Dry Kolsch Yeast Recommendations

[balrog]

I was agwanna link ebay cuz I've done dif things off ebay with respect to yeasts.

 

[TheCache]

You using 2 packs or a starter for the lalbrew?

When I was doing 5 gallon batches I just used one rehydrated pack, no starter. Most of my Kölsch beers came in around 1.045-047 OG. Now I am doing 2.5 gallon batches, but I will likely still use one rehydrated pack.

 

[rtstrider]

Dry yeast wise I would not recommend Koln. My first go around was clove city. It's way too finnicky from my experience. I've played with pitching rates, temps, etc It's absolutely dog slow regardless of pitching rate or culturing up. I've tried pitching a full pack into 1L 1.040 wort for giggles. This yeast was sent directly to me from Lallemand. I've provided my experiences from this to Lallemand and that's why they sent the replacement yeast packets. Another member had the same experiences with this yeast. Took over 72 hours before it began fermentation on a stir plate. I verified this with daily gravity readings using a refractometer. Now once it took off I built it up to a 2L 1.040 starter for giggles. This was cold crashed, decanted, and banked up in the freezer. I built up the slurry around a year or so later. It did take off, albeit extra slow, but, by the last step this was acting like what I typically expect from a typical yeast starter. It fired off in 12 hours or so and fermented fine. It was used in a Calypso/2 row SMASH. I'm definitely not a fan of Calypso but want to try building up more slurry for a plain jane future brew to get a better feel for this strain. If you go by Lallemands recommended pitch rates I would have to recommend 3 packs bare minimum. Anywho if it were me I'd actually be eager to try a lager strain, such as w34/70, for giggles. I know it's not "kolsch" but at the end of the day I've had way better experiences with liquid yeast on this particular style. I have no issues with dry yeasts in particular except for this particular strain. If you go this route hopefully your experiences are much better than mine.

 

[mabrungard]

Never got the kolsch "white wine" essence from it, but I've never tasted that in real Cologne kolschs either. Maybe not sensitive to it.

Winey or grapey is probably ethyl heptanoate and I’m sensitive to it. I agree that of the half dozen Koln taphouses I’ve visited, there was none of that character in their beers. In my opinion, winey is an optional component and not a requirement. I do find that the Wyeast kolsch yeast does throw that flavor and aroma.

 

[rtstrider]

Winey or grapey is probably ethyl heptanoate and I’m sensitive to it. I agree that of the half dozen Koln taphouses I’ve visited, there was none of that character in their beers. In my opinion, winey is an optional component and not a requirement. I do find that the Wyeast kolsch yeast does throw that flavor and aroma.

Been meaning to ask you this for a bit since your software is what I use for water profiles after all lol What pre-programmed water profile in Bruin Water would you recommend for a kolsch? I've been using the Pilsen profile

 

[monkeymath]

I've never brewed a Kölsch - and I most likely never will -, but Gozdawa Old German Altbier 9 is a great, neutral ale yeast that should work well in a Kölsch, I think. I'm not sure whether Gozdawa is available in the US, though.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Another member had the same experiences with this yeast. Took over 72 hours before it began fermentation on a stir plate. I verified this with daily gravity readings using a refractometer. Now once it took off I built it up to a 2L 1.040 starter for giggles.

I am just curious as to why one would make a starter from dry yeast?

 

[rtstrider]

I am just curious as to why one would make a starter from dry yeast?

Honestly I was at wits end with this yeast and refused to take defeat lol I pulled out all the stops to get this to work and it finally did.

Here's the whole thread

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/new-lallemand-yeasts-new-england-and-kolsch.670132/page-2

 

[balrog]

why one would make a starter from dry yeast?

I made a starter with a packet because:
A) Lalemand calc called for 2.3 packets in the batch I was doing and I did not have that many on hand;
B) I had been reading and rereading about progressive generations of dry yeast acting differently than first generation dry yeast pitch. Yet while I have saved an overbuilt Koln, I've yet to find time to rebrew for notable differences, because, you know, Life.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I have always looked at dry yeast as a way to avoid making a starter. I have siphoned off the yeast after fermentation and pitched that in the next beer with good results. Or make a starter before pitching it if the next beer will be brewed a month later.

