Experience with WLP029 (Koelsch yeast)?

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PeatReek

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Hey,
Who's tried White Labs' Koelsch yeast? How prominent was the sulfur smell during fermentation? How long did it take in secondary/lagering to disappear? I'm going on 3 days of stinkage and it's disconcerting. But I'm still in primary so who knows...
 
No answers to your questions, but keep us informed! I was just eyeing this yeast online, but I'm thinking about trying it in six months or so. The blurb I read online said the sulfur smells would go away with age and leave a nice crisp lager taste.
 
BeeGee said:
No answers to your questions, but keep us informed! I was just eyeing this yeast online, but I'm thinking about trying it in six months or so. The blurb I read online said the sulfur smells would go away with age and leave a nice crisp lager taste.

I'll let you know. I'm currently out of town for 10 days so I'm letting it have a nice long primary ferment, after which I will leave it in secondary for 2+ weeks. I don't really have the capacity to lager it, which you're supposed to do with a proper Koelsch, but one of the motivations of using this yeast is to get a lager flavor profile at ale fermentation temps. Further bulletins as events warrant.
 
I just bottled a Kolsch using WL Kolsch Yeast. Did not notice any sulfur in the aroma. I also have no sinuses :D What temps have you been keeping it at? Maybe too warm.
 
BeeGee said:
No answers to your questions, but keep us informed! I was just eyeing this yeast online, but I'm thinking about trying it in six months or so. The blurb I read online said the sulfur smells would go away with age and leave a nice crisp lager taste.

OK, I just racked this to secondary (and wrote a detailed post about the recipe here in response to a question in another thread), and I think it's going to turn out great.

As I mentioned in that other post, my goal was a Czech-pils-flavored beer using an ale process, and I think I came damn close for a first attempt. Using only Saaz hops and good European pils & Vienna grains probably helped. The sulphur smell did subside after about 5 days, and I think the final product is going to be delicious. I'll let you know when I bottle.

Oh yeah, as to temperature: I started the ferment at 70F and left the bucket in a cool room with the window cracked so (hopefully) it stayed around 65F the whole time and didn't get outside the 62-68F range at any point. I also warmed it up for a diacetyl rest for about 36 hours before racking, but I honestly can't say I know what diacetyl tastes like so I don't know if that helped at all :)
 
I used Wyeast kolsch yeast and my beer turned out to be fab. Like every other post here says, it's all about patience. A beer you think smells and tastes horrible after a week can turn out to be great in three weeks. I think beer exemplifies the "Ugly Duckling" principle more than anything else. I've had beers which tasted fugly after a week turn into something phenomenol in a month. Beer needs to go through puberty and get through it's ugly phase before it turns beautiful.
 
Sounds good! I'm definitely going to try one at some point...perhaps in early spring while the house is still cool with a maturation date of early summer. I'm pretty firmly entrenched in darkish beer mode at the moment, although I'm planning to brew an APA this weekend that I posted the recipe for in this forum.
 

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