rcjmil

Recipes 

I've had my Kolsch in the bottles 3 weeks now - cracked one open last night. Good color and carbonation.

But the taste is very fruity. I've never had a Kolsch before. Is this style supposed to be a little fruity tasting?

newguy

Recipes 

Light fruitiness is ok but heavy fruitiness can come from to high a fermentation temp. Post your recipe and yeast strain so we can better help you. I would suspect that your ferm temps might have been a little high, but without knowing your recipe and yeast strain thats just a guess.

Light subtle fruit flavors are ok for a klosch. Check this link for style guidelines.

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category6.html#style6C

cheers.

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count barleywine

Recipes 

I also recently used the kolsh yeast in an oktoberfest, and an early taste also to me tasted very cherry-like. Upon reading about this yeast, it is very lager-like and maybe produces esters if temp is too high. My temp was probably alittle high, but not crazily so. I'm hoping that as always time will bring good beer, I tested after six days and not again since. carb was good, but very cherry-like. Kolsh isn't very fruitly traditionally, so maybe someone can shed some light.

brewt00l

Recipes 

I have Wyeast 2565 on the way for my Kolsch

"True top cropping yeast similar to Alt strains. Produces slightly more fruity/winey characteristics. Fruitiness increases with temperature increase. Low or no detectable diacetyl production. Also ferments well at cold 55° - 60° F range (13-16° C). Used to produce quick-conditioning pseudo-lager beers. Requires filtration or additional settling time to produce bright beers."

Folks that have used this yeast in the past, what did you find was the optimum temp/schedule for your Kolsch? I am going to have to go back and review the Jamil show on Kolsch before mine hits the fermenter.

weetodd

Recipes 

Most recommend fermenting on the low end for a Kolsch and also some cold conditioning in secondary to be ideal. The Kolsch yeast is kind of a hybrid ale/lager.

I brewed one earlier this year and due to lack of temp control, fermented regularly like every other ale (mid-60s). It came out pretty good but I did get some fruity flavors - but not enough to put it out of style I believe. I would describe the flavor I got as a little "wine-like". I think the cold conditioning would really help to drop some of the yeast and crisp it up a bit. If you have the capacity to do this I would recommend it. Otherwise, as I proved, you can still get a nice drinkable beer anyway.

I recently compared mine to a Reissdorf Kolsch. Mine was not as crisp but the flavor profile was quite similar.

brewt00l

Recipes 

I am planning on fermenting on the low end of the scale....the conditioning length and temp is a little more up in the air right now.

I would be curious to see what others found to produce the "superior" end result.

davidkrau

Recipes 

I've brewed a number of different beers but kolsch is my favorite. I brewed 3 great batches last winter, Fermentated in my basement @60F. I 'm brewing 3 batches now. My basement Temp is 68F. Maybe I should have waited for cooler weather but I got anxious. Anyway when I transferd a batch from primary to secondary I tasted it and it tasted pretty good even though flat. I used Wyeast 2560

brewt00l

Recipes 

FWIW, I went back and listened to the Jamil Show podcast and he recommends fermenting kolsch yeast no higher than 62, making sure that fermentation is totally complete before lagering for at least 1 month.

Iordz

Recipes 

Traditional Kolsch is my house beer, I ferment at 58F for 2 weeks and cold condition at 48-50F for 4 weeks. Higher temperatures will promote "fruitiness" but it can mellow out over time.

davidkrau

Recipes 

I don't believe Kolsch is a lager. The recipe I follow calls for formenting at 55 to65F