Berliner Weisse (part three)

Jumping forward several decades to 1834, Johann Heinrich Moritz Poppe ‘s "Die Bierbrauerei auf der höchsten Stufe der jetzigen Vervollkommnung" has another detailed description of how to brew Berliner Weisse . By this time the style was hugely popular in Berlin.

The grist was still two parts wheat malt to one part barley malt. During a decoction, the hops were boiled for 15 minutes with part of the mash. Though some brewers had developed an alternative method, where part of the mash was boiled for 45 to 60 minutes. The longer boil had the advantage of requiring fewer hops, as more was extracted from them.

The wort was now fermented in trade casks, rather than in the mash tun,. The fermentation was quite lively, spurting yeast and beer from the bung hole. The expelled beer was collected in bowls and returned to the barrel. This is very similar to a process in British breweries called “cleansing”, in which most of the yeast is removed from the wort.  The most sophisticated form of this process was performed in Burton unions. At the end of fermentation, the beer was bottled.

Based on the quantities of malt used, the beer probably had an OG of around 1045º, quite a bit higher than today.

Some points from the chapter on Berliner Weisse in "Die Herstellung Obergähriger Biere" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 1902:

•    In the early decades of the 19th century Berlin Weissbier brewers regularly refreshed their yeast with fresh Bitterbier yeast brought in from Cottbus. If they kept repitching harvested yeast, their beer was too sour.
•    Only in the 1830's or 1840's did the mixed yeast/lactobacillus strain develop which could be safely repitched without needing to be periodically refreshed.
•    Before 1850 most Berliner Weisse was sold young, just a day or two after being brewed. The beer was finished by publicans, who also bottled it.
•    In the 19th century, Weisse was often watered down a bottling time, but not as universally as in 1900. It used to only happen in working-class pubs, while posher establishments sold it uncut.
•    Until the 1860's smoked wheat malt was used to brew Berliner Weisse. Then one brewer experimented with an unsmoked version that was so well received by drinkers that all the other brewers quickly followed suit.
•    Two things remained constant between 1800 and 1900: the use of wheat malt and barley malt; not boiling the wort.