Kölsch Bee Cave Brewery Kölsch

Brewed this up today. My OG was 1.048. Looking forward to tasting this one.

Dgonza9 said:

I made this about 3-4 weeks ago with about 9% rye added in. Really nice beer, though I'm still lagering it.

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Very interesred in this rye addition .... be sure to report back

What do you guys think for an extract version of this?

5# breiss pilsen dry malt extract
1# breiss bavarian wheat dry extract
1 oz Perle 7.8% AA for 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnanger 4.4% AA for 15 min.
1/2 oz. Tettnanger 4.4% AA for 5 mi
wlp 029

cadarnell said:

Very interesred in this rye addition .... be sure to report back

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The rye worked out nicely. Gives the beer a bit of spicyness. 9% seems a nice middle range. I'm curious to taste this slightly more subtle, and also more pronounced. I think it also gives the beer just a touch of richness to go with the crispness of the Kolsch.

I didn't realize until I got home and happened to check out my reciept that I was given pale malt instead of pils. I can't imagine this is going to make a big difference is it...any suggestions?

I think it will still make for good beer but you might want to consider adjusting the boil time closer to 60 minutes.

I did an experiment by dry hoping the last two gallons of a keg with German Smaragd hops, I used about 1/2 oz for four days. At first it was totally overpowering the delicate Kolsch. But after a few weeks it mellowed and morphed into a unique and good beer. No longer a Kolsch but very enjoyable. I also used 6oz of honey malt in this batch.

The Smaragd hops are fruity, with a hint of grass and added hop bitterness. Because I used so little it is all very subtle - but unmistakeable. The honey malt is similarly subtle.

Should I be concerned?
I brewed this one on 28 September (8 days ago)
My LHBS suggested adding rice hulls to prevent dough balls so I figured ok lets do that.
My OG was 1.048 and it has been held steady at 20°C for about 7 days. Had other appointments at time and could not wait for wort to cool any more so pitched yeast at 23.5°C and it took at least 15hrs to get down to 20.

SG is not dropping much and still at 1.018. There is occasional action from the airlock but it has only dropped from 1.020 to 1.018 in 2 days. Others talk of rapid fermentation?

Heading off on holiday in 7 more days and will be away for 5 weeks.

Does it sound like I have a problem with anything (fermentables, yeast etc)

Wondered if I should chuck another 50ml of previously harvested yeast into the fermenter or just leave the fermenter alone for another 6 weeks and review it when I get back?

Never done a Kolsch before - do you think 7 weeks in fermenter would be undesirable?

Another day and the little suckers are sitting on their quoits doing bugga all. Still at 1.018. I would really like to have put this one to bottle before I go way so I am just preparing a 1.5L starter(same wyeast 2565) and will send in some fresh troops to hopefully show them how it is done. I will give the fermenter a bit of a careful swirl and add the starter at high krausen and see what happens to the SG.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say.

Brewed a couple weeks back using Canadian 2Row Malt instead of Pilsen. Fermented to completion in 5 days at 66° 1.007 FG (kept it at 66° for a total of 9 days). Cold crashed for 4 days now. Have followed the flavor profiles at every Hydo sample and have been impressed. Simply amazed at the white wine undertones of this recipe with the WLP029 yeast. Can't wait to keg and carb this up and have it on tap. Will be good "green" and looking forward to it improve over the next month. Already planning my next batch.

r8rphan said:

How would you say this beer compares/differs to the Alaskan Summer Kolsch Ale?

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Just looking at the numbers, Alaskan obviously put something a bit darker in there - maybe Munich? The Alaskan Summer Ale is 8 SRM, while this recipe is 2 SRM.

Also Alaskan say they use a blend of European and Pacific Northwest hop varieties. I'm guessing the European for bittering and the Pacific Northwest for aroma.

I've been searching high and low for a recipe that clones the Alaskan Summer Ale.

Cheers

Dave

I just brewed this up all-grain on sunday and pitched the yeast at midnight. My first home-brew.

I didn't have the DME to make a starter so I just use one vial of white labs yeast for a 2.75 Gallon batch.

The carboy is in a cold room ~15 degrees and I am insulating the carboy with towels.

For the first couple days the ambient temp outside the carboy consistently read 64 degrees F. It was a little slow to start but at 12 hours there was a thin layer of Krausen. Then there was a very thick and active Krausen and plenty of very active yeasts in suspension.

