Yeast question for Kolsch

[Jason_W]

Hey i am a new ag brewer and want to try a Kolsch. My LHBS sells WLP 830 and W-34/70 but they do not have WLP 029 or 2565. Would either of these two yeast work for a Kolsch recipe?

my ferment room is 58F and i could swamp cool more if needed. Any advice would be great thanks,

 

[porterpounder]

A German lager yeast may come close at the right temps. I'd ferment a few degrees lower than one would for a German Ale yeast with a true lager yeasts just to be sure of not kicking off too much fruitiness. It may not be spot on, but it will still be a good brew.

 

[Jason_W]

Also since i have this open any suggestions on water? maybe add some calcium sulfate?
in ppm
Hardness CaCO3 127
pH 8.1
Cl 5.8
SO4 30
Ca 34
Mg 9.8
K 2.5
Na 12

All else under 1 ppm

 

[porterpounder]

That's pretty close to my water. I like to balance my German Ale water profile to favor CaCl2 2:1 over gypsum. Kolsch is a pretty hoppier than many people think, but it's a more mellow firm bitterness with a good, clean malt backbone. Some of the best 4 hours of my life were spent wandering Cologne.
For a 6 gallon batch I usually add 6g CaCl2 and 3g gypsum after carbon filtration. Your hardness per CaCO3 is quite a bit higher than mine, so additional pH adjustment in the mash may need to be adjusted differently than I do mine.

 

[Jason_W]

Thanks, I down loaded a water calculator. That is a big help, it looks like i should add 2-2.5g of CaSO4 and 3.5-4g of CaCl2 along with 2-3ml of acid. which gives me a Cl to SO4 ration of 1 and a pH of 5.48 without to much Ca (100ppm),

Would 2.5ml of lactic acid change the flavour at all? Additionaly my HBS is going to make an order to white labs so i'll get WLP029.
Yes i agree cologne is a nice city/region of germany, loved the beer. I wish a flight wasn't so damn long and $$ i'd love to back on another beer tour!

 

[porterpounder]

That amount of acid, probably the 88% concentration, would not change the flavor of that volume. The WLP 029 is a great yeast. Very active fermentor, so watch for blow-off.

 

[stpug]

If they have Wyeast 1007 I'd go for that over the other choices you listed, maybe even wlp036 alt yeast.

 

[fearwig]

Acid (lactic or citric) only changes the flavor insofar as it lowers the pH, IMO, which is what you want it to do. You can use whatever you need to get to your target.