Kölsch Yeast Advice / Ideas

[Darcey]

Hello All! I would have considered myself fairly knowledgeable about beer types until I started home brewing one day I spotted Kölsch.. never really tried it but forums suggest that its a good style to fill in for a 'real' lager.

In the summer and generaly when supping over a BBQ or film etc I like a nice pale lager as much as the next man. IPA's can be too over powering etc...

I have ordered some Wyeast 2565 Kölsch after reading lots of homebrewers making 'lager like' beers with out 6 months of maturation / lagering. I dont really have the facility's to 'lager' a beer for months on end with out stopping production of anything else and as its pale lager is not my personal preference 100% of the the time I dont want to do big batches in one go! Id much rather have lots of different beers in cornies!

Basically I am after some advice.

I plan to use 90% Lager Malt (or Pilsner if recomended)
5% Munich
5% Wheat

Boil @ 90mins
Hop with something like Saaz or Hersbrucker @ around 25IBU with no additions before 15mins at the end of the boil?

Ferment from .0050~ and 'lager' at 5C for 4 weeks?

I have not point of reference for lager or Kolsch brewing so any advice would be really helpful!

In the Autum of 2012 I will most likely make a real 'lager' and buy a fridge / freezer specifically to lager it untill the summer of 2013 but for now.. :drink:

D

 

[Mark1964]

If you use wlp 029 kolsch yeast there is no need to lager. Just ferment an normal temp bottle and drink just like an ale.

This was our recipe

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Munich Malt 20 EBC 1 lbs. 1.6 oz 500 grams 8.2%
Wheat Malt 3.5 EBC 0 lbs. 15.8 oz 450 grams 7.4%
pilsner malt 3.9 EBC 11 lbs. 5.6 oz 5150 grams 84.4%


Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Hallertauer Hersbrucker Whole 2.9 % 70 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 45.5%
Hallertauer Mittlefruh Whole 4.3 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 1.1 oz 30 grams 54.5%


Final Volume: 25 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.011
Alcohol Content: 5% ABV
Total Liquor: 36.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 15.3 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 19.782660332429 EBU
Colour: 9 EBC

 

[Morgan]

I'm drinking a Kolsch right now!! I'd advise a couple weeks of lagering as it takes a while for the yeast to settle out.

 

[Mark1964]

kolsch doesnt need lagering it just takes time for it to condition

 

[Darcey]

I'm drinking a Kolsch right now!! I'd advise a couple weeks of lagering as it takes a while for the yeast to settle out.

I guess I'll store it at 2c for two weeks to clear out the yeast before filtering anyway.D

kolsch doesnt need lagering it just takes time for it to condition

:thumb:

 

[Mark1964]

You could just chill it down to 2 degrees before kegging or bottling that way all the **** will settle straight away. It never bothers me about a bit of yeast in bottles any way

 

[Aleman]

kolsch doesnt need lagering it just takes time for it to condition

Tell that to the brewers in Koln then

Kolsch is a cold conditioned 'ale' . . .yes you can get a good beer without . . . but good enough almost is

 

[zgoda]

If you lager it, it will be ready in 3 wks.

If you just store it in cellar temp, it will need much longer time to mature. Mine gets peak flavour after 10 weeks and is nowhere as good as lagered.

 

[Mark1964]

I have never lagered the kolsch we make and I never will it tastes fine after a few weeks. I have only used white labs wlp 029 kolsch yeast and according to their web site does not need the lagering time. Personally I couldn't be arsed with waiting months to drink it.

 

[zgoda]

They're Americans. They always know better.

 

[Darcey]

With a nice supply of full kegs hopefully it'll be a month at least before serving. Recently I have cooled all beers to 2c for at least a week before kegging so an extra week or two in the fridge wont harm! Tasty beer :drink:

 

[Swift Pint]

How did the Kolsch turn out Darcey? I've just ordered some wlp029 along with some ingredients so am going to be brewing a few beers with 100% base malts, with a different base malt in each batch. I thought a kolsch yeast would be a nice clean way to compare them. :thumb:

 

[Darcey]

How did the Kolsch turn out Darcey? I've just ordered some wlp029 along with some ingredients so am going to be brewing a few beers with 100% base malts, with a different base malt in each batch. I thought a kolsch yeast would be a nice clean way to compare them. :thumb:

I am yet to start! I have the smack pack of wyeast 2565 in the fridge so really need to get it used. Manufacture date was only start of Jan however! I think I'll do a large starter anyway. I assume that these beers benifit from a high pitching rate as per other lager style beers? :wha:

Two brewdays so far have been taken up by making another pale ale NOT using Nelson Sauvin and last week where it was taken over by a baby sitting day! 2 year old make rubish asist. Brewers!

Hopefully next week. I need to plan ahead if I am going to do a starter however! I think i'll actually order some pilsner malt as well the Lager malt from the LHBS is somewhat dubious in quality. When I was looking for pale /MO malt the other day he suggested uk lager malt as 'its the same thing' which worrys me as they portion up 25kg sacks in to 3kg bags.. hmmm :shock:

 

[Darcey]

Well just mashed this one! I couldnt decide on hops so I have decided to use up alot of the part hops in a Kolsch Triple hop. Only doing a 60min addition and @19IBU

Mulit hops? Good idea?!

I have a near full pack of Perle that I could use? :wha:

 

[zgoda]

Should be good. I tried with Saaz only and was not that impressed (too spicy), but both Tettnang and Perle went fine. Best of the show was Hersbrucker only, anyway.

 

[Darcey]

I couldnt justify buying a full pack of Hersbrucker when I had plenty of hops that needed using. Throwing hops away :nono:

I am going to keep some of the yeast and do afew variations.

 

[Darcey]

For fermentation. I have gone with 17c, with this being the world of homebrewing everyone appears to have an opinion of how to ferment a beer of this style.

Solid at 17c for 2 weeks then crash to 2c for a month or gradually decrease?

 

[Darcey]

Anyway managed to get an infection by not treating my yeast with enough respect and a slow 3day lag time allowed a wild yeast to take hold :sick: :shock:

The Kolsch yeast soon took over but there is a deffo smell of ruined homebrew. Thankfully it only fermented out to 1.010 so maybe i got away with it. Managed to rack 17l from the bottom in to a cornie. Storing at 1c for afew weeks and then going to see if its drinkable.

I ordered 5kg of Pilsner malt and it arrived so will me mashing in tomorrow am again. Will drop the Carapils and just use Perle @25~IBU.

Wish me luck!

D