Kölsch Neal's Kolsch

Finally a beer worthy of the HBT database... This beer placed 1st in the Light Hybrid - Kolsch & American Wheat category. It then went on to score 3rd in the Best of Show Round. Overall score for this beer was 38:



Get this order from Brewmaster's Warehouse

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 87.8 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 9.8 %
0.25 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
2.00 oz Tettnang [3.50%] (60 min) Hops 28.5 IBU
0.50 oz Tettnang [3.50%] (15 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
Whirfloc

Mash:
Mash at was at 151 degrees for 60 minutes. WLP029 always attenuates very well for me, so this temperature plus the staggered fermentation really worked in this beer's favor.

Water Treatment:
My water is already fairly soft (30.7 ppm) however, I still subbed 3 gallons of RO water to soften it up a bit more. My first 6 gallons of water was RO/Tap water mixed 50/50, I didn't go straight RO water in the mash (not sure if it would matter). If I get a more detailed water report later I will update this thread.

Fermentation:
1. Fermented at ~62 for 4 days to subdue the esters slightly
2. Raise the temp slowly up to ~68 so the yeast would finish nice and dry.
3. Let this beer lager at serving temps for 4-5 weeks it will be awesome... don't skip this step.

The wheat malt is an approximation because I didn't actually weigh it, I just threw in whatever I had left .25 lbs is a pretty close number IMO.

Please adjust the grain bill to your system because my efficiency is around 70 and I know a lot of people here have better than that. Happy Brewing!!

That's awesome Nealf.. I was just looking for a Kolsch recipe to try, looks like this one is a winner.

Very nice.

I'll have to give it a shot.

Neal's Kilsch. Thanks for saving me some of this.

This is a very nice beer. Extremely well brewed: brilliantly clear and no off-style flaws at all. Has a wonderfully full malt flavor without being sweet at all, firm bitterness and dry.

Very nice. Time for you to brew me some more, thanks.

Brewed some of this this weekend. Do I need to rack it off the yeast before cold conditioning or can I just put the bucket in the kegerator?

I would say that if you wanted you could just cold condition in the primary. However, I just cold conditioned in a keg.

nealf said:

I would say that if you wanted you could just cold condition in the primary. However, I just cold conditioned in a keg.

Click to expand...

You don't end up with a bunch of yeast in the bottom of the keg?

After 2 weeks in primary I didn't get a whole lot. There will be some, but only the first pint or so will have any yeast in them IME.

Cool, I'll just go that route then.

Awesome, let me know how you like it after the "lagering" phase! I'm curious to hear how it turns out.

Will do. I think I'll cold crash it for a couple days before I keg it to keep as much yeast out of there as I can. Do you wait to carb it until after it conditions?

Nah, there really isn't a difference to leave it flat while cold conditioning from what I understand... except maybe it will keep you from sampling as much

Cold crashing this now and will be racking to a keg to condition in the next few days. Only got mine down to 1.010 but also overshot the OG (1.053). Hydro sample tastes really clean and delicious.

That sounds awesome! Mine really attenuated way more than I wanted it to, I think 1.010 sounds good!

Neal, on the recipe builder at BMW you have 1.5 oz Tettnang for bittering and 2.0 here. Which one is right, or do you do both?

I brewed this yest (1.5oz 60 min), fermenting away at 63F now.

Just aim for 28.5 IBU at 60 minutes (or whatever the recipe here says). I had to adjust on the brew builder because the AA of Ed's hops were different.

I ended up at 1.054, a little high but my final volume was 5gal, not 5.5. Since I used Ed's hops I should be fine on the IBU's.

This is my 6th AG, I'm still figuring out my equip. This summer with large grain bills my temps would come out high, yest (though warm) with a 10# grain bill my temps were lower, I was down to 149F after mashing in so I quickly added 1/2 gal to get my temps up to around 151.5 or so. I'll throw this on my keg in 3 weeks and lager for 5 weeks. Um, new years eve beer?

Sounds like a good one, I look forward to trying it!

Did you do anything to the water?

Just 5.2 stabilizer. I had to hook a blow-off tube yesterday, even at 5 gal and plenty of head space. It seems to have subdued as of this morning. Thursday (4 days after pitching) I'll raise the temp by 1F per day until I get to 68F. Looking forward to this one, my first Kolsch.

Only made it to day 9 of cold conditioning before I couldn't resist and pulled off a pint. aperbag:

smellysell said:

Only made it to day 9 of cold conditioning before I couldn't resist and pulled off a pint. aperbag:

Click to expand...

