Berlin Smoothie

Berlin Smoothie

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.032  FG = 1.005
IBU = 0  SRM = 3  ABV = 4%

This take on Berliner weisse forgoes any hop additions and incorporates two fruits not often seen together in beer, but it works beautifully. The blueberries and pineapple add a lovely deep claret color that’s unclassifiable. The OG above is prior to souring. The FG and ABV include the impact of the fruit addition. The SRM is for the base wort/beer pre-fruit addition.

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) German Pilsner malt 
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) pale wheat malt
4 lbs. (1.81 kg) frozen blueberries
4 lbs. (1.81 kg) frozen pineapple
Distilled water 
1⁄2 tsp. yeast nutrient (10 min.)
2 Goodbelly StraightShots or 4 Swanson Probiotic L. plantarum capsules
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or SafAle US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mill the grains and dough-in, targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain (3.1 L/kg) and a temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Add lactic acid as needed to target a mash pH of 5.2. Hold the mash at 150 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes. Sparge or mashout and lauter with enough water to yield a total volume of 5 gallons (19 L) of wort.

Heat wort to 180 °F (82 °C) in the brew kettle and hold for 8 minutes to pasteurize. Chill the wort to 95 °F (35 °C). Transfer the chilled wort to a sanitized, purged souring keg. Do not aerate. Add the Goodbelly shots or the inner contents of the Swanson capsules to the keg. Seal the keg and purge with CO₂, leaving about 20 PSI of pressure in the headspace after purging.

Allow the L. plantarum to sour the wort for about 48 hours at 95 °F (35 °C), until the pH drops to about 3.5.

After souring, transfer the wort to a boil kettle and add the amount of distilled water expected to boil off over a 60-minute period. Bring to a boil and boil for 60 minutes, adding the yeast nutrient at 10 minutes remaining.

Turn off the heat and chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C) or slightly cooler. Transfer the cooled wort to a “clean beer” fermenter and then aerate and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) until gravity is a few points above terminal.

Thaw and crush the fruit. Rack beer into a secondary fermenter on top of the fruit. Ferment for about a week at 68 °F (20 °C), or until the sugars in the fruit are fermented out.

If bottle conditioning, carbonate the beer to around 2.5 volumes of CO₂. If kegging, carbonate as high as 3.5 volumes of CO₂.

Berlin Smoothie

(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.032  FG = 1.005
IBU = 0  SRM = 3  ABV = 4%

Ingredients
3.6 lbs. (1.63 kg) Bavarian wheat dried malt extract
4 lbs. (1.81 kg) frozen blueberries
4 lbs. (1.81 kg) frozen pineapple
Distilled water 
1⁄2 tsp. yeast nutrient (10 min.)
2 Goodbelly StraightShots or 4 Swanson Probiotic L. plantarum capsules
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or SafAle US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Fill the brew kettle with 5 gallons (19 L) of water. Heat to about 160 °F (71 °C). Turn off heat, add the extract, and stir to dissolve. Heat wort to 180 °F (82 °C) in the brew kettle and hold for 8 minutes to pasteurize. 

Chill the wort to 95 °F (35 °C) and follow the remainder of the instructions in the all-grain recipe.

Tips for success:
If souring in a kettle instead of a dedicated souring keg, flood the kettle headspace (if possible) with CO₂ and cover as tightly as possible. Keep the kettle close to 95 °F (35 °C).

You can add lactic acid to bring the wort pH to about 4.5 or lower before pitching the L. plantarum. This will make the job easier for the bacteria and improve foam retention. If you don’t have a pH meter, about 8–9 mL 88% lactic acid per 5 gallons (19 L) of wort (starting at 5.2 pH) will be useful and should get you in the ballpark.

Using more L. plantarum than called for can also accelerate the souring process. Also, fresher L. plantarum will work faster than older L. plantarum.

Leaving 20 PSI of pressure in the souring keg’s headspace after purging helps ensure positive pressure to keep the keg sealed, as most of the headspace CO₂ is slowly absorbed by the wort. If you do not have a spunding valve, check the keg’s pressure periodically and if the souring keg’s pressure actually increases (unlikely), bleed some of it off using the pressure relief valve. 

The Saccharomyces fermentation will be somewhat slowed by the acidity of the wort. This is normal. The yeast is operating under less than ideal conditions (low pH), but will get the job done. 

For a more traditional Berliner weisse, hop to 8 IBUs in the boil with any noble hop, skip the fruit addition and the secondary fermentation, and package the beer when it reaches terminal gravity.