{"id":5598,"date":"2015-11-06T11:07:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T16:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beersmith.com\/blog\/?p=5598"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:07:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T16:07:20","slug":"berliner-weisse-recipes-and-fast-sour-beer-brewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersmith.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/06\/berliner-weisse-recipes-and-fast-sour-beer-brewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Berliner Weisse Recipes and Fast Sour Beer Brewing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Beer<\/a>Berliner Weisse is a light, refreshing sour wheat beer originally brewed by just a handful of breweries around Berlin. I recently had a chance to interview Michael Dawson for Podcast 108<\/a>, and he provided some great tips on rapidly brewing a Berliner Weisse that could also be applicable to other sour beer styles.<\/p>\n

History of Berliner Weisse<\/h3>\n

Most sources trace the history of Berliner Weisse to a 16th Century Hamburg brewer named Cord Broihan (ref: Wikipedia<\/a>). He brewed a popular beer called Halberst\u00e4dter Broihan<\/i>, that was then picked up by another brewery in Berlin around 1640. Another possibility is that the beer was derived from Flanders Red and Brown ales brought in by migrating Huguenots.<\/p>\n

While wildly popular in the 18th century, the style is rarely brewed in Berlin anymore – with only two surviving native brands: Berliner Kindl and Schultheiss. However craft breweries in the US and around the world have started producing the style with its distinctive light, refreshing sourness.<\/p>\n

The Berliner Weisse Style<\/h3>\n

Berliner Weisse is a very light, low 3% alcohol wheat beer with little to no hop flavor and a distinctive sour finish, usually from lactobacillus. It is often served with syrups with raspberry or woodruff flavoring. It generally has a clean lactic sourness without any Brett “funk” and is served highly carbonated. The beer may be clear or slightly cloudy but very pale in color.<\/p>\n

The BJCP style guide defines Berliner as having a OG of 1.028-1.032 and very light color of 2-3 SRM. It is a low alcohol beer (2.8-3.8% ABV) and also has little to no bitterness within a range of 3-8 IBUs.<\/p>\n

Brewing a Berliner Weisse<\/h3>\n

The grain bill for a Berliner is from 25-50% wheat malt with the balance being Pilsner malt. Noble hops are typically used though the hop rate is extremely low and hop flavor is not an important feature of the beer. Lactobacillus is used to provide a sour flavor along with conventional continental ale yeast. A moderate water profile is used as water is not a major flavor factor.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in my interview with Michael Dawson<\/a>, you can save some time when brewing a Berliner. Typically brewing a sour beer is a long process – taking months or even a year or more to complete. However, using the process below you can enjoy your Berliner in just two months.<\/p>\n