Haha, I did the same thing! What did you think of it up to this point? I thought the flavors really changed after the 4-5 week cold conditioning process. But, I thought it was pretty good after a week or so IIRC.

nealf said:

Haha, I did the same thing! What did you think of it up to this point? I thought the flavors really changed after the 4-5 week cold conditioning process. But, I thought it was pretty good after a week or so IIRC.

Click to expand...

It was pretty tasty but the yeast hasn't flocc'd at all. Hoping some of the fruitiness will mellow once it does, but other than that I really liked it.

Some fruitiness is appropriate for the style... but, it was a light fruitiness from what I remember. The 4-5 week conditioning really does change the beer IME.

nealf said:

Some fruitiness is appropriate for the style... but, it was a light fruitiness from what I remember. The 4-5 week conditioning really does change the beer IME.

Click to expand...

Yeah it was just a little stronger than I was expecting, but I'm wondering how much of it was from the yeast that will hopefully drop out. I've heard that WLP029 is the fruitiest of the kolsch yeasts and flocc's like ****, so I'll probably try a different yeast the next time.

I still think it's gonna be really tasty though, so thanks for the recipe!

SWMBO found thins keg and there is not much chance it will make it through the conditioning time at this rate!

Doh! Well, at least she likes it. I hope some of it lasts... because IME it really came into its own after the conditioning phase. If not, you know how to do it again, at you can try that other yeast you were wanting to!

nealf said:

Doh! Well, at least she likes it. I hope some of it lasts... because IME it really came into its own after the conditioning phase. If not, you know how to do it again, at you can try that other yeast you were wanting to!

Click to expand...

Yeah, as it slowly floccs the fruitiness is becoming more subdued all the time. This will definitely be something I'll try to keep on tap at all times (even if my wife didn't make me, haha). Thanks for a great recipe!

great thread guys! although its not this recipe, ive had my kolsch in primary for 2 weeks and fermentation is still pretty active. anyway.. i was planning on racking to secondary and cold-lagering today, but im going to give it at least a few more days to see if the primary slows down. this has been the most active and crazy fermentation yet (only my 3rd batch).

i did have a quick question.. i presume you lager in secondary and bottle after that, correct? right now the beer is pretty bright and fruity/tangy.. from reading neals comments, this should fade over the cold-lagering phase. i used WLP029 also. i used a recipe i found on beersmiths blogs somewhere. it didnt give an OG, but i found elsewhere it should be in the 1.045-1.049 range and i started at 1.050. same thing goes for FG.. the recipe i used didnt give one, but im presently at 1.014 and im lookin to get down to at least 1.010.

thanks for the info!

This is drinking so well now, 2 1/2 months since brew day. Thanks again for the recipe Neal!

Mine started getting really good at around the 6 weeks at serving temp as well. I'm glad you are enjoying it!

Neal, did you do the cold conditioning in the keg or as a secondary? I'm assuming it is just an ageing process and not a lagering?

I think i'm going to brew this up soon.

I racked it into the keg and tried my hardest not to drink it for 4-5 weeks. So, yeah, just an cold aging period.... fermentation should be done at that point.

nealf said:

I racked it into the keg and tried my hardest not to drink it for 4-5 weeks. So, yeah, just an cold aging period.... fermentation should be done at that point.

Click to expand...

I did the same and it turned out great. Need to get another batch going soon.

Finally brewing this. Just started the mash, now back to house work...

Nice! I hope it turns out awesome for you... make sure you bring me a sample in a few months when it hits its prime. I might end up brewing it again soon as well.

going to be making a beer based off your recipe tomorrow! normally i would make your recipe exactly, but im low on grains and going with what i have. my recipe is as follows:


7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 77.8 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 11.1 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 11.1 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer [6.40%] (60 min) Hops 24.1 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.20%] (15 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc


i only have dark munich malt. will this change the flavor too much? ive never made a kolsch, but have a vial of wlp029 that needs to get used and this is about as close to the recipe as i can get without order new grain. thoughts?

I think it might come out a bit more malty... but, I am sure it will make a great beer. Let me know how it turns out.

Awsome beer mines not quit done force carbing but ive been wating forever ,at least it seems that way.AWSOME recipe nealf thanks! To anyone whoose looking for a good recipe this is it. I think this is my new housebrew thanx again!

Glad to hear it came out nicely! I have been trying to decide what to brew next and I think this would be very nice for a springtime beverage!

Enjoy!

I think im going to enter it in a local comp,hope u dont mind!