 

[govner1]

I’ve used the Lallemand Kölsch dry yeast for numerous batches with great success. It finishes quickly, cleanly and very clear.
You won’t be disappointed.

 

[Protos]

Kölsch is one of my favourite styles, I brew it often.

As it has been noted above, Fermentis K-97 is excessively tart and cloudy and my experience agrees with that.

Lalbrew Köln is much, much better. It's as clean and neutral as a Kölsch yeast should be, although it might be fussy sometimes in regard of the pitching rate and lag time. It clears well too, given the time. A perfect, very-high-quality beer could be made with it. I got my best results when I treated it like a Bottom-fermented yeast: pitch high, ferment cold, prolonged Lagering etc. It takes very well propagation, harvesting and repitching.

Mangrove Jack M54 Californian Lager. Despite the label, it's the same strain as Lalbrew's but with a twist: it's a wee bit more estery, giving an amazing whiff of pear. Clears and flocculates more readily than Lalbrew's. It gets even better when harvested and repitched. I like this yeast the most.

Some say Gozdawa German Old Ale yeast differs from all those and still makes a nice Kölsch. Haven't tried it yet, bought a sachet and will experiment with it in autumn.

I don't think any neutral English or, worse, Norwegian Farmhouse yeast could make a fair substitute for Kölsch yeasts. If anything, cold-fermented US-05 could be a bit closer substitution, just because it stems historically from the same German Ale yeast root.

I think Kölsch is too much of a style of its own to be successfully imitated just by the absence of fermentation character. It's not just a "top-fermented Pils", it must have some character, just an extremely delicate one, that is the trickiest part. Which is fully attainable with the available dry Kölsch yeasts choice.

 

[Draft Master Flash]

I've had quite a few of the real Kolsch's from Cologne and I think you pretty much have to take it for what it is. You can make a Kolsch that sort of tastes like an authentic one but regardless of what yeast you use you will never get it exact. I have used Koln yeast about 3 times and always pitched 2 packs per 5 gallons. The beer tasted good but if I was to compare it with an authentic Kolsch from Cologne, it just wouldn't quite pass. The time I brewed a Palmer Kolsch kit using W-30/70 the beer tasted the closest to a real Kolsch sort of close to Fruh although that beer took a long time to get to where it was really drinkable. I'll continue to brew Kolsch recipes but will never actually accept it as a real Kolsch regardless of what some beer competion judge's may think.

DMF

 

[monkeymath]

... but will never actually accept it as a real Kolsch

Mediocrely interesting piece of trivia:
"Kölsch" is in fact a term reserved for beer meeting certain criteria, including being brewed in Cologne. So you really can't get any closer than "Kölsch-style". Or maybe "Wiess".

 

[Volare]

I’ve used the Lallemand Kölsch dry yeast for numerous batches with great success. It finishes quickly, cleanly and very clear.
You won’t be disappointed.

I agree. And now of course it has been discontinued. SMH

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

recent discussion on alternatives at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/is-there-a-real-substitute-for-llalemand-kolsch-yeast.732125/

 

[Draft Master Flash]

I agree. And now of course it has been discontinued. SMH

I've heard from a couple of forums that Mangrove Jack's M54 dry yeast is the same as Koln yeast. Have yet to see but maybe worth a try.


DMF

 

[rtstrider]

I've heard from a couple of forums that Mangrove Jack's M54 dry yeast is the same as Koln yeast. Have yet to see but maybe worth a try.


DMF

That's their California lager strain. Logic says that would be the anchor strain but yeast company marketing is wonky so who knows lol

 

[dmtaylor]

Logic says...

Stop right there. When it comes to yeast strain origins, just don't even have this thought, kill the thought before it even starts.

 

[rtstrider]

Stop right there. When it comes to yeast strain origins, just don't even have this thought, kill the thought before it even starts.

Oh I know! Just because it's the yeast strain origin doesn't mean it's that exact strain. Yeast is a living organism that mutates so even a strain touted to be THE strain will be in the ball park...Sure...But will rarely be the exact strain lol