Style: Berliner Weisse

All Styles

Style Profile based on 721 recipes

BU:GU

0.19

Hops

2.0 g/L

Mash pH

5.54

Dry hop

0.2 g/L

Style Guidelines BJCP 2015 Beer
OG
1.028 1.032
1.045
FG
1.003 1.006
1.01
IBU
3 8
9
ABV
2.8% 3.8%
4.7%
SRM
2 3
Description

A very pale, refreshing, low-alcohol German wheat beer with a clean lactic sourness and a very high carbonation level. A light bread dough malt flavor supports the sourness, which shouldn’t seem artificial. Any Brettanomyces funk is restrained. History: A regional specialty of Berlin; referred to by Napoleon's troops in 1809 as “the Champagne of the North” due to its lively and elegant character. At one point, it was smoked and there used to be Märzen-strength (14 °P) version. Increasingly rare in German, but some American craft breweries now regularly produce the style. Style Comparison: Compared to a lambic, is generally not as acidic and has a clean lactic sourness with restrained to below sensory threshold funk. Also lower in alcohol content.

Examples: Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse, Berliner Kindl Weisse, Nodding Head Berliner Weisse, The Bruery Hottenroth

Typical Grain Bill

% of total grain weight across all recipes · sums to ~100%

Common Additions

% of Berliner Weisse recipes using each malt category (addition % in brackets)

Hop Usage by Addition Type

g/L · median with IQR range

Bittering
0.17 g/L 0.75 g/L
0.35 g/L
Flavour
0.29 g/L 0.75 g/L
0.51 g/L
Aroma
0.27 g/L 1.22 g/L
0.52 g/L
Whirlpool
0.33 g/L 1.37 g/L
0.74 g/L
Dry Hop
0.69 g/L 2.73 g/L
1.18 g/L

Common Hops

% of Berliner Weisse recipes using each hop

Typical Water Profile

Ca²⁺ 69 ppm
Mg²⁺ 5 ppm
Na⁺ 11 ppm
Cl⁻ 75 ppm
SO₄²⁻ 55 ppm
HCO₃⁻ 25 ppm

median across recipes with a declared water profile

Similar Styles

Ranked by similarity across OG, IBU, ABV, hop rate, and grist composition.