There where some requests on Milk the Funk to create a recipe for a historic Berliner Weisse.
So I did my best to create an historical accurate Version with some minor adjustments to bring it in the modern world.

Original Gravity:

7.3 Plato (1029 SG)

Grain Bill:

70% Wheat Malt
30% Pilsner Malt

Hops:

2-7 IBU Hallertau Mittelfrüh

Yeast:

German Ale / Kölsch (WLP029, Wyeast 1007)
Berliner Weisse Brettanomyces (Escarpment Labs)

Bacteria:

Lactobacillus Brevis (WLP672, OYL-605 etc.)

Mashing:

63°C for 60 minutes
72°C for 20 minutes
78°C mash out

Directions:

For water target roughly 100 ppm Calcium, 50 ppm of Chloride and 100 ppm of Sulfite. Just before mash out draw a thin decoction and boil the hops in it for 15 minutes, add it to the mash while raising the temperature to mash out. After lautering do not boil the wort, just heat the wort to 98°C to pasteurize then cool. Pre-acidify the wort to a pH of 4.5 for foam stability. Ferment at room temperature (18-20°C) for roughly 3 months. Carbonate to 7-9 g/l CO2 (3.5-4.5 volumes), use heavy bottles.
Discussion
This is my idea of the recipe, I will go through every point and the background behind my decision. Let’s start with the grain bill. Historically Berliner Weisse was brewed with different ratios of wheat and barley, sometimes as low as 1:2 sometimes as high as 4:1. For me the sweet spot is at 70% wheat and 30% barley, there is enough mouthfeel and doughiness from the wheat and the lautering is for most homebrew systems manageable. Another point you should consider is using a wheat with a high level of protein, and if possible undermodified. The reason for this decision is the improvement of the foam stability, which is one of the quality signs of a good Berliner Weisse. If you don’t have access to such a malt, you can add 35% torrefied or chitted wheat. The water profile is the current one from Berlin, you could also try using a 2:1 chloride:sulfite ratio for a thicker mouthfeel.
Mashing
For mashing I opted for a „Hochkurz“ mashing scheme (60 minutes at 63°C and 20 minutes at 72°C) which favours fermentability. The reason for that is that I believe that more simple, available sugars lead to a less funky/sour wort. My theory is that in a highly fermentable wort Saccharomyces leaves less fermentables to Brettanomyces and Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and flavour wise Brettanomyces is focuses more on esterase. Another factor is that the beer is finished faster. You can also use a infusion mash at 65°C which a lot of brewers used in the old days.
Hopping
When starting with a culture I would suggest going as low as 2 IBU with the hopping, later when the culture is rolling you can go up to 7 maybe even 10 IBUs in order to balance the acidity. If you are using Pediococcus (more on that later when we talk about bacteria) you can use a bit more than 10 IBUs since it is more hop tollerant. Also you can use a small amount (2 g/l) of dry hopping with Hallertau Mittelfrüh after fermentation in order to improve head retention.
Yeast
In the last 5 years a lot of people isolated Berliner Weisse Brettanomyces strains out of old bottles and even some where kept alive. Thanks to people like Richard Preiss from Escarpment labs we can now use those historic strains and brew with them. In my experience those strains when handled right develop nearly no funky, phenolic aroma. In my opinion the main function for Brettanomyces in Berliner Weisse is its capability to transform lactic and acetic acid to ethyl lactate and ethyl acetate. In order to avoid stressing the Brettanomyces I suggest making a good starter to ensure a high cell count in the mixed culture. When you grow up the mixed culture just let it sit for a few weeks to achieve balance. If you don’t have access to a original Berliner Weisse Strain you could use a Brettanomyces anomala strain like OYL-201 or WLP645. For Saccharomyces I would recommend a clean slightly fruity strain like WLP029 (German Ale/Kölsch).
Bacteria
The main Lactobacillus that was found in Berliner Weisse was Lactobacillus Brevis. Also there where other hop tolerant strains present like L. lindnerii, L. casei, L. coryniformis and L. plantarum but L. Brevis was mostly present. Another aspect of old time Berliner production was the presence of Pediococcus. Sometimes the beers went ropy, when that happened the brewer needed to sit on the beer for a few months in order to get rid of the ropiness. After that it was priced for it’s delicate flavour. I have Pediococcus present in my culture, it will get ropey after 3 weeks and goes away at month 2-3. With Pediococcus in your culture the beer will get more sour than without.
Process
In my opinion not boiling the wort adds some perceivable differences to the finished product. First the color is pretty pale and second there is a grainy doughy flavour that comes through. It is necessary to boil the hops in a decoction for not boiling the wort. Another topic is fermentation time. In the old days they would ferment and know when to bottle in order to achieve the right carbonation level (this is called „Grünschlauchen“ in german). I would advise against that until you really know your culture and can predict when it will stop. Targeting a high carbonation level is also a key to the style, why else would Napoleon call it „champagne of the north“. When bottling and priming be sure to use the method to account for terminal acid shock. My observations was that adding fresh yeast at bottling time suppresses/delays the development of  the typical Brett funk a bit.
Flavour
When you where following most of the steps you should end up with a straw coloured beer that has an aroma reminiscent of peaches and apricots. It has a thick rocky white head which persists (the hardest thing to achieve). The mouthfeel is creamy due to the high carbonation, but dries out after you swallow. There is a grainy, dough like aftertaste. It is tart and balanced but not overly sour or puckering. The refreshing qualities of a good Berliner Weisse will leave you longing for the 1 litre goblets they where using in the beginning of the 20th century.

