Schneeeule ★ 4.4
Schneeeule in Wedding is the brewery that rebooted Berliner Weisse as a serious craft category in 2016. Brewer Ulrike Genz uses wild fermentation and no added syrups; the Salon pours the vintageed range.
History
Berliner Weisse was first brewed in the late 16th century and reached its peak in the late 19th century when over 700 Berlin breweries produced the style; Napoleon's troops in 1809 reportedly called it the Champagne of the North. Production collapsed through the 20th century to two industrial brands (Berliner Kindl Weisse and Schultheiss Berliner Weisse), both heavily sweetened. The 21st-century revival was led by craft brewers like Schneeeule in Wedding (founded 2016 by Ulrike Genz), who restored the wild-fermentation traditional methods. The syrup tradition (Schuss Waldmeister green or Himbeer red) dates to the 1950s, an attempt to balance the beer's natural sourness.
Common allergens: Gluten
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 2kg pilsner malt (Pilsner)
- 500g unmalted wheat (Weizenrohfrucht)
- 20g Hallertau or Tettnang hops, low alpha
- Lactobacillus plantarum culture (homebrew supply)
- American or German ale yeast (Wyeast 1007 or similar)
- 5L brewing water adjusted to soft (low calcium)
- Optional: woodruff or raspberry syrup to serve
Method
- Mash the pilsner malt and wheat in 12L water at 65C for 60 minutes to convert starches.
- Sparge with hot water to collect 7L of sweet wort.
- Boil the wort 60 minutes with the hops added at 10 minutes before flameout (low bittering).
- Cool the wort to 38C, transfer to a sanitised fermenter, pitch the lactobacillus culture. Hold at 38C for 48 hours; the wort will sour to pH 3.4 to 3.6.
- Cool to 18C, pitch the ale yeast, ferment 7 days until gravity is stable around 1.005.
- Bottle with 5g per litre of corn sugar for carbonation, condition at room temperature for 14 days before refrigerating and serving in a wide coupe with a syrup shot.
Tip from the editors. The lactobacillus sour-step before the yeast pitch is what creates the distinctive tartness; skipping it leaves a flat wheat beer.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat berliner weisse
Berliner Weisse in Berlin
BRLO Brwhouse ★ 4.5
BRLO Brwhouse sits in 38 upcycled shipping containers in the Park am Gleisdreieck, brewing a full range of craft lagers, IPAs and seasonal sours. The beer garden looks onto the U-Bahn bridge.
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