Please help me save my kolsch!

Hi. I'm brewing my first ever beer from a kit right now: Brewers Best Kolsch.

I made it and got it into the primary fermenter on Sunday afternoon. It was fermenting slowly them vigorously peaking yesterday evening at the 24hr mark. At its peak yesterday when it was fermenting I smelled the air coming out of the air lock and it smelled great. This evening I checked it and the bubbles have reduced significantly and I smelled the air again and it smelled more fruity.

This freaked me out so I went on the internet and it looks like I may have been fermenting it at too high of a temperature?

The room I had it in probably stayed between 72 to 77 degrees for those initial 48 hours which I now realize is probably too warm. I just moved it into the garage where I think the temperature should be in the upper 50s and 60s for at least the next 24 hrs. Maybe even colder after that if the weather starts acting wintry again.

Have I ruined this batch? Will it heal itself? Any sage advice out there for me to correct it?

Thanks!

It should be fine, Kolsch's are pretty forgiving. It probably should have been closer to 67f (fermenter) which during active fermentation the ambient air should have been nearer 63f. The ambient (outside) air will usually be cooler than the fermenting wort.

at this point, it doesn't make much difference. the yeast develops a taste profile in the first 72 hours usually, and doesn't change much as long as it doesn't get crazy high. what yeast did you use?

If you used the Wyeast Kolsch yeast then you should have been fermenting between 55°-65°, the lower the better. I have no idea what off-flavors you may get, if any, but anything over 70° is too high for that beer. This stuff also loves a cold secondary. Get it at a constant temp if possible and let it sit there for 3-4 weeks. Right now mine is sitting at 44.8° in a crawlspace and that temp won't change until July.

Ya, and I use White Labs 029 at around 65f and its one of the warmer fermenting Kolch's. If your ambient was 72-77, your beer was that temp or higher. Worst case is it will have a sulfer smell and taste, but leave it in the fermenter 4 weeks minimum after you cool it to what ever the yeast manufacturer recommends and you should be good.

Thanks everyone. This first batch is nerve wracking. I really appreciate the advice.

I used the kit yeast. The instructions only call it a yeast sachet and recommend fermenting at 64-72F. I overshot this for most of the first 48hrs unfortunately

It stayed in the garage overnight where the temperature never got above 60F last night. The temperature will vary between that and ~35F in the garage depending on the weather. Unfortunately the weather is all over the map in Virginia (the 75F day yesterday helped melt the weekend snow!).

Should I be concerned if the temp drops into the 30s or if there are wide fluctuations?

You REALLY want to keep the temps near constant and at the proper range. I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but I think your beer would have been much better at a lower temp. Nothing to do now but to ride it out and see how it tastes after a couple of weeks in the bottle.

The most important time for yeast is during the heavy fermentation when the krausen is formed. That is where most of the flavor is developed. During the clean up phase, when the yeast run out of their preferred food, they switch over to some other things, which are the things that cause the off flavors. So you "can" lose some off flavors by letting the yeast eat them. But there are plenty that the yeast do not eat, so next time maybe rig up a swamp cooler to help keep the temps steady.

Get a LARGE bucket or tub, place fermenter in tub, add frozen soda bottles to help keep the temps down. Alternatively, you can use an aquarium heater in the swamp cooler, or even a "Brew Belt" on the fermetner directly to warm up a fermenter if it's too cool.

Best is to get a small fridge or freezer and wire up a temp controller, but that the more expensive (and much easier to use) option. With a swamp cooler and ice bottles you have to rotate new bottle sin twice or three times a day.

I'd shoot for high 50s for that yeast, going by the recommended temp range. That's ambient air. The yeast will create their own heat, which could make the beer 5 or so degrees warmer, depending on how hard they are working.

kurzschluss1 said:

Thanks everyone.

Should I be concerned if the temp drops into the 30s or if there are wide fluctuations?

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Yes. The reason is that they yeast adapt to their environment. The do certain things and create certain compounds as a response to their environment including the temperature.

Too hot and they leak excess compounds and cause off flavors. Too cold and they switch from fermenting to preparing for hibernation.

What you want is to maintain a temp where the yeast are happily fermenting and not producing compounds that give an off flavor.

Get it out of the garage. The temp swings there will be too much and you risk putting the yeast to sleep if you let it get that cold. I'm guessing that the kit didn't even use a real kolsch yeast anyway so don't worry as much about the off flavors from the high temp. It will be drinkable but it probably won't be a kolsch. Leave it in as cool a place as you can in the house and let it sit for a couple of weeks. That's the best you can do at this point.
Brew and learn!

