Berliner Weisse

I got to try a Berliner Weisse inspired brew at the 2008 GABF. The tartness reminded me of a lambic which is another style that I really enjoy and plan on brewing sometime in the next year (I have a couple bags of homegrown hops "aging" in the garage). I brewed the following recipe back in late April. I bottled it about a month ago but I suspect it will need to age at least three months to get the amount of sourness I'm looking for.

3 lbs pilsner malt

2.5 pounds pale wheat malt

.5 oz Kent Goldings for 15 min

White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch yeast

White Labs WLP677 Lactobacillus Bacteria

I mashed at 149 F for 90 minutes then collected approx 3 gallons of wort. I added water for about 5.3 gallons boil volume and performed a 15 minute boil. I pitched the lacto after chilling to about 80 F then pitched the yeast a day later. I'll post a follow-up in July or August after this has had some time to age and hopefully get nice and sour.

Update 8/2/2010: I tried some of this on 7/4/2010 and again on 8/1/2010. It's still not quite as tart as I'd like, but it was noticeably more tart on 8/1/2010 than 7/4/2010. I like this but it's different than the Berliner Weisse inspired brew that I had at the 2008 GABF. It definitely has some funk going on, but in a good way. In one sense, it has some similarities to some of the Belgian styles. I think this will improve with age and I'd make it again but will probably do a little tweaking. As of 8/1/2010, I'd rate this a C+/B-