My Second Brew! Kolsch

[JiHadJoe910]

Whats going on guys? This is my second brew ever. The first one turned out great! This time i am brewing a kolsch, and here are the pics!

The first pic is of my well placed microwave. Perfect for steeping!

The second pic is right after the addition of the malt!

Third is the first Hopp addition

Fourth is the ice bath.

Hope you guys enjoy!

 

[JiHadJoe910]

The og was 1.046-1.048

 

[A4J]

Looks good.

I don't know how much reading up you've done, but the key to a good kolsch is low fermentation temps. I keep mine in the low to mid 60's and then cold crash.

 

[chungking]

I thought that kolsch needs to be fermented in lager-like conditions. Or start at ale temps and work your way down. If I can make a kolsch at 65*f, I know what I am making next!

Also, what yeast to use for kolsch?

 

[cswest]

It's a light hybrid ale, so you need to ferment at low ale temps and then lager it. You might want to check out the White Labs webpage on their kolsch strain. Chris White even has some audio there talking about it.
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp029.html

 

[drumnart]

Which yeast did you use? I am currently fermenting a kolsch with the wyeast kolsch strain and through some reading came to the conclusion that 59 degrees was a good temp to ferment at. It tastes amazing so far. Good luck my friend.

 

[inhousebrew]

I've fermented into the low-mid 60s with wyeast kolsch strain. I'm sure it would have been better a tad lower but it was more than drinkable.

 

[roxbob]

My latest Kolsch was brewed using the wyeast kolsch strain, fermented 2 weeks at 58 and then lagered at 38. Just took a gold in light hybrids at the New England Regional HBC, FWIW...

 

[BreezyBrew]

My latest Kolsch was brewed using the wyeast kolsch strain, fermented 2 weeks at 58 and then lagered at 38. Just took a gold in light hybrids at the New England Regional HBC, FWIW...

How long did you Lager?

 

[drumnart]

I've heard that 3-4 weeks is good for lagering.

 

[roxbob]

I lagered it in the keg and carbonated at the same time, so I didn't really lager for a specific amount of time. I think I started drinking off of it after about a month, and it kept getting better for a few weeks after that. I bottled from the keg for the competition entries. If you were going to lager and then bottle, I'd lager it for 4-6 weeks.

 

[andycr]

The microwave hanger is brilliant, why didn't I think of that...

 

[JiHadJoe910]

I used white labs kolsch/german ale yeast. So i have never lagered before how would i go about doing that?

 

[zeg]

I used the White Labs Kolsch yeast for my Kolsch. White Labs recommends 65-69°F for their strain, and warn against going under 62°F (http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp029.html). I think I did mine at 65ish and it was fine.

I lagered quite simply by turning the fridge I use as a ferm chamber on and leaving it alone for a month. It was very clear, and the only flaw was that it was overhopped for a Kolsch (scored 31 in the Brewers Cup, mostly losing points for being out of style, which was quite encouraging).

 

[JiHadJoe910]

The microwave hanger is brilliant, why didn't I think of that...

yeah i started off with it on the side of the pot like normal.....then when i realized the perfect placement it was like the gates of heaven opened up and holy music was played and a bright golden light appeared around the handle

 

[JiHadJoe910]

How long did everyone's kolsch bubble for? mine had bubbled for 2 days and seemed to have stop.

 

[zeg]

Mine churned for about 3 days, but continued with regular air lock burps for quite a while after that.

But that's mostly useful as a point of trivia. Unless you never got an active fermentation with some krausen and some obvious movement in the wort/beer, the bubbling doesn't tell you much. Depending on the temperature of the wort/beer, the temperature of the room, the seal on the fermenter, etc, two biologically identical fermentations can outgas quite differently. Let it go for a couple weeks or whatever your plan was, then lager it (if you're following the traditional Kolsch process).

If it didn't show an obvious active fermentation and just bubbled slowly at its most active, you might have a problem.

If you're really worried, you could always take a gravity reading. I don't know exactly how these things go, but I'd think after a couple days you should be past 50% of your expected attenuation. That's based on my experience with meads, I've never bothered checking the SG of a beer before it's almost done, but I think they're at least as fast or faster.

 

[JiHadJoe910]

I bottled on friday! stay tuned for pictures!