Brewers Best Kolsch

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BubbaK

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
0
I brewed a BB Kolsch kit a few weeks ago. Its sitting in secondary now. Unfortunately, it didn't come with Kolsch yeast, just notty. I guess its going to be more like a blonde ale. ABV is only 3.8 or so... Can I add some strawberry flavoring or strawberries to the secondary to make a strawberry blonde ale? Its been in secondary for about a week. The fg was 1.018 after 2 weeks in primary.

I'm a bit disappointed in this kit not coming with the right yeast. It says it in small print on the label - "Using White Labs WLP029 will help achieve the lager-like characteristics this ale is famously known for."
 
Ale yeast for Ales, Lager yeast for lagers. Vary the temperature for varied character. It makes one wonder how many of these "style specific" yeasts have the label as the only difference.

If it looks like a Kolsch, smells like a Kolsch, and drinks like a Kolsch well.......

It's not REALLY a Kolsch lest it's brewn in or within view of that church/monastary in Cologne.
 
A Brewer's Best kit isn't going to come with liquid yeast and there really isn't a suitable dry yeast. A dry lager yeast wouldn't be right either.
 
My second brew was a "Kolsch" kit from my LHBS and it used Nottingham yeast. It turned out to be a pretty good beer. I would say it has Kolsch characteristics but, it's by no means a Kolsch. I've found that it's a good idea to find out exactly what is in a kit before I buy it. There are no surprises that way.
 
I'm sure its going to be a good beer, but its not exactly what I was aiming for. I was planning on lagering it for a month or 2 before bottling. I'm not going to do that with the Nottingham. I was trying to come close to the Alaskan Summer Ale. I'll try this kit again with the White Labs yeast to see what the difference is.

I'm interested now in adding a strawberry flavor to it in secondary or at bottling time. Can I or should I? Should I use extract or frozen strawberries? Or nothing at all?
 
I'm interested now in adding a strawberry flavor to it in secondary or at bottling time. Can I or should I? Should I use extract or frozen strawberries? Or nothing at all?

I am a fan of flavoring beers at serving time with herbal/fruit tea bags, fruit extracts, juices, etc. Pour about two ounces of beer in a glass, add flavoring, mix them up, then top up with a good pour to end up with a good blend.

If you want to use fruit on the entire batch, definitely add it to the secondary and let it ferment out. Racking to a tertiary is optional if you want to minimize pickup of fruit/puree particles. Also, be advised that strawberries don't ferment particularly well, so you'll need a ton of them, ideally very ripe to slightly over-ripe.
Extracts can add a bit of complexity when used in small amounts in conjunction with fruit, but by themselves they tend to taste very artificial (think flavored medicine or Sam Adams Cherry Wheat).
 
Looking at this some more, the other posters are correct about Safale K97 as being a good dry choice they could've included in the kit. But it isn't a lager yeast, and neither is WLP029, if that's what you want to do.
 
Looking at this some more, the other posters are correct about Safale K97 as being a good dry choice they could've included in the kit. But it isn't a lager yeast, and neither is WLP029, if that's what you want to do.

Kolsch is not lager fermented (stylistically speaking). Thus, it is an Ale but it is lagered in the "stored" sense of the word.
 
Kolsch is not lager fermented (stylistically speaking). Thus, it is an Ale but it is lagered in the "stored" sense of the word.

Yeah, I had read it that he wanted to use a lager yeast to ferment but he doesn't actually say that.
 
Yeah, I had read it that he wanted to use a lager yeast to ferment but he doesn't actually say that.

Yeah.. from what I read, its ale yeast and after fermenting is complete, drop it down to lager temps for secondary... 6-8 weeks I think I saw somewhere..
 
I don't know.

I'd have to say Kolsch is one of the very few ales that I think really needs it's own specific yeast. First it ferments colder than most ales. Low 60's or even high 50's. It gives of very sulphery characteristics in the ferment. It is very low floculating and needs a month of "Lagering" to drop clear and smooth out. It really is the other hybrid beer.

Not saying Notty won't make a good beer just not sure if it's really a Kolsch. More Cream Ale territory.

All opinions wrong or your money back.

Rudeboy
 
Strange my FG with this kit was 1.018 as well......and it sat in primary for over 4 weeks (I sometimes avoid bottling... :)) The beer is quite tasty though and THAT is what counts.
 
I just bought this kit today, I was pretty pissed when i realized that they gave me notty. Never brewed a kolsch before and want to get as close as possible to the real thing. Another trip to the not-so-local homebrew shop
 
I just brewed a Kolsch kit from Midwest. I got the White Labs Kolsch Ale 029 vial instead of the dry yeast. I tend to buy that way.....kits from online stores and parts and equipment from the LHBS. So far, the kit from midwest is doing fantastic. When I opened it to rack to the secondary, it smelled of a good german Kolsch. Cant wait to drink this bad boy.
 
Brewers Best Kolsch is one of my favorite kits. I realize its not using the 'correct' yeast but its tastey none the less. It doesn't last long around my house.
 
Back
Top