bottling a kolsch

[gierman1978]

i am gonna primary my kolsch for a couple weeks, rack to a secondary then cold condition the carboy at 40. my question is at bottling time should i add yeast to the bottling bucket? what kind? i assume that cold conditioning will suspend or make the yeast drop or however you phrase it. its only my second batch and it will be my first cold conditioning so im a little lost

 

[cvstrat]

Besides filtration there's no real way to eliminate enough yeast to require additional yeast to be added at bottling. Just treat it like an ale.

 

[Wberry]

I have done a bunch of kolsches lately and just left them in the primary for 4-5 weeks in the low 60's ... turned out crystal clear after 4 weeks in bottle and 5 days in the fridge. No added yeast ... after a long time in the fridge, WLP029 will pretty much glue itself to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[gierman1978]

so i shouldnt rack it to secondary?

 

[kpr121]

so i shouldnt rack it to secondary?

Its all personal preference, some do some dont. I say that if you were planning on cold conditioning in bulk, and have the room and time I would transfer to secondary and throw it in the fridge for as long as you can stand it. That will give it a good crisp lager like taste that you are usually after for Kolsch style.

I have 2 kegs of Kolsch (10 gallons total, from one batch) conditioning right now. One is in the fridge on CO2, and the other is at basement temps (60 deg). When one of the other kegs in the bar gets kicked, I will transfer the second keg in, chill and carb it. Then do a taste test between the two. I am anxious to see what becomes of this experiment. My hypothesis is that the cold conditioned brew will taste more "Kolsch-like". If thats the case, I will just leave the second keg in there to lager until the first is kicked.

From preliminary taste tests I believe that Kolsch is going to be my go-to spring-summer beer from now on. I also used the yeast cakes on my current batch of Dunkel, which I hope to be able to lager until late summer/fall. I feel like that is such a good combination to get crisp lager characteristics without having to control low-ferment temps.

 

[Wberry]

Its all personal preference, some do some dont. I say that if you were planning on cold conditioning in bulk, and have the room and time I would transfer to secondary and throw it in the fridge for as long as you can stand it. That will give it a good crisp lager like taste that you are usually after for Kolsch style.

Totally, I did not mean to suggest one way or the other - just comment on my current approach.

I have been doing decoctions with mine and have thus far enjoyed the results. Yes, the process can take a long time; but, I really enjoy the craft of the decoction process - makes me feel more involved. I recently gave a few bottles to my neighbor who religiously drinks only craft lagers and aside from some residual maltyness/sweetness he thought it could easily be a lager. I have adjusted my current process to sac. rest at a lower temp to try and get the batches to finish lower (have to see how that goes).

As soon as I have lagering capabilities I will begin experimenting with different ways to cold condition. Either way it is a great style with a lot of flexibility to make super easy drinking and flavorful beers.