse, but never gave a thought to testing the PH. I might just go for the taste test, but if I don’t can you recommend the best (or rather cheapest) way to “formally” test the PH? @strange-steve
 
Well I have one of the cheap yellow pH meters from ebay and it reads pretty close to my Voltcraft meter. That's not to say they will all be accurate though :confused.:
Stay away from pH strips though, they're rubbish for measuring mash pH.
Also tasting souring wort is not recommended because there's a chance of some nasty bacteria growing in there.
 
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