Kolsch tips...

I ordered the Northern Brewer Kolsch Extract kit, with Wyeast Kolsch liquid yeast. This will be my first time using liquid, and I don't really have the means to make a starter. Can I pitch just the smack pack and get good results? I have used mostly US-05 so far, which works amazing, never an issue, and I brewed a Nukey Brown Ale kit that didn't turn out well, and has gone pretty bad over the winter (probably going to dump what is left). It WAS pefectly drinkable in fall, and I should have drank it up. I kind of over-stocked myself for the winter, I will know better next year.

What schedule should I follow for the Kolsch? I plan on secondary after fermentation completes, and then some time cold crashing to clear it up before bottling. I have a fermentation chamber, holds steady temp (digital control) but I need to add heat to it since my basement is around 56F right now.

I also have an American Amber extract kit coming, but it uses US-05 and by the time I get to brewing that, I probably won't even need the fermentation chamber, as my basement holds a nice 60-65F until about June.

Just finished one of the American Wheat beer kits I made in Aug...and I better get a move-on finishing that up. Starting to get a bit....cidery i think is the word. Maybe it was just this bottle, the Pale Ale I brewed right after is still tasting amazing! Or maybe the bitterness killed my palate...

I look forward to the Kolsch, I hope it turns out well I am going to be super-sanitizing everything since its been sitting since Oct.

Most people just pitch the smack pack. It's knowledgeable folks on forums that go the extra step. I would suggest this to make sure the yeast is good:

On the morning of your brew day, take a little of the included extract- say 50-g, mix it with a pint of water and boil for 15 minutes and turn off the gas. Cover the pan with sanitized aluminum foil and cool it down to room temp in the sink. Pour the previously smacked room temperature yeast pack in the mixture (the pan is fine), swirl it around or stir it vigorously good to aerate. Let it sit for 8 hours with no shaking or swirling to oxidize. Then when you verify that it is fermenting by the krausen and the bubbles, pitch the whole thing into your fermenter and top off with water to your desired level.

I've had several friends make 5 gallon batches with just one Kolsch Smack pack. It fermented out nicely and clean; ferment at 62ish.

Bring on the flames....

I have brewed a LOT of batches of beer using liquid yeast. The White Labs tubes usually start really slowly and take forever to finish when I direct pitch them into the wort.

WYEAST usually starts really quickly and finishes in a reasonable amount of time when direct pitching. Once, when the smack pack didn't swell at all and when you shook it and put your ear to it I heard no bubbles, did I have to do anything differently (like pitch again)

I ferment ales and lagers this way and do not hold any temperature other than my fermentation temperature. (Only the strong will survive:rockin

I have NEVER made a starter.

I have brewed a lot of Kolsch using Wyeast 2565 Kolsch II and my one piece of hard advice is: BLOW OFF TUBE! I have launched the lid of a bucket hard enough to open a chest freezer and cover the side of the upright freezer next to it in yeast. This stuff gets CRAZY!

I currently have 10 gal of Kolsch in the secondary I pitched with White Labs WLP029 (they were out of my wyeast) which started within 8 hours and was able to move to the secondary 4 days later. This was not as aggressive a fermenter as the wyeast, but was pretty good at racking.

Definitely be careful of the temperature getting too low. I got lazy and put mine in primary next to an imperial pilsner in the low 50s once. It fermented OK, but it wasn't quite right. The beer judge picked it up right away and commented that my fermentation temperature was off.

Enjoy, I love my Kolsch as a summer beer and even (flame suit on now) enjoy mixing half and half with sprite as a spritzer. Drinks easily and hits like a hammer....

Just my $.02
Ed

Ed,

Thanks, I have read the Wyeast 2565 is known to get a bit...crazy, so maybe I will use the blow off tube for the first time ever.

I have a fermentation chamber built with a fridge, and I will actually have to find a way to WARM it this time of year since the basement holds 55F. I will keep it right about 60F for the fermentation, and warm up a bit to help the yeast finish off. Will probably "lager" for few weeks just to help clear the beer up if nothing else. I bottle, so I wont get too crazy with cold temps, I do need SOME yeast to be in suspension to carbonate.

And my dad has volunteered to help. He helped bottle the first batch (American Wheat) that I ever made, and since my brewing has been too sporadic for him to help.

I hope the liquid yeast does me good, so far US-05 has been 100% reliable, S-04 I am not too sure on, but I pitched it way too warm and I think I not only killed off a good chunk of yeast, but also ruined the beer. It was drinkable for a few months, now it has turned into something quite nasty and I am just gonna dump it ("nukey brown ale" from NB). Too bad, but I have learned from that.

Don't get awfully concerned about clear meaning no yeast, I recently bottled an imperial pilsner that had lagered for 7 months and there was enough yeast for it to carbonate...

Ed

badbrew said:

On the morning of your brew day, take a little of the included extract- say 50-g, mix it with a pint of water and boil for 15 minutes and turn off the gas. Cover the pan with sanitized aluminum foil and cool it down to room temp in the sink. Pour the previously smacked room temperature yeast pack in the mixture (the pan is fine), swirl it around or stir it vigorously good to aerate. Let it sit for 8 hours with no shaking or swirling to oxidize. Then when you verify that it is fermenting by the krausen and the bubbles, pitch the whole thing into your fermenter and top off with water to your desired level.

Click to expand...

excellent advice, except for the bolded part - you want to aerate a starter as much as possible, as often as possible. oxidization is a concern once the growth (respiration) phase is over. an 8 hour starter will never get out of that phase, so aerate away. continuous aeration is why some people use stir-plates with their starters.

I am really trying to avoid making a starter and adding ONE more variable to my brew day. Maybe someday when I have more time/space I will buy a flask and used stir plate, just not today. Most all of my beers I use dry yeast, but there are these specialty yeasts that I just can't get dry! Besides, in theory, a 1.048 beer should no way need a starter using Wyeast's smack pack. if it was 1.084 yes I would have bought a flask at least.

Well I better be off to walmart to find the "my heat" heater so I can warm my fermentation chamber up a few degrees Celsius. Sunday looks to be brew day, calling for clear skies and 55 degrees F. And I will not have to rush, will have all kinds of time

Well, brewed the Kolsch today! Everything went smoothly, chilled the wort down INDOORS and got it down to about 85 before I gave up and dumped it into the carboy, followed by some COLD bottled water to bring it down to about 67. OG was spot on (basically) at 1.049, Yeast was pitched. The wyeast pack swelled up about as much as it could, so I hope to have active fermentation by morning, as I see the fluid level in the airlock has risen a little. I had smacked the yeast pack at about 11am and it was fully swollen at about 1pm! If it looks as if its going to get crazy, I will definitely be sticking a sanitized blow off tube in there, but will probably have to use a small tube stuck into the air lock, because the large 1" tube is not flexible enough to move where I need to inside the fermentation chamber.

All in all it was a great day. Made foil pack cooked Tilapia with lemon and dill, grilled asparagus and rice for dinner. Drank a German Kolsch to celebrate the brew day with my girlfriend, and she really likes the style!

And now the wait. This is the part about brewing that I hate, but its necessary!

You dont need a flask or a stirplate to make a starter. You can use a growler, or if all you have is a 22 ounce bomber bottle make a small starter in that. With a beer like a kolsch which is intended to be really clean, I would worry about under pitching or pitching unhealthy yeast.

I would worry less on certain other styles, but with a kolsch I would make one without a doubt.

You can make one in a growler without a stir plate, and pick it up and swirl it every time you walk past. Even that will give you healthier yeast with a better pitch count.

Make it 2 days prior, decant off the liquid prior to pitching, and you are good.