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'''Berliner Weisse''' is a top-fermented, bottle conditioned wheat beer made with both traditional warm-fermenting yeasts and ''[[Lactobacillus]]'' culture. Traditional Berliner Weisse also often contained ''[[Brettanomyces]]'' <ref name="Hubbe">[https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Final%20work%202%20-%20Thomas%20H%C3%BCbbe.pdf?token=AWyH17JH23uJ-wby5L7bZBZ-_G9EbxFbtNZhoHdq9nFQXDyOlNW66kYos4cpt_oOzIGzmllGYexkcE6o3bESICERaG8rSM4SruxzJVAaDb7UaoeAfVvLY_7uNezyeiynjnVG1T1zYyf-Zl4f2E6NwyOIX0y9hlh78XXVWFGHZySDEA Effect of mixed cultures on microbiological development in Berliner Weisse (master thesis). Thomas Hübbe. 2016.]</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1352210248140519/ Conversation with Richard Preiss regarding his results culturing from old bottles of Berliner Weisse. 08/14/2016.]</ref><ref>[http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009/09/berliner-weisse-and-brettanomyces.html "Berliner Weisse and Brettanomyces." Ron Pattenson. Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. 09/14/2009. Retrieved 09/22/2016.]</ref>. They Traditional examples are described as being lightly sour, clear wheat beers with good head retention <ref name="Hubbe"></ref>. Modern American examples tend to be more aggressively sour, and often have a rapidly vanishing head and a clear, pale golden straw-coloured colored appearance. The taste is refreshing, tart, sour and acidic, with a lemony-citric fruit sharpness and almost no hop bitterness. Historical Berliner Weisse is thought to be consisted of barley malt and poorly modified wheat malt (for head retention) in a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio. Decoction mashing was also used, and was thought to impact better flavor than a single infusion mash. Hops were added to the mash tun during the mashing process or boiled with the decoction. Wort was directly cooled after the decoction mash, and not boiled further. The wort was not boiled because brewers thought that this was necessary for the cultures found in the mixed fermentation, however after the turn of the 20th century it was discovered that the microorganisms originated from surfaces in the brewery. The mixed cultures during primary fermentation were made up of ''S. cerevisiae'' and lactic acid bacteria in a 4:1 to 6:1 ratio, and was fermented between 25-30°C. The beer was fermented in open vessels until fully attenuated, and then carbonated with 12% krausen for a high, champagne-like carbonation. The beer would continue to develop in the bottle due to ''Brettanomyces'' and lactic acid bacteria. Due to the difficulty in controlling the level of acidity, and re-using yeast slurries that were under stress from mixed fermentation, methods such as [[Wort Souring]] were developed to pre-sour the wort with ''Lactobacillus'' first before pitching yeast <ref name="Hubbe"></ref>.
Served in wide bulbous stemmed glasses, tourists in Berlin will often order on as a "Berliner Weisse mit Schuss: Himbeere" or "Berliner Weisse mit Schuss: Waldmeister". These are syrups that are added to make the sourness more palatable. Himbeere is raspberry (red) and Waldmeister is woodruff (green).