Need some advise on kolsch

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hoffie38

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My kolsch is on day ten of ferment. I have just checked the gravity and nailed it. It tastes amazing for a young beer; still a slight nose of sulfer due to the White Labs WLP 029 kolsch yeast. I'm impressed so far. My recipe calls for conditioning at 70 degrees, but I know from alt brewing experience that the WLP 029 conditions great at 40 to 50 degrees due to its lager-like qualities. I am going ahead and crash cooling it now to 40 degrees and then transferring it to a keg to condition. My only concern is my conditioning temp. Should I stick with my gut feeling and leave it at 40 degrees for a couple of weeks and then ramp it to 50 to finish out?
 
I would cold condition at 40-45F. I allow my beer to sit on the yeast untill the sulphur has dissapated, then I rack.
 
I brewed a Kolsch with WLP029, and using the same "it's lager-like" logic, I keg-conditioned in my brewfridge. It took FOREVER to progress to what I consider ready to serve...I brewed it on 12/16/07 and it only started tasting real good a few weeks ago.

Perhaps unrelated, it also developed a strange kind of chill-haze, which gave it a gray, gun-metal like color. No off-tastes, but downright ugly, I've never seen anything like it. Thankfully, a shot of gelatin and a few more weeks in the fridge took care of it. It's crystal clear now, and tastes great, but it sure put up a fight!

Next time, I'm leaving the keg at room temperature for a few weeks, just like my other beers.
 
Hi,

I have the book entitled "Koelsch" by Eric Warner. He recommends stepping the secondary down by about 2 deg. F per day until you hit about 40 deg F. This is the approach I used on my last partial mash Koelsch with WLP-029. There was no sulfur note when secondary was done. But, this sulfury characteristic is typical of this strain. The Koelsch I transferred from primary to secondary yesterday evening was way strong (eggy). That one fermented closer to 70. Next time, I think I'll go back to 62-64 F.

Prost!
 
I'm making my first Kolsch right now. I used WLP029 also. The funny thing is- I fermented in at 62 degrees (it did get a bit warmer in the middle of fermentation- up to about 64 for a few hours) and I either have a terrible nose, or detected NO sulfury odors. It finished up very quickly (a Belgian I made the same day is still blurping occasionally) and although it's cloudy, it tastes great. I racked it, and it's cold conditioning right now. Already, it's starting to drop clear in the cold.

I've never used WLP029 before, but I did make a nice big active starter for it before brewing. I was prepared for a long ferment at a cooler temperature, and prepared for sulfur odor. And I had NONE. I did notice that when I washed the yeast cake that the yeast tended to not be very flocculant.
 
I've got one finishing up primary now also done at 62F with WLP 029. It fermented very vigorously with just a slight sulfur smell, much less sulfur smell than last time with this yeast, but that was fermented 4 F warmer.
 
I have brewed Kolsh a couple of times, fermented with the Wyeast strain at 60F and have never experienced a sulphur aroma. I am a big fan of that particular strain.
 
For the last beer I fermented with WLP029, I started at around 62F and slowly ramped it up to 70F as fermentation slowed and then left it there for a week. After that, I cold crashed it, and that worked fine.


TL
 
I brewed the Brewer's Best Kolsch kit with the WL Kolsch yeast. I was surprised at how dark it came out. It's a a nice caramel color. I was expecting a more blonde color.
 
Extracts do tend to be darker, and some people do a "late extract addition method" to help counteract that. Still, it'll taste fine, just be a little darker in color.
 
If I remember correctly I cold conditioned around 54*.
I think I remember that they are cold conditioned slightly above lagering temps. Cooler fermentation temps work out well for the kolsch strains.
 
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