Berliner Weisse - My Interpretation of Dogfish Head Festina Peche

For those unfamiliar with the Berliner Weisse style, it is a sour, wheat-based beer that is low in abv.  It is typically doctored with either woodruff or raspberry syrup to counteract the sourness.  The beer has no apparent hop bitterness.  Production of Berliner Weisse dates back to the 16th century in northern Germany with the style reaching its pinnacle in the mid 19th century with over 70 breweries in Berlin alone producing the style.  Even Napolean had an admiration for this sour, tart, acid, and refreshing beer, famously referring to the style as the "Champagne of the north."  Unfortunately, the style was nearly lost in the 20th century with only 2 breweries in Berline still brewing the style.  The style has made a modest comeback thanks to the American craft brew movement and can be found today in small batch runs by many North American craft breweries.

My favorite interpretation of the Berliner Weisse style is Dogfish Head's Festina Peche.  DFH describes the Festina Peche as a "refreshing neo-Berliner Weisse" to be consumed during the "sweaty months."  What separates Festina Peche from the traditional Berliner Weisse style is the use of peaches during fermentation.  The natural peach sugars are utilized by the yeast and lactobacillus and eliminate the need to add syrup to off-set the tart/sour.

As any good homebrewer wishes to do, I set out to duplicate the recipe and add my own flair to it.  Approaching brewing a Berliner Weisse is different than other beers.  There are many ways to brew a Berliner Weisse.  The traditional method utilizes a decoction mash and first wort hopping with a sparge directly into the fermenter with no boil.  I fully admit I didn't perform the traditional method.  First, a decoction mash is a pain the ass.  Second, I don't trust the natural bacteria growing in my mash tun or the grain to provide me with a decent beer.  It might just do it, but I sure don't want to find out.  Other methods include performing a normal sparge and performing either a short boil or a long boil.  Some even perform a sour mash and then boil once the desired level of sourness is reached.

Next, you need to choose your bacteria and yeast.  Choosing your Lactobacillus strain can be just as difficult.  Do you want a homofermentative Lactobacillus strain that will produce lactic acid and little else or a heterofermentative strain that will produce ethanol?  Typically a homofermentative strain will produce a more sour, tart drink but will give little to no alcohol.  Remember this from Biology?

Yeah, I don't either.  You can bet I would have paid better attention if this was how it was presented!  The yeast strain is rather easy to pick, a clean german ale yeast is typically used.  A traditional Berliner Weisse will also use Brettanomyces Bruxellensis during secondary or at bottling.

Below is my interpretation of the Festina Peche / Berliner Weisse:

Style: Berliner Weisse
Type: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 6.12 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.034 SG
Estimated Color: 3.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 6.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 69.0 %
Boil Time: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                  
4 lbs 8.0 oz        Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)
3 lbs                  White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)    
0.75 oz              Tettnang [4.50 %] - First Wort Hop
1.0 pkg              Berliner Weisse Blend (White Labs #WLP630 Yeast)
1.0 pkg              Lactobacillus Delbrueckii (Wyeast Labs #5335 Yeast)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 7 lbs 8.0 oz
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Name              Description                                           Step Temp   Step Time  
Mash In          Add 9.38 quarts of water at 159.1 F         149.0 F       90 min      

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.74gal, 3.18gal) of 168.0 F water

Notes:
Cool wort to 100 F and pitch Lactobacillus Delbrueckii (Wyeast #5335)
Wait 2 days and pitch Berliner Weisse Blend (While Labs #WLP630)
After 2 weeks, move to secondary fermentation and rack onto 3 lbs, 1 oz of peach puree.
Secondary fermentation for 6 months and then rack off peach puree into tertiary.
Tertiary for 2 weeks or until clear.
Fermentation temperature ~68 degrees
Bottle conditioned with carbonation level of 3.2 volumes of CO2 with table sugar

Explanation of my process:
I did not perform a traditional decoction mash due to the increased time required for this process, nor did I do a no boil method due to wanting to exactly control the bugs/yeast that went into my beer.  I only cooled my wort to 100 F since Lactobacillus Delbrueckii liking very warm temperatures.  The wort cooled naturally to 78 degrees in 2 days when the Berliner Weisse Blend was pitched.  The amount of peach puree was guess.  However, I'd rather have too little peach than too much peach.  We've all tasted the nastiness that is Son of a Peach, and the last thing the world needs is a replica of that crappy, extract infused beer.  I skipped on adding Brettanomyces Bruxellensis during tertiary or at bottling because Festina Peche has no apparent Brett character.

Comparison to DFH Festina Peche:

My version on the left, DFH on the right

As far as IBUs, SRM, mouth feel, and carbonation, both beers were similar.  My version had a tart aroma.  The peach aroma was slight but present, but the DFH version had a more present peach aroma.  My version had a much more pronounced sourness and tartness and a lighter peach presence but still apparent.  Again, DFH had less sourness and tartness but a more pronounced peach flavor.  As far as complexity of flavor, I believe mine won out hands down.  My wife agreed.  We both preferred my version over DFH.  Of course, I'd happily enjoy either beer on a warm summer day!

Good brewing and drinking all!