Help... German Kolsch Yeast

I hate it when this happens, but the Whitelabs German Kolsch yeast i used in my brew yesterday at 2:20PM hasn't done a damned thing yet in my primary. The inner piece on my airlock hasn't even moved yet, and it's now 10:30am the following day.

-Wort was WELL aerated
-pitched at 79F
-temp still is a little above 70F

This has happened to me before, and the beer just got a 'late start' but should i be concerned?

5gB

Well, I just found a thread from someone else who said they had a 27 hour lag time with the WL Kolsch yeast. The last time this happened to me, I believe it may have been with the Kolsch as well.

5gB

Did you use a starter?

I am planning making a Kolsch with the yeast sometime next week so I will know what to expect.

Beerrific...

I would absolutely make a starter if you're gonna use this yeast, man. It STILL isn't bubbling. The more I've looked up info about this yeast strain, the more I found that ppl had/have problems with it, even with starters! If you're going to make a starter, I would get it going now though, man.

5gB

Give it time. I've used that yeast and it is a slow starter. In fact, I'm on my third batch using harvested yeast from my first batch.

A starter helps tremendously.

Kolsch yeast is a low flocculator and takes it's time. Think low and slow for this brew.

BierMuncher...

Being that this yeast takes so long to get going, what kind of attenuation do you think I should get with an OG of 1.050? Will the yeast suffer because the aeration will decline with no airlock activity?

Right now I'm feeling like I'm never going to use this yeast again. I thought it was a strange choice for a Wheat Beer anyway.

5gB

5gBrewer said:

BierMuncher...

Being that this yeast takes so long to get going, what kind of attenuation do you think I should get with an OG of 1.050? Will the yeast suffer because the aeration will decline with no airlock activity?

Right now I'm feeling like I'm never going to use this yeast again. I thought it was a strange choice for a Wheat Beer anyway.

5gB

Click to expand...

My first AG was a Kolsch and it turned out great. Kolsch yeast is good, but a little demanding. It'll provide a nice neutral, slightly fruity flavor. I had an OG of around 1.056 and ended up with a 5.5% ABV. Attenuation will be good. Flocculation and attentuation are different. Flocculation is the degree to which the yeast settles out of the beer to the bottom. For a low flocculator like Kolsch, it requires longer colder secondary conditioning for the beer to clarify.

I'd say leave it in the primary for 7-9 days. Move it to a secondary and place it in as cool a spot as you can find and leave it for 3 weeks. Are you bottling? If so. Bottle it and after it's carb'd (at around 70 degrees for 2 weeks), chill it and give it more time to clear up.

All this time will help the beer get clear, but if you're in a hurry, it will taste just fine without all this extra conditioning.

How far in advance should I make the starter, I know the standard is around 48 hours, should I do it earlier for this yeast?

Also, will starters keep if I have to delay brewing (rain is expected next weekend).

Glad you guys posted this, went and made a starter for my Kolsch.

Here's an update:

This morning at 7am, the airlock was actually 'up' but no bubbling was observed yet. So far we're at 36+ hours. I'm sure that by the time I get home today there will be bubbling action.

Anyhoo... I still don't understand why my LHBS suggests the WL029 with an American Wheat Beer. According to the Whitelabs yeast charts, WL029 is a very low choice of yeast for this style. I'm gonna have to ask my LHBS guy what the deal is.

5gB

When I use Kolsch its anywhere from 12 to 72 hrs for it to take off.

my first Kolsch took 36 hour to start. Since then I made starters.

My Kolsch was slow to begin even when I pitched a decent starter (48hrs w/o and 24hrs with).

However, if you are using a plastic primary make sure your seal is good. I have a Double IPA that I made last week and pitched a 3qt starter into. 24hrs later I had no airlock activity...popped the lid and found a huge krausen. I resealed the lid and the airlock started burping away. It was just a bad seal. It had been fermenting away and the CO2 was finding a different path out.

-Todd