[Int3lig3ntdzign]

Hey All,

      So I'm attempting my first kettle sour tomorrow, I've brewed a Berliner Weisse before and they always seem to lack body. I don't change up my mashing technique, I have changed temps obviously, but my regular brews come out full bodied. I use about ten pounds of grain for a five gallon batch of Berliner Weisse. I usually do a single infusion at around 152 degrees. My system runs at about 80 present efficiency. I tend to sparge for 25 mins. I don't really change my process but I'm not getting body and I can't really hone in why. Any advice would help, thanks!

-Keith

[bayareabrewer]

doesn't seem like a style that is full bodied. Acidity seems to cut through the body of beers imo. At least that's how my palate perceives it. Is this a no boil BW?

[Stevie]

Have you tried pre-acidifying the wort? The smarter than me types over on MTF recommend pre-acidifying to ~4.2. Apparently this helps head retention and limits off-flavor organisms.

[brewinhard]

I used to brew a lot berliners back a handful of years ago. Some batches came out thinner than others. Mostly depending on how I acidified the wort. I had best luck when using a straight full-on lacto pitch that I had previously built up anaerobically. I had always followed this up with a no-boil process that typically left behind a sort of "doughy" grain note that I percieved in the finished product as a slightly "fuller" body (if one can even have that in a berliner).
On a side note, proper carbonation plays a key role in how one percieves the body of this style of beer. Shoot for 3-3.5 volumes of CO2 to give that snappy, crispness. It also helps to give the beer a fuller mouthfeel.

Hope this helps.