first brew - kolsch - fast fermentation? temp too high?

Hi All,
new to the forum (and to brewing).
just started a batch of kolsch five days ago. the recipe called for:

6.5 lbs pale malt extract
.5 lbs 10L crystal malt
1 oz german spaltz hops (60 minutes)
2 oz German Spaltx hops (15 minutes)
German ale yeast (used Activator 1007 German Ale)

the initial brewing seemed to go well, and the OG was 1.046 (recipe called for 1.05).
It's been 5 days, and the CO2 activity has nearly stopped. I took a sample and the hydro reading is 1.011/1.012, which is on the money for what the recipe calls for. It just seems too fast for the fermentation... all the stuff i've read/watched usually calls for two weeks of fermentation.

The current temperature in the room is 68 degrees, but was much warmer earlier in the fermentation (upper 70's).

I tasted the sample and it seemed ok (from what little I know about early-stage beer).

I'm wondering if its ok to bottle soon, or if I should still wait another week or so? also, what might some of the consequences of the higher temps be? of the fast fermentation? of waiting?

any help/suggestions would be very welcomed!

many thanks
luke

Most people think of fermentation as one simple process, the yeast eats sugar, farts carbon dioxide and pees out alcohol. It isn't quite that simple and you have reached the end of only the first step. If your hydrometer reading stays constant for the next couple days, you could bottle and in a couple more weeks have decent beer. You also could be patient and let the second part of the fermentation complete in another week or 2 before bottling and have much better beer.

Your initial ferment at too high of a temperature probably produced some off flavors. Some of these will go away if you let the beer sit on the yeast cake longer. Unless the temperature got really high I'll bet your beer rivals any you are likely to buy.

I tried making an Oktoberfest style beer with temps in high 60's to 70 F. Here was a thread I started.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/fruity-oktoberfest-wyeast-1007-a-202116/

I found that wyeast 1007 took a long time to flocculate. Be patient before bottling.

5 days to get 95-100% of the fermentable sugar converted to alcohol is not too quick for an ale yeast. When people on these forums talk about weeks in a primary fermenter, that is because there is more going on than converting maltose to alcohol. At day 10, if the FG is still 1.011, then go ahead and bottle it. But another 5-7 days will allow the yeast to clean up the mess they made partying on all that sugar.

thanks for all the tips... I will just be patient.

while i have some attention, what are peoples thoughts on secondary fermentation for a beer like this? I've read on the forums about the 1-2-3 week rules...
and now that the hydrometer is reading stable and the co2 production is settled, are there any other signs are there to look for to know exactly when to move on to the next step?

thanks again for the hand-holding!

Well, no reason to open that whole hornet's nest. Hopefully, a quick reply and we can avoid another 24 posts from people discussing secondary fermenters!

For this recipe, I wouldn't move it. Just leave it in the primary for two weeks at least. IMO, secondary is useful for dry hopping, adding whole fruit, or harvesting yeast. Moving it to a secondary probably wouldn't hurt, might clear it a bit, but for an extract brew with no dry hops, leaving it would probably be best.

The 1-2-3 is an old rule, what seems important out of it is 1+2 = 3. Three weeks in bulk before bottling as a minimum (although for a pretty straightforward extract based ale, you can probably get away with two weeks, then bottle).

It's not so much a question of a hornet's nest about secondary as the fact that Kölsch is essentially a lagered ale. The lagering implies some sort of secondary.

speter said:

It's not so much a question of a hornet's nest about secondary as the fact that Kölsch is essentially a lagered ale. The lagering implies some sort of secondary.

Click to expand...

That is true, but HBS guys will label kits with lager names because newbies are familiar with them. With the ale yeast, this is not really a kolsch (although that is one ale yeast that could probably get close). If the OP wants to lager, then yes, move it off the trub.

I know with my first beer, I wanted to taste it. 8 weeks of lagering would have been hell :cross:

Kölsch is brewed with an ale yeast. (As is Altbier.) It's then lagered to allow the yeast to clean esters up and bring the taste closer to a pilsner or helles.

But I agree, waiting is no fun!

Sorry, there was a glitch when I posted, and it appeared twice.