Lag phase, soapy flavours, and lagering: can I save my Kolsch?

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MikeFallopian

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I recently made a Kolsch using Wyeast 1007, which resulted in a soapy-tasting beer. I repitched the yeast from this batch into an Altbier, which turned out very clean and delicious. Both were fermented for 21 days at exactly the same temperature, and both brews were subjected to exactly the same sanitation procedure. The only difference between the two fermentations was that while the fermentation took off quickly in the case of the Altbier, with the Kolsch there was a much longer lag phase than I have experienced before. For the Kolsch, I pitched a brand-new, activated smack-pack of 1007 with no starter (I usually do this with the smack packs and haven't had any problems in the past). I'm aware that fatty acids can be produced if the beer sits on the trub for too long, resulting in a soapy flavour, although I've come to the conclusion that the lag phase must have caused these off flavours in my Kolsch. If anyone has had a similar experience I'd like to hear it, as I couldn't find much about soapy flavours and lag phase from an internet search.

Anyway, I am just wondering whether my Kolsch is salvageable. If I lager it for long enough, will the soapy flavour diminish? Or did I just end up making a 5 gallon starter for my Altbier?
 
No harm in waiting on the Kolsch, so just see what happens with it.

So the soapy flavor - I doubt it's from autolysis. The beer just doesn't seem old enough to have that happen. Some other possible causes: Did you use a new kind of hop that you're not used to? Some describe Fuggles as soapy tasting, and there are others. Do you clean your fermenter with dish soap?

You also might have stressed the yeast. 1007 is kind of a hybrid yeast (yeast starter calculators have a tab for it) between ale and lager. It's always good to use a starter, but especially with these lager-like hybrid yeasts. If you underpitched and stressed the yeast, that could cause some funky flavors in the first batch, and that could explain why the second batch was good - i.e., you pitched a huge volume of healthy yeast in the second batch.

Anyway, just wait it out.
 
I've read that you can add some Beano to see if you can get an enzymatic kick...
 
No. Beano and other enzymes can jump start a stuck fermentation. It won't do anything for off flavors, especially where you don't know the cause of the off flavor. I would definitely NOT add Beano or any other enzymatic stuff.
 
No harm in waiting on the Kolsch, so just see what happens with it.

So the soapy flavor - I doubt it's from autolysis. The beer just doesn't seem old enough to have that happen. Some other possible causes: Did you use a new kind of hop that you're not used to? Some describe Fuggles as soapy tasting, and there are others. Do you clean your fermenter with dish soap?

You also might have stressed the yeast. 1007 is kind of a hybrid yeast (yeast starter calculators have a tab for it) between ale and lager. It's always good to use a starter, but especially with these lager-like hybrid yeasts. If you underpitched and stressed the yeast, that could cause some funky flavors in the first batch, and that could explain why the second batch was good - i.e., you pitched a huge volume of healthy yeast in the second batch.

Anyway, just wait it out.

Hops were Magnum (bittering only) and Hallertau Mittelfruh.

I'm thinking the off-flavours came from stressed yeast as you say; I must have underpitched by not making the starter using the smack pack. I haven't had any problems using smac packs without starters in the past, but I might just use White Labs vials with a starter from now on.
 
It's an enzyme that you add to foods that are known to make you get the farts. sometimes it can supply enzymes needed to jump start a stuck fermentation. More often than not, it seems like it prompts a runaway fermentation that dries beer out way, way too much.
 
Having never pitched Wyeast 1007 myself I can't really say what happened to your beer. But I have fermented my Kolsch beer using White Labs WLP029 - German Ale/Kölsch Yeast™ at 60F with very good results. With the correct pitching rate, even at a low temperature for an Ale yeast, it reached final gravity in about 10 days before cold crashing and kegging it 4 days later.

A Kolsch is very dependent on the yeast strain and a clean fermentation for its delicate flavors, any off flavors that develop will have nowhere to hide. An extended lag time suggests that your pitching rate and/or yeast vitality were a little lacking, something that a starter or fresher yeast should easily cure.
 
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