Of Kolsch difficulties and successes ...

I've been making Kolsch beer ever since I started brewing again (in the fall of 2010). So far I've made 2, and both have turned out excellent (the first one took 2nd place in a competition).

However, I've been having difficulties getting this thing to clarify/condition and to be drinkable in a moderate amount of time.

Basic recipe: 70% Pilsner 2-row, 23% Kolsch malt, 5% wheat malt and under 2% of sour malt (for pH adjustement). Mash at 147F 90 minutes, boil 60, 20 IBU's of Hallertauer, a small amount of aroma hops.

Basic fermentation procedure: Ferment with Wyeast 2565, primary about 1 month at 64F, secondary 1 month at 64F.

This is where it gets a bit annoying:

After the secondary, I will put the beer in the serving fridge, with the CO2 attached to carbonate to about 2.8 volumes. Usually this takes a week, no issues there.

This last time, after 2 weeks under CO2 (I didn't have a free tap), I swapped a kicked keg to the Kolsch, (and I cleaned the lines thoroughly before putting it online).

I intentionally scrapped the first pint of Kolsch or so, which had some sediment. No big surprise there. The first drinking pint was quite sour, so much so that I thought I might have used too much sour malt (I used 1.73%), and I was pretty PO'ed. I actually considered giving it or scrapping it!

Fast forward 1 week, and I decide to give a growler to a friend (hey, that's what friends are for: unloading beer that's not all that great!). He gets back to me the next day and says: "This is darn good!". So I re-taste it, and I can still taste a slight taste of sourness, some heaviness in the body. I decide to let it age out some more.

Fast forward to this past Sunday (one week later), friend is over, we have a drink of it: It's mellowed out even more, but not quite great yet, still has a heavy mouthfeel/slight sour undertone. I let it sit some more.

Finally, last night, I decide to try it again. WOW! Finally, no sour notes, just a perfectly crisp Kolsch, just like I wanted/expected it! Mouthfeel is crisp and fluid without being watery.

So from the end of secondary to awesome tasting:

2 weeks under CO2, first taste is sour, heavy mouthfeel
1 week later, Still some sourness, heavy mouthfeel
1 more week, slight sourness, heavy mouthfeel
1 more week, it's perfect, great mouthfeel.

5 weeks of cold conditioning is what it took. That's a bit long for my tastes.

Any ideas how I can reduce this time without losing the Kolsch's delicate flavor? I bought some unflavored gelatin last night, and I may try that, but I'm a little concerned that that it may take away some of the flavor from the Kolsch.

Thoughts?

M_C

When I hear of a beer taking too long to condition, I think of the process first. For a Kolsch style beer, that's basically going to be lagered anyway, I would think that 2 months at 64 might be a little unnecessary. I would treat it just like a lager - when fermentation is slowing down to done (5-7 days), check for diacetyl, and if there are no perceptible amounts allow for fermentation to finish, and then start cold crashing. That additional time at 64 isn't really doing much of anything that the beer isn't going to do during a month lagering anyway.

Obviously, if there is diacetyl, ramp up the temp to 68 for a day or two, and then crash down.

I use gelatine in my Kolschs (almost every beer except those that are supposed to be hazy, for that matter) and, if anything, notice the flavor getting cleaner.

Another just brainstormed thought is that 64 might still be too high. I have been using 2565 around 60 at the start. But this last part is all subjective - trust in your palate and not some dude on the internet

PseudoChef said:

When I hear of a beer taking too long to condition, I think of the process first. For a Kolsch style beer, that's basically going to be lagered anyway, I would think that 2 months at 64 might be a little unnecessary. I would treat it just like a lager - when fermentation is slowing down to done (5-7 days), check for diacetyl, and if there are no perceptible amounts allow for fermentation to finish, and then start cold crashing. That additional time at 64 isn't really doing much of anything that the beer isn't going to do during a month lagering anyway.

Obviously, if there is diacetyl, ramp up the temp to 68 for a day or two, and then crash down.

I use gelatine in my Kolschs (almost every beer except those that are supposed to be hazy, for that matter) and, if anything, notice the flavor getting cleaner.

Another just brainstormed thought is that 64 might still be too high. I have been using 2565 around 60 at the start. But this last part is all subjective - trust in your palate and not some dude on the internet

Click to expand...

I see your point. To be honest, my temp controller was set at 64F, but my test/calibration thermometer in a mason jar of water showed closer to 60F.

I've had great difficulty in getting #2565 to flocculate and to drop out of suspension. I don't really have a lagering fridge other than my serving fridge. Still, 5 weeks of cold conditioning is quite long.

As a point of reference, this is what my carboy looks like when transfering from primary to secondary:



M_C

Looking at your times, I've got to think that you might want to try less time in the primary and secondary, and cold crash longer.
My Kolsch usually spends about a week in the primary, a week or two in the secondary, and 40 days cold crashing.

Just my 2c.

I think you can shave off a few weeks by getting it into conditioning a bit earlier. I primary my kolsch for about 3 weeks then rack to a keg and start the conditioning process immediately, treating the corny as both the bright tank and serving vessel. It still takes like 5 or more weeks to get it real nice, clear and crisp, it is awfully similar to waiting for a lager to condition imo. i'm pretty sure it's just the nature of the beast (or yeast in this case ), but i'm gunna stay tuned to this thread and cross my fingers. Gelatain hasn't made much of a difference in kolsch for me, the conditioning takes weeks anyway.

Reviving this from the dead but this is exactly what I'm experiencing at the moment.

I thought at first it must have been some fermentation byproduct (acetaldehyde) but the above sounds more like my experience. Also I'm positive I pitched properly (active starter, full aeration, good fermentation temp control etc) so I really don't think it was process control.

I left it in primary on the yeast for almost 4 weeks because i was hoping for the yeast to clean up what I thought might be acetaldyhde but it made no difference. I kegged a week ago and have been cold crashing since, lets hope an extended lagering helps it out.

Do all Kolsch yeasts need lagering (I used WLP029)? I stupidly assumed because it was an ale/hybrid yeast I wouldnt need this step?

As a side note, I think my water is too soft to get into the right mash pH zone for kolsch beer (and I've never tried to adjust it). What effect might that have on flavour - could it be related?

c

I brew a lot of Kolsch using WLP029. The longer I let the beer cold crash, the better it taste. I don't mess around with any ph adjusments. I find fermentation on the cold side 60-65f give the best results

I usually primary for 2-3 weeks then keg & carbonate and let sit in fridge for at least a month. This gives me the best results. They key is to have a good pipeline of beer so you can let the beer sit for a month

If I don't let the beer sit a month in fridge, it's not bad... but just not at its full potential. You can taste slight off flavours. When you let it sit, it really cleans up and brings out the aroma hops.