Brewed up another batch of Berliner Weisse on Sunday, November 12, 2017. I used pretty much the same recipe and water profile as my first attempt, batch #81, except this time I used some acidulated malt to lower the mash pH.
I mashed in at 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. I used 188°F for my strike water temperature, calculated with Beersmith using 0.6 as the tun specific heat. I usually use 0.3 but that tends to come in low. This time it came in 3.5 degrees to high at 158.5. A tun specific heat of 0.5 would have be better. I had to stirred the mash for several minutes to get the temperature down to 155°F. After 10 minutes into the mash I pulled a sample to check the pH. pH=4.88. That is lower than typical but I decided to let it ride and see how it turns out. A pH in that range for sour mashing would be okay, I think, to help preserve the proteins needed for good foam.
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at Amazon.com. As Bertus Brewery states, PBW also contains a chelating agent, which prevents scaling on brewery equipment. This alternative doesn’t have it. I use 1 oz. per gallon of water to clean my fermenting buckets. I usually let them sit full overnight and rinse them VERY well. Same with my corny kegs.