Wednesday morning we had a cold snap when I checked the carboy it was at 60 degrees and the Krausen had diminished. Today, thursday morning the thermometer is reading 59 degrees and there seems to be a lot fewer yeasts in suspension and those that are there are moving quite slowly.

Is this normal? Am I losing heat because the fermentation is slowing naturally? Or is the ferment slowing because the ambient temp is too cold and dropping? Should I raise the temperature in the room & shake the carboy to get the yeasts active again?

Here is a picture I took this morning:

I brewed this up 2 weeks ago (70 for 3 days, then the garage which averaged around 45-50F) and just put it in the fridge to cold-crash it. I used the prescribed yeast with a 2L starter. I started with an OG of 1.054 and will end up around 1.01 so not too bad.

It's clear, it's a beautiful, and very crisp. I'm going to end up brewing this one 2x in a row because I can already tell this will be a favorite.

yourhuckleberry said:

I just brewed this up all-grain on sunday and pitched the yeast at midnight. My first home-brew.

I didn't have the DME to make a starter so I just use one vial of white labs yeast for a 2.75 Gallon batch.

The carboy is in a cold room ~15 degrees and I am insulating the carboy with towels.

For the first couple days the ambient temp outside the carboy consistently read 64 degrees F. It was a little slow to start but at 12 hours there was a thin layer of Krausen. Then there was a very thick and active Krausen and plenty of very active yeasts in suspension.

Wednesday morning we had a cold snap when I checked the carboy it was at 60 degrees and the Krausen had diminished. Today, thursday morning the thermometer is reading 59 degrees and there seems to be a lot fewer yeasts in suspension and those that are there are moving quite slowly.

Is this normal? Am I losing heat because the fermentation is slowing naturally? Or is the ferment slowing because the ambient temp is too cold and dropping? Should I raise the temperature in the room & shake the carboy to get the yeasts active again?

Here is a picture I took this morning:

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I think the answer is - both. Once the vigorous fermentation slows, less heat is generated, and the temp drops in a cool environment. This then signals the yeast to start dropping out and to enter dormancy, slowing fermentation further, and the cycle continues.

If you are at final gravity, then you could just leave it. If the yeast weren't entirely finished cleaning up precursors then this might result in off flavors. I would regardless at this point put it somewhere that you can keep the fermentation in the mid to upper 60's, even higher into the low 70's is probably ok at this point since it has already likely done all the growth and initial fermentation. Then check the gravity after a total of 10-14 days and see where you are gravity wise.

My 2 cents

Just finished brewing my modified version of this tasty brew.

I just realized I made a stupid mistake in measuring out my grain bill. I make 2.5 gallon batches, so I have it at 3.5# Pils and 1.25# Wheat. I accidentally didn't make the conversion in weighing out the grain and instead I have 3.5# Pils and 2.5# Wheat, I'm thinking it may not have the same body, not sure about the abv or color.

I'm going to proceed anyway and see how it goes. I'll just have to redo the original recipe some other time.

I made this a few months back and I've found the difference in taste between 4 weeks conditioning and 6 is huge. I will be making this again for sure.

what should be the sparge temp?

You want to raise the grain temp to 168. So depending on you grain and water ratios the water will need to be higher. You can use this calculator to figure out what temp and how much water to add to get to 168. http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

As you saw a few posts above this was my first batch of beer and I went all grain and a little fast and loose as I didn't want to get to mixed up in the details.

No hydrometer

I guess I boiled it VERY vigorously. I made a 2.75 Gallon batch and just bottled 1.5 Gallons (After losses to grub). Had a little taste 1 cup left in the bottling bucket and dang! I didn't take gravity readings (no hydrometer) but I'm guessing it's at least 7% maybe 8% or 9%

It sat in the carboy about 10 weeks. I'll give an update in 3 weeks when the bottles condition.

yourhuckleberry said:

As you saw a few posts above this was my first batch of beer and I went all grain and a little fast and loose as I didn't want to get to mixed up in the details.

No hydrometer

I guess I boiled it VERY vigorously. I made a 2.75 Gallon batch and just bottled 1.5 Gallons (After losses to grub). Had a little taste 1 cup left in the bottling bucket and dang! I didn't take gravity readings (no hydrometer) but I'm guessing it's at least 7% maybe 8% or 9%

It sat in the carboy about 10 weeks. I'll give an update in 3 weeks when the bottles condition.

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I highly doubt your abv.is going to be that high. Why did you leave it in the carboy so long?