19 thoughts on “Historic Berliner Weisse – Homebrew Recipe

  1. Rodrigo Maragno sagt:

    Woooooo! Thanks!

  2. Scott Christoffel sagt:

    How did they control Biological Amimes. Thanks, good info!

    1. nacron sagt:

      As far as I know there is now control about it. And as far as my info goes people with an intolerance against histamin or other Amines should limit beer consumption anyways. I think Barrel Aged Sours in peticular.

  3. Elixer sagt:

    We met this year at both Carnivale Brettanomyes and the BeaverTown Extravaganza. At Carnivale I also joined your historic Gose tasting, which I enjoyed a lot. And very informative!

    Warning: long post 🙂

    Seeing your recipe inspired me to brew a Berliner Weisse for the summer based on your instructions. There are however a few things that I did different.
    I did perform a decoction step, but did not boil any hops in it. Using hops seemed a bit useless to me, as they will inhibit lactobacillus growth and up to 2 IBU won’t add any perceivable hop flavor or bittering either. Doing the single decoction step would probable add a bit more color and maltiness to the beer. After the brew day I was wondering why I even bothered to perform the decoction step. It defeats the purpose of not boiling the wort a bit, since it will probably contribute to less of grainy doughy flavor in the final product.

    As for the yeast I made a starter of some old slurry that I kept in the fridge for a few months now. It consists of German Ale (WY1007), Brett Bruxellensis (WLP650) and some Brett that I cultured from a bottle of Goose Island Sofie. I don’t know the ratio’s, but it has produced some enjoyable fruity and slightly funky beers in the past. It seemed a logical choice to use this blend for the Berliner Weisse.

    Before pitching the yeast I added one pack of a Lactobacillus blend (Omega OYL-605) to the wort and left it in there for about a day to give the bacteria a head start. According to your discussion this seems to differ from the old procedures, but the last time I pitched this blend along with the yeast it did not produce enough acid for my taste.

    I’ve never brewed a Berlines Weisse before and therefore I’m a bit afraid that the final product will contain some DMS because of the large portion of Pilsner malt and not boiling it. Have you ever experienced DMS in our beers and what are your points of view on this subject?

    1. nacron sagt:

      Hey there! These two events where awesome!

