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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>. 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-colored appearance. The taste is refreshing, tart, sour and acidic, with a lemony-citric fruit sharpness and almost no hop bitterness.
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).
Typical average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 2.0-5.0%
==Microbiology and Fermentation ProfileHistorical==
(In Progress)
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. Top cropping was a regular practice. 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>.
===Microbiology and Fermentation Profile===
:''Editor's note: much of this information has been provided by Thomas Hübbe, and based on his [https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Final%20work%202%20-%20Thomas%20H%C3%BCbbe.pdf?token=AWyH17JH23uJ-wby5L7bZBZ-_G9EbxFbtNZhoHdq9nFQXDyOlNW66kYos4cpt_oOzIGzmllGYexkcE6o3bESICERaG8rSM4SruxzJVAaDb7UaoeAfVvLY_7uNezyeiynjnVG1T1zYyf-Zl4f2E6NwyOIX0y9hlh78XXVWFGHZySDEA master's thesis] which is written in English and provides excerpts from German publications that the wiki editors are currently not able to translate themselves.''
Information regarding the microbiology of historical Berlier Weisse is rare. A study from F. Schönfeld in 1938 describes the proportion of yeast cells to lactic acid bacteria cells through the first stages of fermentation. He describes the ratio as being 4:1 (yeast to lactic acid bacteria) at pitching time. After 18 hours, yeast saw growth, but after 40 hours the yeast population began to decline as attenuation completed. Another later study found that this ratio favors yeast growth, which hinders lactic acid bacteria growth and the production of lactic acid. Poor management of the microbes was blamed for not achieving enough acidity, and was described as being a common problem in Berliner Weisse, as well as not achieving enough carbonation in the bottle. Berliner Weisse producers developed many methods for trying to achieve a certain kind of flavor profile in Berliner Weisse, which has been compared to that of [[Lambic]] and [[Gueuze]]. Indeed, early study on Berliner Weisse by Methner in the 1980's discovered that ''[[Brettanomyces]]'' was a typical and important part of the flavor profile of Berliner Weisse <ref name="Hubbe"></ref>. The flavor of Berliner Weisse was described as being flowery and fruity, and a product of ester formation by ''Saccharomyces'' and ''Brettanomyces'' (see [[Brettanomyces#Ester_Production|''Brettanomyces'' esters]]) <ref name="Hubbe"></ref>.
The most common lactic acid bacteria found in historical Berliner Weisse was ''Lactobacillus brevis'' <ref name="Hubbe"></ref>.
==General Best Practices==