Homercidal said:

I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but I think your beer would have been much better at a lower temp. Nothing to do now but to ride it out and see how it tastes after a couple of weeks in the bottle.
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I'd shoot for high 50s for that yeast, going by the recommended temp range. That's ambient air. The yeast will create their own heat, which could make the beer 5 or so degrees warmer, depending on how hard they are working.

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Yes I kind of figured out the bad news when I smelled the fruity aroma. I appreciate the tips and education. I have some space and options (garage, attic, crawlspace, spare closet) for maintaining 50F but with the unpredictable weather they are all imperfect. I'm leaning towards the swamp cooler ideas now.

mvcorliss said:

Get it out of the garage. The temp swings there will be too much and you risk putting the yeast to sleep if you let it get that cold. I'm guessing that the kit didn't even use a real kolsch yeast anyway so don't worry as much about the off flavors from the high temp. It will be drinkable but it probably won't be a kolsch. Leave it in as cool a place as you can in the house and let it sit for a couple of weeks. That's the best you can do at this point.
Brew and learn!

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Thanks. I figured my very first brew ever wouldn't be a textbook Kolsch. I just want it to be drinkable!

The kit recommends a secondary fermenter at 5-7 days. Should I modify the strategy at all based on my previous screw-up?

kurzschluss1 said:

The kit recommends a secondary fermenter at 5-7 days. Should I modify the strategy at all based on my previous screw-up?

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I have a kolsch fermenting right now, only my second 5 gallon brew!

I would recommend leaving it in the primary for 2-4 weeks, the longer the better, especially with the temperature swings.

kurzschluss1 said:

The kit recommends a secondary fermenter at 5-7 days. Should I modify the strategy at all based on my previous screw-up?

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I wouldn't bother. Just check gravity to see if it's finished and give it a few days to clean up what it can. Bottle and check them over the next few weeks to see if they are improving. Leaving the beer in the primary for a few weeks probably wont' hurt anything. I think the damage is already done.

Unfortunately fruity esters can be the result of warm or inconsistent fermentation temps. It might still taste ok, even if not a standard Kolsch flavor.

tonyscha said:

I have a kolsch fermenting right now, only my second 5 gallon brew!

I would recommend leaving it in the primary for 2-4 weeks, the longer the better, especially with the temperature swings.

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2-4 weeks in primary is way too long. Check gravity and when it is consists t and fully attenuated (for typical Kolsch range, probably around 1.010-1.012, then move to secondary. You can cold store it there for 2-4 weeks, but that long in primary, you are asking for autolysis and off flavors.
The extended cold storage may help somewhat with high sulfurs.

PantherHollow said:

2-4 weeks in primary is way too long. Check gravity and when it is consists t and fully attenuated (for typical Kolsch range, probably around 1.010-1.012, then move to secondary. You can cold store it there for 2-4 weeks, but that long in primary, you are asking for autolysis and off flavors.
The extended cold storage may help somewhat with high sulfurs.

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You won't get any autolysis from 4 weeks or even 4 months. In fact 2-4 weeks will help clean up some of the off flavors created from the high ferm temps. My barley wine sat on the yeast for months and was fine.

PantherHollow said:

2-4 weeks in primary is way too long. Check gravity and when it is consists t and fully attenuated (for typical Kolsch range, probably around 1.010-1.012, then move to secondary. You can cold store it there for 2-4 weeks, but that long in primary, you are asking for autolysis and off flavors.
The extended cold storage may help somewhat with high sulfurs.

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it is true that you shouldn't normally need 2-4 weeks for an average strength beer, but with fluctuating temps, the yeast could have spend considerable time below the temp they actually ferment at. And a few weeks isn't going to create a sudden autolysis flavor. While generally unnecessary, an extended primary is not a cause for concern.

mvcorliss said:

I'm guessing that the kit didn't even use a real kolsch yeast anyway so don't worry as much about the off flavors from the high temp. It will be drinkable but it probably won't be a kolsch.

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I was just going to mention this. If you want a real Kolsch, you have to use WY2565 or WLP029. There are a couple of other limited release ones, but those are the main two. The "kit" yeast is probably some general dry yeast like Nottingham or Muntons. It will ferment any ale, but will not give the yeast character of a Kolsch.

You can always take this knowledge and make a follow up Kolsch thats true to style. You need to pitch and ferment between 56-61F for WY2565 or in lower 60's for WLP029. You also need to pitch a large yeast starter to ferment this cool. Then a 3-4 week period at 32-35F will really crisp up the beer in secondary. I recommend chilling the beer in primary to this temp and then racking to secondary on top of a rehydrated gelatin packet to help floc out the yeast. I'll be brewing my 4th Kolsch in a couple of months for summer.