      The reasoning behind the hops, my culture got pretty resistant to hops so I am targeting around 10-15. The last berliners I made where too acidic. The target is drinkability for me. If you start with a culture skipping decoction is totally valid and logic.

      Now to the dms part: No, I never experienced it. Also I cool quite fast after pasteurizing it. And i would say with 30% the pilsner ammount is not that big.

      I really like the idea of developing a mixed culture that i get to know over time. Also it will behave different due to mixing, the components stay the same so I hope i will be able to control acidity and predict final gravity in a certain range. But nothing wrong with trying to get a reproducable result with commercial cultures. That is the other way I would try.

      Hope to see you next year again at carnival! Maybe with the finished beer!

      Cheers

      1. Elixer sagt:

        If all goes well we’ll be going to next years Carnivale as well. If the beer ends up fine I’ll bring a bottle to swap or share!

        It makes sense to get some IBU’s in the beer if your culture is hop tolerant. Especially if the beer mustn’t become too sour in order to keep it from being highly drinkable.

        Reading your reply I noticed that I made a dumb mistake. I reversed the ratio’s of the malts and used 70% Pilsner and 30% malted Wheat. Oops… 🙁
        Oh well, it will hopefully produce a beer that is still somewhat close to style.

        One more question regarding the fermentation. Do you recommend leaving the beer in the primary until it’s ready for packaging or would it be better (read: closer to style) to rack it to a secondary after the primary fermentation is done?
        Leaving it in the primary should be fine, since there is Brett in the mix. Not sure what the procedure was back in the old days…

        1. nacron sagt:

          The Pilsner, Wheat ratio is no problem at all. They changed so much over time and with different breweries!
          I would recommend leaving the beer till fermentation is done, racking is not necessary.
          Traditionally they would have done a pretty quick primary fermentation and filled directly in the bottle.
          But they had one advantage over us… They knew their mixed culture really well. How it behaved in summer or winter, how far down it would go, how much pressure the bottles would hold. If the beer was all sold in summer or if it was aged. All this knowledge would help them determine when the beer is finished.

          Really looking forward to seeing you at Carnivale 🙂

          Cheers

          1. Elixer sagt:

            Good to know about the changing of the ratio’s. Well the colour looks about right. It’s still straw coloured.

            I sure don’t know my mixed culture very well. I only fermented two totally different beers with it. I will leave it in the primary for at least three months. After that period there shouldn’t be much fermentables left in the beer and it should be safe to bottled it.

            Cheers!

          2. Elixer sagt:

            The beer has been bottled two months ago and I’m very pleased with the result. It has become really tasty for such a low alcohol beer.
            The Brett in combination with the lactic acid produced some lovely fruity esters. It get a lot of apricot and peach. It’s also very grainy as a result of not boiling the wort. The mouthfeel is very full for such a beer. This is probably also the result of not boiling the wort.
            It has however become a bit more sour then expected, but full mouthfeel hides the acid quite well. This brew inspired me to make more raw ales.

            I read somewhere that you are not going to attend Carnivale this year, but I’ll happily bring a bottle in case you change your mind!

          3. nacron sagt:

            That sounds really really nice! I’m really happy that it turned out nicely for you!
            You heard right, I won’t make it to Carnival since my wife and I will get our first child around that time.
            But next time we will both attend for sure!! 🙂

          4. Elixer sagt:

            Congratulations with your upcoming child! Looks like you’re in for a lot of sleepless nights 😉

  4. Brandon sagt:

    I have been looking forward to brewing this beer since hearing you on the MTF podcast a little while back. I’ll be brewing it with my dad for our annual Thanksgiving brew. Our tradition is to create a beer that we can serve at the following year’s celebration (while, of course, drinking the beer from the previous year). How well does this beer do after a year? I understand that some Berliners stand the test of time better than others, so I was just curious what your experience has been. Many thanks! And congratulations on creating a new human life!

