First Time Brewer - Kolsch

[Tuggy]

Ok so I'm attempting my first batch. I did my best to read up on the do's and dont's. I purchased a Deluxe brewing kit. Plastic Primary and a Glass secondary. I also bought an 8 gallon kettle for the brew, because I hear full brews simply taste better.

My first attempt at a brew I tried a Kolsch, because the vendor told me that was the closest to my favorite (Goose Island - 312). It was a kit beer so it included my grains, malts, wheats, and hops.

I did the full brew cooled the wort to 75 in less than 45 min. and then siphoned into the primary and attached the airlock OG was a 1.042. Within less than 24 hours it began fermenting. It has a nice krausen on top and after 3 days settled back into the brew. The airlock was inactive so I took my second reading which was 1.010. I let the brew sit for 8 more hours then decided to move to the secondary, just shy of 4 days.

Now in the secondary I can actually see the brew. It was a nice straw pale color and now is getting a caramel color on the top 4 inches, but the airlock is slowly active again.

Did I move the brew too early? Could I have a possible wild yeast element?

I also heard that full brews increase the IBU's.. Will it make the beer much more bitter, because I'm partial to smooth beers.

I'm also open to any suggestions from experienced brewers with more do's and dont's.

 

[LarsonLE]

Hey Tuggy, was wondering if you bought a Brewer's Best Kolsch kit like I just did. I have one fermenting away in my closet right now.

I would answer your questions if I were more experienced, sorry.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Did I move the brew too early? Could I have a possible wild yeast element?

I also heard that full brews increase the IBU's.. Will it make the beer much more bitter, because I'm partial to smooth beers.

I'm also open to any suggestions from experienced brewers with more do's and dont's.

4 days is extremely short for primary, especially for a Koelsch. I am surprised, since Koelsch yeast usually has a very persistent kraeusen that can easily last for a couple of weeks.

The difference in IBUs should be fairly minor. It's the type of bittering hop rather than the amount that influences the character or smoothness of the bitterness. What was your bittering hop?

 

[Tuggy]

The kit I used was brewers best. I'm not exactly sure of the ingredients, because I don't know the difference they make yet. After looking it up on another thread they put that the BB kit contains:

non-hopped Pilsen light LME, but 2 lbs of Briess Bavarian Wheat DME (65/35% Wheat/Barley). The hops are 2oz Willamette for bittering and 1oz for aroma. 12 oz of Carapils Malt specialty grains and a dry Danstar Nottingham brewing yeast.

The instructions that came with the kit said to usually move to a secondary in 5-7 days, but "BEFORE ITS DONE FERMENTING" - I put that in caps because the instructions had it in bold. The target FG is around 1.007 so I figured I was getting close. Recessed krausen, no airlock activity, and a low gravity, I pulled the trigger on moving to a secondary.

The primary was in a constant 64-68 degree dark environment. I moved the secondary to a constant 50 degree. I hear that a partial Lager secondary is a good choice.

 

[golfer]

you'll be fine, the notty yeast is a fast worker, so you aren't too early. racking into the secondary more than likely stirred up some yeast and it is still fermenting a bit. no worries about that. give it another week or so and then put it somewhere cool for another week. it should clear nicely. you will get a little more bitterness from the hops, since you did a full boil, but it shouldn't be too extreme. it will make the beer pretty crisp, and a nice thirst quencher. good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

 

[golfer]

also, don't fret about the airlock bubbling, sometimes you will get that from a temperature differential after racking. there is also co2 in the beer that may off gas as you rack, regardless if it is done fermenting or not.

 

[Tuggy]

Seems like everything is currently going as planned in the secondary. I have it in a 48 - 50 degree environment. From what I've been reading about the Kolsch it's a hybrid beer. Warm primary fermenting, and a lager like secondary fermentation.

I do have a couple concerns just to make sure that all is copasetic.

I'm using the Nottingham Yeast that came with the kit and not a Kolsch. Can the nottingham take the low temperatures?

The other thing that may be of concern is the color. When I first racked the wort it was the "straw yellow" color as advertised. Since being in the secondary, it started developing a caramel color on the top and now is 75% down after a few days. I'm assuming it's just the sediment filtering to the bottom, but is this of concern?

 

[KevinW]

Yeah, if you are using Notty I probably would not call it a Kölsch, I would think it to be more of a pale.
Lagers use Lager yeast however you can "lager" a beer by cold storing for a period of time.
Ales use Ale yeasts.
Kösch uses Kölsch yeast and I believe are considered hybrids.

If you kit came with Nottingham they really should not call it Kösch.

You should give your beers about 3 weeks in primary then bottle/keg and condition for about 3 more weeks. The only time you would want to secondary is when you are dry hopping or adding fruit and the like.

