Berliner Weisse update #2

I have a huge backlog of brewing-related posts which haven't been published yet, but I'm going to try to concentrate the same topics together. So yes, we're back to the obsession with the Berliner Weisse. To summarise again, Batch 1 was sour mashed in a keg then boiled (with hops), and Pacman yeast was pitched into it. Batch 2 was a no-boil batch with hop tea added, and pitched with Wyeast 3191 Berliner Weisse Blend. As expected, the prediction of a possible stuck ferment (due to the low pH) did happen. Or so I thought.

Cherry Weisse!

After pitching into Batch 1, the yeast struggled for a bit before stopping all activity after 2 days. I'm really not sure if it's because of the low pH, or there just wasn't much for the yeast to chew on since the Lacto would have converted quite a lot of the sugars into CO2 and lactic acid and maybe some ethanol. (Yes - the bugs I ended up with were heterofermentative.) I took readings every other day just to make sure it stabilised, and decided that heck, I'll pitch again just in case it stalled. So in went a whole packet of Montrachet wine yeast, and again - NOTHING. Based on calculations, that puts my ABV at about 2%. Which is precisely within style guidelines.Just as a confirmation, I decided to sample Batch 2. Theoretically, if Batch 1 really did have a stalled fermentation, Batch 2 should have a lower gravity since both yeast and bacteria had equal footing right at the beginning. Guess what? The readings were exactly the same. However, this is about 3 weeks in - the 3191 Berliner Weisse Blend also contains Brett, so I'm guessing that the Brett will probably chew through more sugars over time. 

Bottles before mummification

I decided to bottle half of Batch 1 last night. Gravity had remained the same throughout, and I'm praying that this means the end of fermentation. Of course, you really can't be too sure. There's always that chance of a Brett cell or bug getting in (which you can't taste anyway due to the funkiness), so I decided to err on the side of caution. The bottles were primed to 3 volumes CO2, which is the upper end of what I'm comfortable with .. so I wrapped each one in a wad of newspaper, followed by individual plastic bags (to hold the beer in case they do break), before placing it in a plastic crate. With the boiling of the sour mash I've probably already pushed my luck with wifey way too far, so if I get unprotected bottle bombs from this it could spell the end of my brewing escapades.

Bottles after mummification

For the other half of Batch 1, I dumped in 1kg of cherries on a whim. These were from 1.5 years ago, which I was saving for a kriek that never happened. So they were frozen during that time, and were nicely macerated by the time they thawed out. I threw them in whole, pits and all. I'm going to let this one ride out - there could be some wild yeast on the cherries (but can anything survive 1.5 years of freezing?).

Pack of frozen cherries

Racking (pouring, more like) half of Batch 1 onto the cherries

Quick Update 22 Oct 2013
As it turns out, the "stalled ferment" really isn't a stalled ferment due to pH. After adding the cherries, a nice krausen formed - most likely the original wort really had very little in the way of fermentable sugars left for the Saccharomyces, and adding the cherries added a nice kick of simple sugars for them to munch on.