YeastieBoys said:

I highly doubt your abv.is going to be that high. Why did you leave it in the carboy so long?

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I've had beers in primary for over two months. And they were delicious.

I am going to bottle condition this recipe this weekend. How many volumes is appropriate for this style? 2.5?

Jackjama said:

I am going to bottle condition this recipe this weekend. How many volumes is appropriate for this style? 2.5?

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Use an oz. of corn sugar per gallon of beer...2.5 oz.

Jackjama said:

I am going to bottle condition this recipe this weekend. How many volumes is appropriate for this style? 2.5?

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Sounds good.

Just got my second batch of this in the fermenter. I used a Wyeast 2565 Kolsch smack pack as I didn't have time to make a starter. OG was 1.059 so thats a little higher than i wanted. Going to ferment at 60F. Fingers crossed.

Benzene said:

Just got my second batch of this in the fermenter. I used a Wyeast 2565 Kolsch smack pack as I didn't have time to make a starter. OG was 1.059 so thats a little higher than i wanted. Going to ferment at 60F. Fingers crossed.

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Gonna be under pitched, but should turn out ok. About 6.4 %. Imperialish.

On my 2nd atttempt I pitched with some washed slurry and in 7 days I was at 1.010 gravity. Into the fridge for about a week before bottling.

I've never had a problem bottle carbing after cold crashing.

Seems like a good recipe to pop my all grain cherry this weekend. Going to also try BIAB in the 15 Gal brewpot.

How would this turn out with Danstar Munich?

christpuncher123 said:

How would this turn out with Danstar Munich?

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Not really too sure, that is a hefeweizen yeast.

If you want to brew a kolsch you need kolsch yeast. It would be like brewing a hefeweizen with an American ale yeast. This style of beer is very yeast dependant.

Yes and no... our club recently had a Kolsch competition and a Belgian Strong using Belgian yeast took second place.

steinsato said:

If you want to brew a kolsch you need kolsch yeast. It would be like brewing a hefeweizen with an American ale yeast. This style of beer is very yeast dependant.

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Hey,

I bought ingredients for a different beer and decided to brew up this one instead. I am basically sticking to the recipe, except for the late additions.

Do you think there would be any problem with a 1oz 4%aa Addition of Styrian Goldings at 15 mins and 0 mins. (thats 2oz)? Then I was thinking of dry hopping again with some Styrian Goldings. I know its not a kolsch, etc -- but I was more concerned with getting grassy flavors or something off from the overhopping. I typically don't use Continental/Noble hops for dry hopping and late additions. Nothing against it, just haven't really tried. I thought this would be a good chance to try it.

Brewed this up yesterday, had to sub Hallertau for the Tettnanger though since I found out my LHBS missed those on my order. Other than that everything went well, until my daughter decided to add a bottle cap to the fermenter as I was racking into it. So hopefully this still turns out ok.

We recently dusted off this recipe and brewed a 5 gal batch. We were pleasantly surprised to find it tasted more like a Kolsch than what we expected given the original posters comment about it being more like a pils. Very crisp and nutty finish - we're going to do a 10 gal batch this wknd so we have a stock going into summer!

We're also going to enter it in the NYS Home Brewers Competition - figure there won't be an abundance of Kolsch entered, right?!?!? I'll report back once the winners are announced in Aug 2013.

LCB said:

We're also going to enter it in the NYS Home Brewers Competition - figure there won't be an abundance of Kolsch entered, right?!?!? I'll report back once the winners are announced in Aug 2013.

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Yeah it's pretty good stuff. I entered it into our county fair and got a first place out of 4 Kolsch's

Just brewed my first batch of this. Scary yeast this Wyeast Kolsch yeast - serious Krausen never seen so much action in the fermenter ever!

That is a really weird/cool carboy! Never seen one with such a big neck.

Don't be surprised if that thick mucous-like krausen takes a long time to fall or your airlock keeps bubbling for a very long time. I usually do a week at low temp (low-mid 60s) then warm up to 72 and it just keeps bubbling away the whole time. After a couple of weeks you can give the carboy a swirl and the krausen will fall to the bottom. This yeast just doesn't like to flocculate.

I just brewed a batch of this, my LHBS just got a new mill and my crush wasn't the greatest so I boiled an extra few minutes before adding hops and kept it at a very vigorous boil. Chilling now, will check OG soon.

Not to hijack the thread, but make sure to lager for awhile. There's a big difference between the 1st month and the 2nd month.