Kettle Soured Raspberry Berliner Weisse

[cheeseyfeet]

Amazon Carte D'Or Raspberry Coulis (Fruit Puree), 1kg:Amazon.co.uk:Grocery

There are a few brands around (mainly for cocktail making) and they are all either just fruit and sugar or have a “natural flavouring” which I was trying to avoid. The Carte D’Or one is just fruit and sugar and appeared to have the highest fruit content (90%).

Nice one, thanks - I hadn't considered Amazon.

I also see they have the Funkin Cocktail purees which look interesting.

 

[MickDundee]

Nice one, thanks - I hadn't considered Amazon.

I also see they have the Funkin Cocktail purees which look interesting.

Yeah the Funkin ones also are just fruit and sugar but they don’t appear to state the % of fruit (in the Amazon listing anyway, info is probably available elsewhere online but I CBA to check) which was why I went Carte D’Or.

Funkin do some interesting flavours though so if this is a success I might try something different when/if I do another sour. My local microbrewery did a lychee sour which was really nice and might be worth replicating.

The Leonce Blanc ones have “natural flavourings” in so I was avoiding them even though there’s still no preservatives.

 

[Ben034]

This all sounds interesting and is something i've been meaning to do for a while. I want to do as above but on a smaller scale whilst my main fermenter working on another project. As I only want to do a 5l batch, I would rather not spend on the sour kit. Anyone have success with a live yougurt culture for this? Did you make a "yogurt starter" or just yogurt straight in the kettle?

If you can't get hold of the purees, I've had sucess blending frozen fruit, straining, place in zip lock bag (expel air using a sink of water - displacement method - see sous vide) and then hold in mash tun at 70c for an hour to pasteurise. Although, apparently getting hold of frozen fruit at the moment is also tricky.

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Yeah the Funkin ones also are just fruit and sugar but they don’t appear to state the % of fruit (in the Amazon listing anyway, info is probably available elsewhere online but I CBA to check) which was why I went Carte D’Or.

Funkin do some interesting flavours though so if this is a success I might try something different when/if I do another sour. My local microbrewery did a lychee sour which was really nice and might be worth replicating.

The Leonce Blanc ones have “natural flavourings” in so I was avoiding them even though there’s still no preservatives.

The Funkin ones are reportedly 90% fruit, 10% sugar too, so should be a straight swap for the Carte D'Or ones.

I have a recipe lined up that's exactly the same as yours, just haven't been able to spend successive days nursing it yet!

Keep us updated on how your brew goes!

 

[Horners]

Where did you get your raspberry coulis from?

I've been trying to source tart cherry concentrate or pulp for a fake kriek for a while.

I used Leonce Blanc sour cherry puree available in 1kg pouches for next day delivery on Amazon. Not cheap mind.

 

[MickDundee]

I used Leonce Blanc sour cherry puree available in 1kg pouches for next day delivery on Amazon. Not cheap mind.

TBF the purées are about a tenner and a Berlinerweisse is sub 4%ABV and barely uses any hops I think it’s fairly reasonable.

The Sourpitch and purée combined were about £16. I’ve spent £16 on hops for IPAs before.

 

[Leon103]

The Funkin ones are reportedly 90% fruit, 10% sugar too, so should be a straight swap for the Carte D'Or ones.

I have a recipe lined up that's exactly the same as yours, just haven't been able to spend successive days nursing it yet!

Keep us updated on how your brew goes!

Could it be placed in a fermentation fridge at a set temperature?

 

[MickDundee]

Airlock looking pretty active this morning. Will monitor it when we have our daily walk and if it looks like dying down by Friday I’ll put the purée in Friday night (at 1.032 SG I can’t imagine a sachet of US05 and a sachet of M44 will have any bother munching through it in a couple of days, even with the acidity). Otherwise I’ll give it a full week and add the raspberry on Sunday.

 

[strange-steve]

Could it be placed in a fermentation fridge at a set temperature?

Yep, before I got a Grainfather I kettle soured by putting it in my fermentation fridge which was able to maintain 35-40c with just a 100w light bulb as a heater.

 

[Ben034]

Yep, before I got a Grainfather I kettle soured by putting it in my fermentation fridge which was able to maintain 35-40c with just a 100w light bulb as a heater.

Did you use grain / yogurt / swanson capsules to sour or a specific kit as above?

 

[strange-steve]

Did you use grain / yogurt / swanson capsules to sour or a specific kit as above?

I've used all three. The yoghurt was a small batch experiment years ago which went wrong somehow. I used grain once and it worked well, and used Swanson capsules a few times with very good results.

I'm going to give yoghurt another go sometime soon, I think the first attempt got contaminated with something unpleasant and went down the drain.

 

[Ben034]

I've used all three. The yoghurt was a small batch experiment years ago which went wrong somehow. I used grain once and it worked well, and used Swanson capsules a few times with very good results.

I'm going to give yoghurt another go sometime soon, I think the first attempt got contaminated with something unpleasant and went down the drain.

Thanks Steve. Fingers crossed this time. Do you intend to pitch direct or make a starter with it?

 

[strange-steve]

Thanks Steve. Fingers crossed this time. Do you intend to pitch direct or make a starter with it?

I'll definitely make a starter with it thumb

 

[MickDundee]

Poured the raspberry in tonight. Did it earlier than planned because the krausen had subsided.

 

[MickDundee]

1.006 FG which puts it at about 3.7% ABV based on the estimated sugar increase from the raspberry puree. A lovely pink colour as well, although the photo doesn’t show it off very well.

To be honest I think it could do with being a bit sharper from the sample jar hopefully the carbonation will give it the lift it needs but very promising so far.

 

[MickDundee]

I’m an eager beaver. Only in the bottle a week but early signs are promising. Again the reddish pink colour isn’t as prominent in the photo as in real life.

 

[Ben034]

Looking good! I've also had a go as had been meaning to do something similar for a while and saw your post. Just waiting to bottle. Only 5l as not sure how quickly I would get through it. Will scale up if all is good.

 

[jceg316]

How sour is it currently?

 

[MickDundee]

How sour is it currently?

It’s tart, but not quite as sour as I was aiming for. This might change after it’s had some time to condition.

 

[matt76]

Hey @MickDundee , what was the final reckoning on this beer? Did it end up as you had hoped?

Technical question for you on the details - did you pitch the entire pack of Sour Pitch? According to the data sheet the pitch rate is 10g/hL - so even if you did something like a 20L batch one pack is way more than you'd need.

Cheers