Double Brew Day! - White Wool Witbier and Funky Berliner Weisse

This past labor day I labored away on two new brews.  This is the first time I used the last runnings to make a small beer.  The main beer I was brewing was my witbier - the working title is White Wool.  Same recipe as last year.  Only difference is that I could not find any Jolly Pumpkin witbier so I do not have any dregs.  This will show me how much of that yeast really influenced last years beer.  I thought last years beer was great!

I have since learned that what I brewed was not a Peeterman Wit.  It was more of a old-world Leuven Witbier. To offset no Jolly Pumpkin, I added a little bit of lactic acid bacteria.  In this case it was Lacto Brevis.  So in a few weeks we will learn how much that Jolly Pumpkin yeast added to that beer.

Brew day was simple.  I ended up with about 4 gallons of 1.052 wort which was right on target.  Fermentation took off and is currently firing away on all cylinders.

The second beer I am making is a Funky Berliner Weiss.

I took the last gallon of sparge water I had left over and drained off another gallon of wort from the grain bed.  I did not boil that. Hoping that some of the funk from the malt will last and help funkify the beer some more.  I then mixed in one gallon of the Witbier to provide some hop and boiled wort.  I didnt want the Berliner to taste too much like wort.  I've read a few articles on how no boil Berliners can have that "raw" wort flavor.  Hoping the half boil vs half unboiled makes a nice in-between style.

I then added Lacto Brevis for 24 hours.  It was ripe – I mean funky –after that 24 hour rest.  I only cooled the beer to 120 when I pitched the lacto to help build up the sourness a bit quicker.  It seemed to work because this was nice and funky.  To make it a bit more funky the only yeast that will see this beer is Brett Lambicus.  When doing a 100% fermentation with Brett (though technically the lacto probably converted some of the sugar to alcohol) Brett Lambicus is supposed to have a funky fruit flavor.  Some say pineapple while I have seen some reviews say that it can pass as a Cherry fruit beer when using as "primary"

I only pitched one vial with no starter with the hopes of stressing the yeast some to get some more traditional funk in a short time.  24 hours later there is airlock activity and things are progressing.

The hope with this beer is that I can use it to mix my Pale Sour which will be coming off the oak very shortly to add some sourness or funk.  If its not needed I can just mix with some fruit and make a funky Berliner.

More to come as it happens.