markwarren66

Recipes 

I'm brewing my first kolsch tonight - an extract kit from Midwest. I built a starter last night, so it will have been prepared 24 hours prior to pitching. This is my normal procedure and is resulting in very short lag times and active fermentations.

Questions - do I need to ferment at cooler temps? My basement is in the mid 60's right now, but upstairs is 75+. I was leaning towards the basement on a table.

- I plan to let it sit in the primary for 1 week, and then secondary for 4-5 weeks. Then keg. Does that sound alright?

Any other tips for this style of beer?

Pat

Yooper

Recipes 

What yeast are you using? The fermentation temperature depends on the yeast.

Mid 60s is generally good for all ale yeasts, though, so you should be fine there.

Kolsch generally are "lagered" during the secondary.

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Hoosierbrewer

Recipes 

I put my secondary in my fridge for my Kolsch. Not sure if it is necessary though. If you have either German Ale or Kolsch yeast, then you will want to be in the basement . You may even want use a cold bath to get the temp closer to 62.

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Primary: IPA
Secondary: empty
Keg 1: American Wheat
Keg2: German Ale
Next up: Christmas Old Ale, American Wheat AG, need suggestions

markwarren66

Recipes 

It is Wyeast 2565 Kolsch Ale yeast. Temp range is 56-70 on the website.

Do you think basement floor is a good idea?

FireBrewer

Recipes 

Yes. I ferment mine at 60-65° and it does the trick. You want a delicate flavor profile with a Kölsch, it'll help with that.

Good luck!

malkore

Recipes 

Yeah, keep it under 70F to get a nice clean flavor from that yeast. even the low 60's it'll still chug along.

FYI that yeast strain, the krausen lingers long past fermentation's end. so you'll have to trust gravity reading and not airlock/krausen to know its ready for secondary.

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

SkinnyShamrock

Recipes 

So say that someone, theoretically, used WLP029 German Ale yeast for their Kolsch, and the fermentation was at an average of 73*. Too far out of the range?

Just a theoretical, of course

And I also have no means to lager, so I'm going to end up with some different beer, that's for sure.

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Hoosierbrewer

Recipes 

I think it will be more fruity. cold crash it after fermentation is complete for 3-4 weeks.

__________________
Primary: IPA
Secondary: empty
Keg 1: American Wheat
Keg2: German Ale
Next up: Christmas Old Ale, American Wheat AG, need suggestions

The Mad Hatter

Recipes 

I have also just brewed a Kolsh yesterday. When you say cold crash, how cold is cold? You just put the carboy in the fridge at it normal opperating temps?

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T.M.H.

My slow single tier build

monty73741

Recipes 

put a blow off on it. it will ferment like a mother