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'''Berliner Weisse''' is a top-fermented, bottle conditioned wheat beer made with both traditional warm-fermenting yeasts and ''[[Lactobacillus]]'' culture. Although many modern new world examples are [[Wort_Souring#Souring_in_the_Boil_Kettle|kettle soured]] and not fermented with ''Brettanomyces'', traditional Berliner Weisse usually mostly (if not always <ref name="marcus"></ref>) underwent a secondary fermentation with ''[[Brettanomyces]]'' <ref name="marcus">Private correspondence with Mike Marcus of Chorlton Brewing Co by Dan Pixley and Richard Preiss. 10/31/2016.]</ref><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 generally very sour, clear wheat beers with good head retention <ref name="marcus"></ref><ref name="Hubbe"></ref>. Modern American examples are probably equally sour as historical versions, often have a rapidly vanishing head and a clear, pale golden straw-colored appearance, and often lack ''Brettanomyces'' character due to using a kettle souring process. 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, although at least two German Berliner Weisse breweries in the 1970's used 100% barley malt (the word "weissbier" originally referred to both barley and wheat air-dried malt) <ref>[http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/berliner-weissbier-in-1970s-part-one.html Berliner Weissbier in the 1970’s (part one). Shut Up About Barclay Parkins blog. 03/08/2015.]</ref>. 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 Sometimes the boil was directly cooled after the decoction mashskipped (or boiled fora short time), and not boiled furthersometimes a traditional boil was used. 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(although Mike Marcus from Chorlton Brewing Co has isolated ''L. casei'' that survived sparging the grain bed, indicating that some lactic acid bacteria can survive sparging temperatures and might have in fact had a souring impact on Berlier Weissbier that was not boiled <ref name="marcus"></ref>). 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>.