Kolsch help

I made an all grain kolsch 8/1/09

10 lbs pilsen
0.5 munich

White labs- German Ale

The OG came out to 1.050 and I bottled it tonight at 1.002 which it was at for a while now. ABV 6.3 % and really high attenuation. It fermented for 12 days in primary at 70 to 71 degrees, then I racked it and set it at 50 degrees and cold crashed it for the last 2 days to about 36 degrees.

So is the alcohol content high from my grain bill being too large or just the yeast were highly attenuating at those fermentation temps?

At bottling it tastes like fusel alcohol and slightly yeasty/bready.

You think this will mellow out in the bottles a little?

holy crap 1.002, are you sure? what was the temp and were there any bubles in the way etc....

But 70 is pretty high for a kolsch to maybe it just did a little extra

I'm deff sure about the final gravity it was 1.002 at 57 degrees. I took three separate readings over a week and they were all the same.

I thought a Kolsch used a lager yeast, or at least a yeast that likes to ferment at 60F. What yeast did you use, btw?

That high attenuation could easily have been caused by an exceptionally fermentable wort. Did you mash for a long time or at low temp or both? 148 for 75 minutes and you could get sown that low.

The temp is kinda high for a kolsch yeast but I don't really think it would bump the attenuation by more than a couple gravity points. You would more likely see that effect in the flavor. - fusels and fruit/bubblegum.

I used WLP029 German Ale/ Kölsch Yeast.

dontman you may have hit the nail on the head. I did a 90 minute mash at 150 F.


Thanks for everyones input

I recently had a Kolsch attenuate to 1.003 on me much like your situation. I used wyeast 2565 on it & mashed at 152F and did an infusion mashout. However, I did get a stuck sparge during the lautering and had to re-stir, wait & re-vorlauf, so it was more than 60 min. counting that time.