When using extracts lme/dme you are kind of at the mercy of the maltster when it comes to color so I would not worry about the color, unless you boil for 2 hours or so which could darken the beer quite a bit.
Your beer should come out great just give the yeast some time to "clean up" after themselves!! I primary for a minimum of 3 weeks and have never had any issues!

Good luck!!

 

[Tuggy]

I've heard mixed reviews on 1 or 2 fermentation... I guess I got a little antsy to move it to the secondary, because I also wanted to be able to see it. and the gravity was reading almost in the FG levels.

My only reason to use the secondary, was because I was told that a Kolsch is a cloudy beer to begin with and one more chance to remove sediments before bottling is probably best. I guess I was hoping to make it cleaner.

 

[jyda]

My only reason to use the secondary, was because I was told that a Kolsch is a cloudy beer to begin with and one more chance to remove sediments before bottling is probably best. I guess I was hoping to make it cleaner.

Well I'm not sure about Notty, but if you used a typical Kolsch yeast you would find that it's not very flocculent and takes a LONG time to fall out of suspension. Perhaps someone with greater Notty knowledge could chime in with it's properties.

Additionally, many advise to leave it on the primary yeast cake to allow the yeasties to clean up some byproducts before moving to secondary. This would help you achieve that "cleaner" style you refer to.

I have made many, many Kolsch's and it is by far my favorite style. I have made them extract, partial mash, and a ton of all grain. You will end up with beer from your procedure, but like was previously mentioned, without the Kolsch yeast you are really making a Blonde ale or something like that.

Hope this helps

 

[KAMMEE]

Notty Clears up fast, you'll get a very clean flavor if you fermented at a lower temperature, like 62-64, but it should be good and clean up to 68 without a lot of ester production. The yeast won't ferment in colder temps 48-50 like what you have now, but it will cause Notty to drop out of suspension which is also the reason for your caramel color. When you have a lot of wort the color is darker, if you were to take a sample and put it in a glass, you'd find it to be quite pale based on the malts you described above. This will be a very clean beer after your lagering, which I would say you should keep there for at least 3 weeks from the date you racked before bottling. It will clear up nicely at about day 10-14 but let it sit on the yeast for a while. Notty finishes quickly so you're probably at your final gravity but let it condition for a while in your lower temps, thats going to be good for it.

 

[Tuggy]

So I'm a little worried. I've been preparing for my second brew and reading of the directions for that one (English Brown Ale). I noticed that it had a step for steeping the grains for 20 min. This is identical to the Kolsch that I already have fermenting.

The one thing that I didn't notice is that you shouldn't let the temp get above 170 otherwise the grains release tannins. I know that when I was doing my Kolsch, I put the grains in at 170 and came back 20 min later and the wort was near boil (190). I'm assuming that the grains were in the wort at 170+ for over 10 min. Will this cause a problem for me? Is there anyway to tell if I have this tannins problem?

I'm oviously going to finish the process, ferment, condition, prime, and bottle. But I was just wondering if there are any tell-tale signs?

 

[golfer]

you'll notice the tannins, if they are there. it is a bitter-husky taste. you may have to keep the bottles cool for a while after carbing. the tannins will ease a little. overall you seem to have done a decent job, just relax. even if it turns out funky, its still beer. and at least you will know where the funky came from. keep notes and you will get better on every batch. for what its worth, I had a batch of pale ale that I was sure was infected, and seriously funky. it was done with a yeast I had never used before and was not real familiar with. anyway, it blew the airlock and made a mess, also bubbled the airlock for a month and smelled like crap. I was all set to dump this, but was kegging another batch and decided to do this one too, just for funsies. it turned out to be the best beer I have made and the keg lasted me about 4 days before I emptied it.

 

[Tuggy]

So I taste tested the batch yesterday... And I love it so far. So I guess I'll put my worries aside. I appreciate everyone's help. You guys are the best.

So today I'm going to brew a English Brown Ale, but I plan on adding honey to the mixture. I'm still using a kit. (I'll probably do 3 kit brews before I get into mashing and boiling up my own recipies.) So I'm assuming by adding the honey I'll raise the OG and ABV. I was thinking just adding 1lb of 100% to the boil, because I just want a hint of taste not overwhelming. I was also thinking of adding 1oz of Irish Moss to clean things up, since the kits don't come with any. Any other comments/suggestions?

 

[ArcaneXor]

1 oz of Irish moss will give you a beer that tastes like seafood. You really only need 1/4-1/2 teaspoons.

The honey will raise your OG and ABV, and should dry the beer out as well, since it is nearly 100% fermentable. I personally don't like boiling honey, but if your objective is to minimize its flavor contribution, definitely go with a neutral clover honey and boil it for 15 minutes or so to drive off some of the aromatics.

