Berliner Weisse

I’m out of my onfort zone but wanted to try something new. My question is at the end of this but here’s the details. I made a 5 gallon batch following a recipe for a Berliner Weisse, using 4 lbs wheat and 4 lbs 2-row and 1 oz. of Halletau hops pellets tossed in at the beginning of the mash. I did the requisite decoction mash for the traditional style... rest for 60 minutes at 135 and raised to 150 for 15 minutes and then, without boiling, I cooled it to 72 degrees and transferred it to the carboy. I used White Labs blended yeast 663 and after three days it seems just about done fermenting (S.G. 1.044, now 1.010). Smells nice and sour but I tasted the sample and the sourness was weaker than the aroma. I’ve been told I need to bottle and leave it sit for 6 months. Here’s my question...Will the sourness increase over the months ahead? Does the sourness take a long time to build up? Like I said, this is a whole new style I’ve never tried and I’m excited to learn what to expect.

I’m not familiar with that yeast, but if it also has lactobacillus in the blend then yes, it will take 6-8 months to develop the full tartness you’d expect from a Berliner. I’d bottle it up and let it sit till August and then start cracking them.

Actually, better yet, if you can let it sit in a secondary for a few months. That would probably be better.

Do you mean WLP630? A lot of homebrewers will tell you they’re disappointed by the limited sourness produced by commercially available Lacto cultures (I count myself among them) - the sourest and most complex BWs are usually inoculated with bottle dregs or, more conveniently, with a few ounces of leftover grain. For any future attempts, start looking into "sour worting", which divorces the main alcoholic fermentation of the ale yeast from the principal souring and allows you to better tailor each [Edit: and has super-quick turnaround times]; I’ve had batches drop to 3.0 pH in four days before pitching the ale yeast, which was still able to ferment the rest out.

For what you have right now, the sourness should pick up, yes. Whether you decide to bottle now or later, consider giving the lacto a bit of a boost with warmer temperatures; it still does its work at cellar and room temps, but really thrives at temps closer to those of the human body, i.e., 95-105F. Better yet, leave a few bottles in the basement, a few in a kitchen cupboard, and a few near a radiator, then compare them every month or two.

I’ll bottle and leave them sit until summer and see what develops. I really enjoy sour beer, but the effort and time makes it less attractive. Still cheaper than buying Gueze at $10 a bottle. Thanks for the feedback and I’ll try this style again some time.

I’ve used Lacto D many times for Berliners and ended up with plenty of sourness. I like to add some maltodextrin to the wort prior to cooling. That gives some long-term food to the Lacto, but it takes a long time to finish it off (short-term is comes across as a bit too full). Those typically require 9 months or more to really hit their peak. The sourness will increase over time. I’ve had Berliners that continued souring over 3 years, and are still great.

You’ll have to experiment with temps. Everybody has a different opinion on what the best temp is. I like to keep mine around 72 degrees for the first month or so. That being said, the ones I’ve had for a while have seen plenty of fluccuation and haven’t seemed to suffer.