Berliner Weisse

Tasting Notes

Berliner weisse, which is commonly produced in northern Germany in the vicinity of Berlin, is known as the champagne of beers. The Berliner Weisse style has a pronounced sour taste, and is very pale, effervescent, and lightly hopped. The mouth-puckering sourness is characterized by an intense vinegary taste, caused by lactic and acetic acids, and is complemented by ester fruitiness. The acidic characteristic is central to Berliner Weisse. Modern versions are less sour, with no esters. Berliners often add to their weisse a dose of sweetened raspberry syrup (which turns it red) or woodruff syrup (which turns it green) to balance the acidity. Weisse is often considered a summer drink.

Ingredients

Berliner Weisse is brewed with about 60 to 75% wheat malt and a smaller amount of pale malt. Common bittering hops are Northern Brewer and Perle. The hopping rates are extremely low. This is because hop compounds inhibit the growth of lactic acid bacteria since fermentation involves Lactobacillus bacteria. Medium to hard water with high carbonate hardness is typically used.

Brewing Techniques

At fermentation, the wort is pitched with top fermenting yeast and Lactobacillus delbrückii. Alternatively, some brewers will add a small portion of 3- to 6-month old wort. A ratio of 4:1 of yeast to lactic bacteria is recommended when pitching in a range between 17 and 20ºC; at lower temperatures, a ratio of 6:1 is recommended. Fermentation lasts for only 3 to 4 days, while maturation lasts 3 to 4 weeks at temperatures between 15 and 25ºC. Before being bottled, the beer is blended with kraeusen (10%) and dosed with Lactobacillus delbrückii. It is warm-conditioned in the bottle for about 1 week at 15 to 16ºC to carbonate the beer to the desired level. After another 3 to 5 weeks of lagering at 8 to 10ºC, the beer is released for sale.

The information on this page was provided by beer-brewing.com (http://www.beer-brewing.com).