First Kolsch

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markwarren66

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I'm brewing my first kolsch tonight - an extract kit from Midwest. I built a starter last night, so it will have been prepared 24 hours prior to pitching. This is my normal procedure and is resulting in very short lag times and active fermentations.

Questions - do I need to ferment at cooler temps? My basement is in the mid 60's right now, but upstairs is 75+. I was leaning towards the basement on a table.

- I plan to let it sit in the primary for 1 week, and then secondary for 4-5 weeks. Then keg. Does that sound alright?

Any other tips for this style of beer?

Pat
 
What yeast are you using? The fermentation temperature depends on the yeast.

Mid 60s is generally good for all ale yeasts, though, so you should be fine there.

Kolsch generally are "lagered" during the secondary.
 
I put my secondary in my fridge for my Kolsch. Not sure if it is necessary though. If you have either German Ale or Kolsch yeast, then you will want to be in the basement . You may even want use a cold bath to get the temp closer to 62.
 
It is Wyeast 2565 Kolsch Ale yeast. Temp range is 56-70 on the website.

Do you think basement floor is a good idea?
 
Yeah, keep it under 70F to get a nice clean flavor from that yeast. even the low 60's it'll still chug along.

FYI that yeast strain, the krausen lingers long past fermentation's end. so you'll have to trust gravity reading and not airlock/krausen to know its ready for secondary.
 
So say that someone, theoretically, used WLP029 German Ale yeast for their Kolsch, and the fermentation was at an average of 73*. Too far out of the range?

Just a theoretical, of course :p

And I also have no means to lager, so I'm going to end up with some different beer, that's for sure.
 
So say that someone, theoretically, used WLP029 German Ale yeast for their Kolsch, and the fermentation was at an average of 73*. Too far out of the range?

Just a theoretical, of course :p

And I also have no means to lager, so I'm going to end up with some different beer, that's for sure.

I wouldn't call it a Kolsch...Kolsch needs a pretty specific yeast strain.
It may be kolsch-like, but die hard kolsch drinkers will make you call it a blonde ale I'm sure :)
 
Haha, I have a friend that studied in Cologne for a semester, and she worships Kolsch, she'll probably curse at me auf Deutsch if I get it wrong :eek:

And apologies for hijacking this thread...
 
I'm brewing my first kolsch tonight - an extract kit from Midwest. I built a starter last night, so it will have been prepared 24 hours prior to pitching. This is my normal procedure and is resulting in very short lag times and active fermentations.

Questions - do I need to ferment at cooler temps? My basement is in the mid 60's right now, but upstairs is 75+. I was leaning towards the basement on a table.

- I plan to let it sit in the primary for 1 week, and then secondary for 4-5 weeks. Then keg. Does that sound alright?

Any other tips for this style of beer?

Pat


OK guys, need some help here. I got ridiculously busy and sort of lost track of all homebrewing for the past couple of months. So, this damn Kolsch has been sitting in my basement for 10 weeks or so, in the primary. :(

I don't need a lecture on being lazy or stupid, SWMBO gives me plenty.

I just need to know if this is even worth transferring to a keg. I'm guessing it is, and will just taste like garbage. Anyone forgotten about a beer for this long? I know it would be fine if I had racked to the secondary, but that didn't happen.

Thanks
 
LOL, had a good chuckle about the SWMBO part! :D I don't know much about Klosch, but from what everyone has said about other beers, it should be fine. :)
 
1st...tell your swmbo to STFU!

Keg that beer! My guess is that if it doesn't smell like the only functional toilet after the 3 day South Texas Chili Fest, it's just going to be a very well aged and drinkable beer that should not require much time after it's carbed.
 
I smelled it last week and it seemed ok...nothing rancid or resembling chili fest toilets :).

I'll keg it this week and hope for the best.

Thanks!
 
