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Author Topic: Sparging a Berliner Weisse  (Read 1359 times)

Offline breweite

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Sparging a Berliner Weisse
« on: January 26, 2014, 10:52:15 am »
I've been sour mashing for about 48 hours.  My method (BIAB):

3lbs Pils 3lbs Wheat
Mashing 3 Gallons h20 at 150F (2qt/lb)
Let it Cool to 115
Pitched a handful of umilled grains
set in my oven for 48hours
The temperature has moved up and down a little, but I've never gotten higher than 120, nor lower than 100.  I've probably been averaging 110.

The wort is extremely sour right now!  It smells and taste wonderful.  However, this is for a 5 gallon batch.  I need to still sparge about 3 more gallons of water (maybe a little less).  And then I'm going to go for a 15min boil. And then pitch WhiteLabs Berliner (I forget the #)

My questions is: how do I treat the sparge water? Will it dilute my sourness?  I'd hate to gather my collection of wort and have it not sour enough...

Other thought: beucase I'm brew in a bag, can I add that water now and then let is mash for another day?  I feel like I should've just added the entire water amount to begin with but I was worried about overflowing due to pot size.

Thoughts?
Cheers from Austin, Tejas!

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Sparging a Berliner Weisse
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2014, 11:24:00 am »
Sure, you're going to dilute the sour mash but you'll also boil off some of the water, if you are boiling. You'll also convert the sugars into alcohol, which will make the acid stand out more.

You could always just let it sour for a longer period of time before you sparge.
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Sparging a Berliner Weisse
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2014, 09:05:29 pm »
Your sparge water very likely has alkalinity and possibly a lot of alkalinity which does more than dilute the acidity but also neutralizes some of it. 

I recommend adding more water, removing the bag if you haven't done so to make more room for additional water, and let the souring continue.  pH is not a very good way to measure acidity but if the pH is not below 3 then you're not done.  Let taste be your guide.

Offline breweite

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Re: Sparging a Berliner Weisse
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2014, 08:19:32 am »
Kramer -
I ended up doing this, I let it sour for about 12 more hours. A longer time would've been nice but it was still really sour and tasty. I honestly couldn't notice any difference in taste.  I pitched my white labs 630 on it and now we'll see what happens. Next time, I will do a full volume mash (or at least as close as I can) just to save the extra step!
Cheers from Austin, Tejas!

Offline dordway29

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Re: Sparging a Berliner Weisse
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2014, 08:57:31 am »
WLP630 Berliner Weisse Blend also has lactobacillus in it. So the sourness will also continue developing as the beer ages.