    1. nacron sagt:

      It will hold up beautiful! Three months ago I drank a Berliner Weisse from 1998 and it was really good. Due to the Brett in it the shelf live is really long. Just like with Geuze it will improve and change in the bottle over time. In history they where burrying Weisse in sand for 2-7 years and selling this special version as “Sandweisse”. So aging is always a good thing with traditional Weisse.

  5. Dr. Roy Ventullo sagt:

    Hello Benedikt:
    Thank you for sharing your experiences with historical berliners. I have questions about pitching yeast/bacteria.
    1. Do you simply make a starter of each microbe and pitch all 3 individually to the wort at the same time or do you make a starter culture with all three together and let it sit a few weeks and pitch a some of the mix (and save rest for later use)?
    OR
    2. do you pitch each microbe in order: lacto first (24 hours?) then 1007 and Brett next day?

    Thank you for your time and effort.

    1. nacron sagt:

      Hey Roy,

      I grow them and pitch them altogether. Although give the starter more time than a normal sacc starter. I let it sit for a week so brett and lacto have a chance to catch up.
      It’s important that the Sacc is not overly aggressive otherwise it will push out the lacto by gobbling up all the nutrients before the lacto can take it up. But when you established a mixed culture you can repitch it.
      I started doing top cropping to harvest my weisse mixed culture. It was done at Willner till they closed in 1991. Even though they closed nearly 30 years ago their bottles produce a lot of brett and lacto when beeing recultured. So I think top cropping is the best way to harvest and repitch the mixed culture.

      I had two batches recently that didn’t sour. So pitching lacto first and the rest later is a way to ensure that it will sour. If you start out with your mixed culture I would recommend something like that or reducing the ibus even more to make sure you will get a sour beer. Balancing the acidity is the hardest part of the style. I think blending in 10% old weisse before pitching is one way to balance acidity. Going the heavier hopping route did not work out for me.

      Cheers
      Benedikt

  6. Moin moin Bendedikt:

    Thank you for all of this useful information. I am completely new to making Berliner Weisse, and am hence looking for a bit of additional guidance if feasible.My questions are as follows:
    – You mention fermentation for roughly 3 months. I assume that is primary fermentation in the carboy/fermentation tank, after which you then bottle the beer and let is generate the required amount of CO2 in bottles. Correct?
    – Regarding bottling, I use 0.33 ‘Buegelflaschen’. In your experience, do these hold the high pressure, or should I buy something different for this purpose?
    – Do you use table sugar for secondary fermenation / bottle conditioning or do this in some other way?
    – Regarding the Brettanomyces yeast, I am on the look out for the right culture but am based in Switzerland to which shipping isn’t always easy or cheap. I can see that my local Braushop has both the Wyeast 3191 and the WLP Berliner Weisse Blend. Is that something worth considering, or a big ‘no no’ for an original receipe as yours?
    – Anything else that would could be added in the Berliner Weisse for Dummies course?

    Thanks so much for any and all guidance on this exciting topic.

    Cheers;

    Jan

    1. nacron sagt:

      About Bottling: Yes after 3 months I bottle with enough sugar to create 6-7 g/l CO2. If you bottle earlier you have to take the remaining gravity into account. Also I often add a small fresh pitch of yeast to let generate carbonation faster and more reliable.

      0.33 Bügelflaschen will hold the pressure. Especially Pfand versions which are quite sturdy.

      Yes I use table sugar for bottle conditioning

      In Switzerland you could ask Samuel Aeschliman from Blackwell brewing. He has an isolated strain of Willner Weisse. Maybe he can provide you with a pitch. Otherwise you could just buy some schneeeule and take the brett from that beer. If all things fail I would recommend Brett Clausenii from your favorite yeast lab.

      Cheers
      Benedikt

      1. Wonderful. Thank you. Just to note that Blackwell currently does not provide its strain. They are not using it and hence don’t have excess of it. I have also contacted Escarpment Labs in Canada, who do have a number of strains (as suggested in your recipe), but for home brewers the shipping to Europe is somewhat costly at USD 60.

        Kind regards;

        Jan

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