Help with kolsch yeast (Ferm Temp)

My first time brewing with kolsch yeast (wyeast 2565). Just brewed a dortmunder style beer all grain using wyeast kolsch yeast in a starter. Can someone with plenty of experience with this type of yeast give me some advice. What temp should i ferm this beer at, wyeast website says 55-70 degrees and will perform well 55-60 degrees. Was curious and looked at the white labs website and they perfer to ferm there WL029 kolsch yeast 65-69 degrees and never below 62 degrees. Currently beer is ferm in my chest freezer around 62-64 degrees using the A-419 Johnson Controls to control my ferm temps down here in south Texas!!!!!!

The wyeast 2565 and white labs 029 are different strains, if I remember correctly. I've used the wyeast a few times at 56-57 and have had lovely results. Anything warmer would just buck the style. Not sure what's up with the White Labs strain. I'd never looked up the spec sheet for that one before, but that seems insanely warm.

MalFet said:

The wyeast 2565 and white labs 029 are different strains, if I remember correctly. I've used the wyeast a few times at 56-57 and have had lovely results. Anything warmer would just buck the style. Not sure what's up with the White Labs strain. I'd never looked up the spec sheet for that one before, but that seems insanely warm.

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Thanks, just lowered the temp down to around 57-59 degrees. I will stick closer to wyeast instructions and yours. I used a quart and a half starter and 2 hours in the ferm bucket it is already starting to burp, guess i better install the blow off tube for this one, lol. Thanks again. :rockin:

I fermented an American rye ale with white labs 029 yeast at 66f and great results. Never used the wyeast though, but I'm always scared of pitching hot and than lowering the temp once in fermentation, I don't know how detrimental it can be just always been how I done things.

I have a kolsch fermenting with Wyeast 2565 right now, about 10 days in. Was going to use the WLP strain but my LHBS didn't have it in stock. The wyeast strain produced quite an active fermentation at 60 degrees, so I definitely recommend the blow off tube.

(As an aside, whether that temperature turns out to be too warm for the style remains to be seen, but I don't have a fermentation chamber so was happy I could get the temp that low without one.)

Go with what the yeast maker is telling you. I noticed the same discrepancy between White Labs and Wyeast Kolsch strains, and I ultimately ended up using WLP029 for the pale ale I brewed on Sunday. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I've had plenty of active fermentation with that yeast at a pretty steady ambient temperature of 58-60 (so it's probaby fermenting at the 60-63 range). Plus, if you look down the page for White Labs' WLP029 description, you'll see that a lot of people have written in and said that they had great success at fermentation temperatures of 60 and below. I'm really not sure why White Labs has such a high optimum range and tells people not to go below 62, but I plan on letting it sit at this temp for a week and then slowly let the temperature creep up a few degrees over a week or so to give the yeast a little extra energy for their final push.

From what I understand of the Kolsch strain, it's a hybrid yeast that has a fairly large window of fermentation temps, but it's probably best at the lower temperature range because it can give ales a "lager-like" crispness if you give it enough time. The key with this yeast, apparently, is patience, as it is known to create off-flavors in the early stages and you'll have to give it enough time to clean up after itself. For you, I would do what Wyeast says, pick a spot in the 55-60 range and go with it.

I been harvesting, washing and re-using 2565 since fall 2010 and always ferment it around 60F. It takes forever to get the job done at <60F, expect at least 3 weeks or more but you will be rewarded with clean results

I have used WLP029 in several beers and have done well at mid to upper 60's. I have not gone cooler so I cannot be much help for you here. I can tell you that in the upper 60's low 70's you can get some "funky" flavors.

Good luck!

I used the Wyeast strain a few time, in the mid 60's, and it takes forever to settle down. I had active bubbling for almost 5 weeks, got tired of waiting, and crashed it to freezing temps.
Wonderful beer came out of it.

TTB-J said:

I'm really not sure why White Labs has such a high optimum range and tells people not to go below 62, but I plan on letting it sit at this temp for a week and then slowly let the temperature creep up a few degrees over a week or so to give the yeast a little extra energy for their final push.

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Hows your beer coming? I think that White Labs recommend the upper 60s for the yeast cause it will allow for a quicker ferment and faster yeast reproduction. Should have about a 3-3.25 Liter starter for a 1048 beer for a hybrid style. So if someone was to just pitch 1 vial they'd probably be greatly underpitching, which coupled with the low temp could produce problems.

Asked my father in-law about Kolsch ferm temps. he did some research(as he lives 1.5hours from cologne/Koln). He says the 65+ is proper for a Kolsch(or should i say so say the 3 places he physically went to doing research for my Kolsch)

Just a word of caution about comparing our fermentation conditions to those using large conicals. Research has shown that the large vertical dimension of large conicals inhibits ester formation during fermentation. This allows them to ferment a little warmer than we can and not got a lot of esters. So if they do 64 +, then we should be 64 -

pjj2ba said:

Just a word of caution about comparing our fermentation conditions to those using large conicals. Research has shown that the large vertical dimension of large conicals inhibits ester formation during fermentation. This allows them to ferment a little warmer than we can and not got a lot of esters. So if they do 64 +, then we should be 64 -

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+1, plus a bevy of other factors, particularly pitching rates and yeast viability. In some circumstances, breweries will ferment warmer to free up the tanks faster, but then will do other things to suppress ester production. As a rule of thumb, I generally subtract 3 or 4 degrees F from the brewery's stated temps if I'm trying to clone a beer. Often I'll need to adjust up or down from there, but that's a typical starting point.

In my homebrew system I have brewed many a kolsch with WLP029 and had great results at 66-69 degrees. The yeast is super, super attenuative, makes a great kolsch style beer.

BigBlueDog said:

I have a kolsch fermenting with Wyeast 2565 right now, about 10 days in. Was going to use the WLP strain but my LHBS didn't have it in stock. The wyeast strain produced quite an active fermentation at 60 degrees, so I definitely recommend the blow off tube.

(As an aside, whether that temperature turns out to be too warm for the style remains to be seen, but I don't have a fermentation chamber so was happy I could get the temp that low without one.)

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Same exact story here except I'm about 58-59 F. Definitely do the blow off tube. The 2565 is an animal.

Well guys i will have some pic's in the next few week, just bottled by kolsch on monday (3-28-11). I used a 2 qrt starter and showed strong signs of ferm just around 4 hours after pitching the yeast. I ferm at around 58-62 degrees for 2 weeks and the bubbler can to almost a complete stop ALMOST. I Decided to rack in secondary carboy and drop the temp down to around 35 degrees for a few weeks. So i decided to bottle this beer so i took the carboy out of the chess frezzer and place in at room temp which was about 72 degrees and bottle the next day. Woke up quick at round 10am and the bubbler almost blew of the top of the ferm with all that form and ferm going on i almost **** myself. Had to put a blow off tube on that bad boy and it ferm for another 2 weeks at around low 70 degrees?????? Crazy kolsch yeast. while bottling i tasted the brew and it was awesome not one taste of off flavor and a nice but not do strong hop bite!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to do a hybrid (like any kolsch, cream ale or California steamer)you ferment at ale temp pref. 2 stages. Then you lager(diacytle rest) about 52 F for 30 days. All depending on the style of beer and yeast used.