Seems like 10 weeks isnt enough for autolysis to really set in. I'd say that the beer is very well conditioned. If it doesnt smell funny i would drink it! And def tell us how it went! But I wouldn't risk keeping it in the primary for any longer. At the very least, move it to a secondary to get it off the yeast trub.
 
put a blow off on it. it will ferment like a mother

+1 For the one I did last year the starter took FOREVER and it seemed like nothing was happening. OMFG did the fermentation take off in the primary.

I would suggest the low end of the ferment scale, I did mine at 58 F and it was awesome. I need to get my keezer so that I do not have to wait until winter to brew this style.
 
Update - I kegged the beer a month ago, after being in the primary for almost 6 months! I hooked it up to the gas, but didn't try it until last night because I wanted to clean the lines first. It was very good! A bit darker, more of a copper color, but very tasty with absolutely no off flavors.

I also brewed the St. Paul Porter from Northern Brewer last night, and I have 20 gallons of apfelwein in the works. I am officially back on track. Next week I'm brewing an anchor steam clone.
 
I just tried my first bottle of Mid West Kolsch just today

it was very good. I fermented it at 63 then racked to secondary and left in the garagw for 10 days (50 degrees)

bottled for 15 days

very smooooth and refreshing
 
I just bought the Brewers Best Kolsch.. I've seen comments about leaving in a secondary for 2 months, I've seen 2 weeks I've seen no secondary.. I'm going to be bottling this batch.. How long should I leave it in the secondary? I didn't open it to see what yeast it comes with.. just put it all in the fridge..
 
2 to 4 weeks in the secondary, then cold-condition/lager it below 40°F. You can lager it in the keg.

If you aren't force carb'ing it, just lager the secondary for a week or two. Even when it's cleared, there is enough yeast to bottle condition it at normal ale temps and time. This way you may not have such a heavy deposit in the bottle.

Hope this helps. I've bottled 3 extract/steeped kolschys, and just kegged an AG kolschy that is lagering as of yesterday. All of them cleared well over time, just be patient with the conditioning.
 
When brewing with extract/steeping, you get a slightly darker and a bit heavier beer from the extract.

Also, keep the boil a short as recommended, as the wort can caramelize. The color and flavor differences through my past batches ranged as much as the techniques. The condensed 3 gallon boil was the darkest and almost too malty. Once I was doing full size boils, that helped lighten the beer a lot but it still finished in the higher end of the BJCP FG range at 1.011. The first AG batch just finished out at 1.008 FG.

It's becoming a favorite among friends, and a great warm weather beer.
 
I just brewed this over the weekend using the BB kit. It came with a package of Notty, not the Kolsch yeast... MY OG was 1.044 . I've got the primary in the basement at about 64*. Is that too cool for Nottingham? The package says 68-72, but I've seen others say low 60's is fine.. I can convert an old soda machine for a lagering cooler when I get to secondary.. Or should I not even bother with this type of yeast?
 
Unfortunately without the Kolsch specific yeast, you simply brewed a nice blonde ale. It's the yeast that makes this beer taste like it does - very light floral/fruity esters.

If you want to try to get some sort of esters, you can try fermenting in the higher range.

Just remember that you are using an english ale yeast on a very german style.
 
Unfortunately without the Kolsch specific yeast, you simply brewed a nice blonde ale. It's the yeast that makes this beer taste like it does - very light floral/fruity esters.

If you want to try to get some sort of esters, you can try fermenting in the higher range.

Just remember that you are using an english ale yeast on a very german style.


So I should just ferment in the low 70's for 2 weeks or so, crash cool and just bottle. I've used a secondary for my other 2 ales, but not sure if it was really needed.
 
If you are looking for some ester flavors, ferment high 60s or so. Unfortunately, I do not know what flavors the notty yeast is capable of, as I haven't used it much. Ferment as usual though - primary then secondary to give yourself a settled out ale. Clarity is what you are aiming for, and maybe a cold crash would help if Notty doesn't settle out well.
 

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