Kolsch (2)

[boydak]

Having brewed one batch and learning more about the style I would like to let you all pick apart this recipie.


8 oz German Pilsen Malt
4 oz crystal 10L
4lbs Munich LME
1.5 Lbs extra pale LME
.5 lbs wheat LME
1oz Hallertau (bittering)
1oz Tettnang (flavor and aroma)
White Labs Yeast WLP029

 

[Beerrific]

Here would be my suggestion:
-lose the crystal
-Use maybe just 1lb of Munich LME
-Try to find a Pilsner extract (Briess makes a nice one)

 

[Hokie]

Having brewed one batch and learning more about the style I would like to let you all pick apart this recipie.


8 oz German Pilsen Malt
4 oz crystal 10L
4lbs Munich LME
1.5 Lbs extra pale LME
.5 lbs wheat LME
1oz Hallertau (bittering)
1oz Tettnang (flavor and aroma)
White Labs Yeast WLP029

If you insist...
I agree with beerrific...drop the crystal.
Traditionally, there is no Munich malt in Kolsch, but a home brewer may add a small amount (~0.5lbs) to add a little bit more maltiness. 4lbs of Munich LME would make a completely different beer...faaar from a Koslch. A little bit of wheat (also ~0.5lbs) might be added for head retention if you were worried about that, but it's definitely not a contributor to the flavor or any other major aspect besides the head retention as far as I understand.
I see you are probably doing a partial mash, so maybe a pound of the pilsner with the small amount of Munich malt and wheat would be OK...the rest of the fermentables coming from Pilsner or XL DME and nothing more.
Again, traditionally, Kolsch does not have much in the way of flavor or aroma coming from hops, you can probably move your hop schedule to the bittering point to get you around 20 IBUs.
Kolsch is a simple style with most of its character coming from the unique yeast strain... depending on the temperature, a crisp, slightly fruity aspect could be expected..even slight wine-like aromas/flavors as higher temps (from my understanding). If you wanted to use the Kolsch yeast to approximate a lager yeast because you don't have the ability, to maintain correct temperatures, that is certainly an option that makes some sense, but if you stray too far away from a pilsner base and noble hops for bittering only, you may want to call it something else besides a Kolsch...in my humble opinion.
I would never call myself an expert on the topic, but I have done a fair amount of research and read recipes from reliable sources...all coming to the same conclusion. Keep it simple.

 

[boydak]

So I loose the crystal and drop all the LME in favor of 6 lbs of German Plis Extract LME.

6lbs German Pils LME
8oz German Pilsen malt
1lb extra light DME
1oz Hallertau (bittering)
.5 oz Tettnang (flavor)
WLP029

Better?

 

[Beerrific]

I don't think you need the 8oz of pils malt. Steeping it will just pull starch into the beer. If you want to do a mini-mash then you could bump it up to a couple pounds. I personally like a little wheat and munich (or vienna) in my Kolsch adds a bready quality that you see an most authentic versions.

 

[boydak]

I don't think you need the 8oz of pils malt. Steeping it will just pull starch into the beer. If you want to do a mini-mash then you could bump it up to a couple pounds. I personally like a little wheat and munich (or vienna) in my Kolsch adds a bready quality that you see an most authentic versions.

Please explain more regarding startch in beer?

 

[Beerrific]

Please explain more regarding startch in beer?

If you just steep malt that has not been converted, you will end up with unconverted starch in the beer. (Grains like crystal malt have been converted and just give sugar when steeped.) Base malt is just full of starch, it needs to be held at the right temperature (and water to grain ratio to lesser extent) for the enzymes in the malt to convert the starch to sugar....this is mashing. If you want to use the base malt, that is great, and pretty easy, you just need to preform a a mini-mash (aka partial mash).

Here is some more good info:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

 

[boydak]

6lbs German Pils LME
1lb extra light DME
1oz Hallertau (bittering)
.5 oz Tettnang (flavor)
WLP029

KISS

This puts me pretty much in range for the style.

 

[Edcculus]

That looks good. Ingredients for a Kolsch are very simple. Its the fermentation thats a bear. Make sure you pitch cool (~60) and hold the beer anywhere from 58*F-62*F. Much warmer and it will get fruity. You will also need to lager it close to freezing for a few weeks.

 

[Filament]

Looks pretty good. I would use enough pilsner lme to get to about 1.049 sg. Then bitter with about 20 IBUs. Ferment at 60F. Lager for about a month. That's my simple recipe.