Technically if you wanted to make a REAL Kölsch, you'd have to move to Cologne, Germany...

Okay got me there!

My girlfriend and I were there in 2011 and drank lots of Kolsch. Our first home brew also being a Kolsch is no coincidence. I highly recommend getting over there if you ever can. It's a beautiful city with lots to do, eat and drink!

Okay it's been sitting in the garage at day two until now (4 days in) and the temperature ranging from 59 to 63F. I can't see any more bubble action (but didn't stare to long). I think the temperatures may drop this weekend with a cold front moving in (goodbye 70s, hello 40s!) so I'll be working on my strategy to keep it warm at night. I think i can rig something. Thanks again everyone for the advice!

If it's getting near done, there is nothing wrong with bringing it in and letting it warm up to low 70s to finish.

I just pulled a sample to check gravity and wow. It smells great with no overpowering fruity smell! Looks great too and abv is almost perfect (would have been perfect if I hadn't overfilled slightly with water originally).

Thanks again for the advice and reassurance during my first timer mess-up and freak-out session.

Today marks the 2-week point with the kolsch in the primary, so I transferred it to the secondary and have it in a cool spot.

I left it in the primary an extra week longer than the kit instructions said, to hopefully let the yeast clean up some of my early mistake. But now, I am not going according to the kit schedule anymore ... and I don't know what I'm doing.

How long should I leave it here before bottling? Minimum vs maximum times? Everything is a "first" for me on this one so I really appreciate the advice. Thanks!

kurzschluss1 said:

Today marks the 2-week point with the kolsch in the primary, so I transferred it to the secondary and have it in a cool spot.

I left it in the primary an extra week longer than the kit instructions said, to hopefully let the yeast clean up some of my early mistake. But now, I am not going according to the kit schedule anymore ... and I don't know what I'm doing.

How long should I leave it here before bottling? Minimum vs maximum times? Everything is a "first" for me on this one so I really appreciate the advice. Thanks!

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I would recommend taking a gravity reading, so you have a good idea on how your yeast is doing.

As for time frame, everyone says a little different, minimum would be a week, maximum something like 3-4 weeks is good enough, however you can leave it as long you want. I bottled my Kolsch this weekend, after 2 weeks but the SG was around 1.012, so it was done.

Good luck

tonyscha said:

I would recommend taking a gravity reading, so you have a good idea on how your yeast is doing.

As for time frame, everyone says a little different, minimum would be a week, maximum something like 3-4 weeks is good enough, however you can leave it as long you want. I bottled my Kolsch this weekend, after 2 weeks but the SG was around 1.012, so it was done.

Good luck

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Thanks. I checked the gravity after one week and it was at 1.008 so I think the yeast is done. I'll give it two in the secondary I guess.

Here is my BB Kolsch story.

Loaded recipe into Brewers Friend and according to style match, it was off slightly on color and OG. So, being the impatient novice brewer that I am, I revised the recipe by adding 0.5 PILSEN DME and 0.25 Carmel 10L to boost OG and color respectively. I also replaced the Nottingham with WYEAST KOLSCH 2565

Brew day was yesterday. (my 3rd batch ever)

4 gal boil
I probably should have added my extra DME later in the boil, rather than at start.

I used snow to create a slush bath that chilled the wort to 70F in 13 mins.

Paying more attention to aeration on this batch, I racked from chilled pot to bottling bucket, stirred vigorously with a home made aerator, and then transfered via the spigot to the my carboy, thru a filter funnel.

Q- was this too much handling? It certainly was less strain on my back, and I am assuming I allowed for decent aeration

The kicker is this - OG = 1.071!! Hydrometer nearly popped out of cylinder!

I pitched 2565 at about 61-65F.

24 hrs later temp reads 64F. No bubbling yet. I was going to warm the room, but based on this thread, i will leave it.

I am now thinking about doing a 2ndary after 7-10 days. I have a basement closet at around 53-55F

I figure I no longer have a KOLSCH, but will be interested to see what happens.

Any predictions?

Hiya guys I just brewed this kit as my first 5 gallon. When I added water to the wort to fill to 5 gallons the OG reading came out to 1.020-1.024 (corrected for temp not higher than 1.026), I dont understand why it was so low. Is this batch ruined? Is there any way to get it to the recomended gravity? I hope its not a waste THanks for any advice.

If it was extract, there is virtually no way to get a reading that low unless you either added way too much water or left out some of the extract.

My guess was it was not completely mixed with top up water before you took a sample. Take another sample if you want, but I would pretty much RDWHAHB.

I have read a few more posts in the mean time about similar issues related to topping water. I will RDWHAHB, that is the most likely cause of the false reading thanks.