 

[Tuggy]

Thanks for the insight. So low on the Irish Moss. Got it. Is there anything I can offset the honey's drying effects with?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Thanks for the insight. So low on the Irish Moss. Got it. Is there anything I can offset the honey's drying effects with?

If you want some honey flavor without drying out the beer, I suggest adding a quarter pound of honey malt to your steeping grain bill.

 

[DannPM]

Ok so I'm attempting my first batch. I did my best to read up on the do's and dont's. I purchased a Deluxe brewing kit. Plastic Primary and a Glass secondary. I also bought an 8 gallon kettle for the brew, because I hear full brews simply taste better.

My first attempt at a brew I tried a Kolsch, because the vendor told me that was the closest to my favorite (Goose Island - 312). It was a kit beer so it included my grains, malts, wheats, and hops.

I did the full brew cooled the wort to 75 in less than 45 min. and then siphoned into the primary and attached the airlock OG was a 1.042. Within less than 24 hours it began fermenting. It has a nice krausen on top and after 3 days settled back into the brew. The airlock was inactive so I took my second reading which was 1.010. I let the brew sit for 8 more hours then decided to move to the secondary, just shy of 4 days.

Now in the secondary I can actually see the brew. It was a nice straw pale color and now is getting a caramel color on the top 4 inches, but the airlock is slowly active again.

Did I move the brew too early? Could I have a possible wild yeast element?

I also heard that full brews increase the IBU's.. Will it make the beer much more bitter, because I'm partial to smooth beers.

I'm also open to any suggestions from experienced brewers with more do's and dont's.

Dude rock on for having your first ever batch be all-grain and seeming to know a TON about the brewing process already, that's awesome dude.

As for the secondary action you may have a little action going on but with a gravity of 1.010 the primary ferm is complete, sounds like you're on your way to some tasty beer!

 

[Tuggy]

Thank you everyone for the help. This has made my early brewing much much easier. I have a friend that's been brewing for over a year and we were talking for a good 3 hours. And his comment was "ummm how long have you been brewing". I was like well I have one in primary and 2 in secondarys.. That's it. He was like "how do you know all this then? It's like you've been doing it for decades". Naturally I referred him to this site. I was even able to teach him how to harvest the "expensive english yeast" so he could use it again, thanks to directions on this site.

I do have one last question regarding my Kolsch. I'm thinking of bottling today. It has cleaned up nicely, and the taste and aroma is great. The only thing that I'm on the fence about are do I just bottle it or should I do a yeast rousing (swirl) before hand?
I had the secondary in colder (48-50) temperatures to give it the partial lager. And someone (KAMMEE) mentioned in a above post that a lot of the yeast had dropped out of suspension. I'm assuming that there will still be plenty of yeast left for bottling purposes, but I'm just making sure.

On a side note: 2 days ago I took the brew out of Lager temps and got it back up to room temp for bottling. I also wanted to make sure it got all the fermentation out of the way as well.

 

[ArcaneXor]

At 50 degrees, you'll have plenty of yeast in suspension. Stirring it up is just going to result in more crud in your bottles.

 

[Tuggy]

Ok so bottles have been sitting at 65-68 for about a week now. I had a buddy that wanted to try it (I warned him that it wouldn't be ready) But I thought it's just one bottle so who cares. Popping the cap there was a little pressure. And the beer poured to a very small head, but there was a lot of bubbles in the beer at the bottom. This really isn't a concern of mine because I know that there is no way it's ready after one week.

The one thing that I was a little concerned about is that when I tried the beer it had a nice taste but it kind of had an oily residue when drinking... I'm not really how else to desbribe it. Is this just part of the bottling process?

 

[DannPM]

Ok so bottles have been sitting at 65-68 for about a week now. I had a buddy that wanted to try it (I warned him that it wouldn't be ready) But I thought it's just one bottle so who cares. Popping the cap there was a little pressure. And the beer poured to a very small head, but there was a lot of bubbles in the beer at the bottom. This really isn't a concern of mine because I know that there is no way it's ready after one week.

The one thing that I was a little concerned about is that when I tried the beer it had a nice taste but it kind of had an oily residue when drinking... I'm not really how else to desbribe it. Is this just part of the bottling process?

Cold conditioning after bottling conditioning makes a HUGE difference with Co2 absorption into the beer. Given as little as 24-48 hours in the 30's F range after bottle conditioning can make a meager head an hefty thick one.

Sounds like you just chilled one down in 30-40 mins to drink?

 

[Tuggy]

Exactly... There was no cold conditioning for longer than an hour. But the head or carbination didn't concern me too much. It was the oily/slimy consistancy of the beer. Is that normal?

 

[DannPM]

Exactly... There was no cold conditioning for longer than an hour. But the head or carbination didn't concern me too much. It was the oily/slimy consistancy of the beer. Is that normal?

I'm unsure about that part of your concern man, hopefully someone else knows the answer for that one!