Traditional Kolsch (w/non-traditional dry hop)

Brewing a Kolsch style beer this weekend. I'll be doing the typical 10gallon batch and will split into two 5 gallon carboys for fermentation. One will receive Hallertau whole leaf dry hops for a twist on the traditional Kolsch. Gotta give props to The Mad Fermentationist for the idea to make a hopped up Kolsch but then decided to put my own twist on it and try dry hopping it (what the heck...lets see what happens).

The recipe includes Hallertauer Hersbrucker and Hallertau hops in the boil and then Hallertau whole leaf hops for dry hopping. Should be a subtle dry hop since the AA content is pretty low (4.5%). Will do 2 weeks primary, 3 weeks cold conditioning and then will bring it out of cold conditioning and dry hop at 63F for 5 days and then cold crash again for 1 day before kegging and carbonating (see you in March..perfect beer for drinking during the NCAA tournament...go Jayhawks ! ). Here it is:

Kettle volume: 14.0 gal
Eff: 90%
evap p/hr: 1.33
final vol: 11.52

Mash 150 for 90m

Grains:
16lb Pilsner malt (90.1%)
1.5lb Light Wheat Malt (8.5%)
0.25lb Caramunich (1.4%)

Hops:
1oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (pellet) - 60m boil
2oz German Hallertau (pellet) - 60m boil
2oz German Hallertau (whole leaf)- dry hop

Yeast:
WLP029

OG: 1.047
FH: 1.010
Color: 3.83 SRM
ABV: 4.9%
IBU: 21.9 (dry hop likely 30)

If it were me, I'd do the exact opposite and put the hops in late instead of early. Oh wait, with just 21 IBU you basically did that. Carry on!

Gravity came in at 1.050. Easy brew day with no hitches

Will let this sit on the yeast in the primary till this weekend and then will take a sample/reading. If diacetyl is cleaned up, then I'm going to transfer to the secondary and start the long cold conditioning process. If there is any hint of diacetyl then I'll probably move to a warmer room (sitting at 61F right now) and let it sit at 66/67F for a few days before transferring and cold conditioning. We'll see.

Transferred to secondary today. Gravity at 1.010. Now have this cold conditioning at 37f for the next 2.5 weeks and then will lightly dry hop one of the carboys and then keg. Should be in its prime for the start of the NCAA tourney ! Will be dry hopping on/around 2/17 and kegging on/around week of 2/24.

Both batches were kegged today. Should be able to sample this next weekend.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Both kegs of the dry hopped and non dry hop batch are now ready. Will post some photos soon. Dry hopped batch has sort of a green tea/apple taste to it. It's not bad, but not what I want in a Kolsch. That said, it could be very interesting to add some peaches or apricots to the secondary and with German Hallertau dry hop. I think the intermingling of the green tea/apple from the dry hops with fruit could be a nice combo. 2oz of dry hops is obviously too much for this type of hop to be added to a Kolsch alone. If I was to ever attempt a dry hop on a kolsch again, I think I might try 1oz. of nelson sauvin for the white wine aroma/flavor. I think that could work. Anyway, I vented off the keg to let some aroma out and will let this one cold condition for a month to integrate the hops back into the beer. Glad I tried this, but I don't think German Hallertau hops used for dry hopping in a Kolsch works.

The non dry hop batch is easily the best Kolsch style beer I've ever made. No tweaks needed on this. I've finally dialed in a kolsch the way I like it !! Very happy with this one.

Regular Kolsch no dry hop. Best Kolsch I've ever made.




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I'm glad you posted this. I was thinking about dry hoping my kolsch with hellertau as well. You saved me the experiment.

I think I will try your recipe the next batch I make (no dry hop!). Looks really good!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

budonze said:

I'm glad you posted this. I was thinking about dry hoping my kolsch with hellertau as well. You saved me the experiment.

I think I will try your recipe the next batch I make (no dry hop!). Looks really good!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Click to expand...

Well. Hold that thought. The last time I tried the dry hopped version was around 3/1. It was too green so I've sat on it since then. Well, flash forward to 3/19, just poured a pint and I'll be damned if it's not actually pretty good. The hop haze is gone and the hallertau apple/green tea aromas and flavors have developed to a more lime/lemon aroma flavor. It works well now. And it's drinkable, repeatedly so. I would recommend doing 1oz. dry hops per 5 gal. and then kegging and conditioning for at least a month before serving. It's been an interesting journey with this beer. But, now I know it's not a disaster. Thinking it would be interesting to citra dry hop a kolsch if I do that Zymurgy kumquat kolsch thing. Maybe next time.

Cool. Thx for the follow up


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Brewing this one again, minus the dry hop. OG came in at 1.049. Used all Hersbrucker pellets on this one. I'm going to ferment primary for about 2 weeks and then will secondary/cold crash at around 38F for 4 weeks. Thinking this will be ready to keg around end of June and then will condition/lager for another few weeks and serve mid/July. I got a new pH meter that I used on this one so I'm excited to see how dialing in the pH will impact this beer. In the past I've just winged it. I did forget to add irish moss/whirfloc ..but I doubt it matters considering the lengthy lagering/cold crash this will get (and I'll add in gelatin).

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Will be transferring this into the secondaries this weekend and will begin cold crashing for 3 weeks and then will keg.

I transferred to secondaries and am down to 1.012 on both batches. I used WLP029 on one batch ( I usually use WLP029 or yeast 2565) and the other I used wyeast 2575 which is noted as Kolsch II. Never used it before but it definitely tastes different and after several weeks of primary fermentation is nowhere near as clear as the WLP029 batch. Wyeast does note about 2565 "This powdery strain results in yeast that remain in suspension post fermentation. It requires filtration or additional settling time to produce bright beers". I'll let this one cold crash for about a month in the secondary and will add gelatin to the secondary and then to the keg if it's still looking cloudy.

I kegged both batches today. Both were equal in clarity. No yeast in suspension. Sampled both and the Kolsch II had more of a bready/lemon note to it. Interesting but definitely a noticeable difference from the WLP029

Here's the wlp029


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

And here is the Kolsch II.

Looks the same but totally different aroma and flavor. Getting a lot of lemon and pear in the flavor and aroma from this yeast. This one also finishes a lot drier. The wlp029 is definitely more of the traditional tasting Kolsch. I'd brew with Kolsch II again for sure. Enjoying it.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Interesting colour difference between the first and second batches!

ScotBrew said:

Interesting colour difference between the first and second batches!

Click to expand...

It's just lighting differences in the photos. The color seems to be the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew