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Jamil's Kolsch...?

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BrianTheBrewer

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Hey guys and gals...wondering if anyone has ever brewed Jamil Zainasheff Kolsch called :JZ KRUH

Its from the Brewing Classic Styles book.

I have tried to brew a nice Kolsch beer for sometime now. None have really come out the way I have wanted them to. Wondering if any of you have ever brewed either the Partial Mash recipe or the All Grain recipe from the book. If you have please let me know how it came out and what you thought. I would like to brew it in the near future.

Thanks
 
i can't remember exactly what his recipe is off hand, but i did brew one based closely on it:

9# Pils
1# Vienna

probably a similar hopping schedule with tettnang... came out really well, it was gone in no time. next time i do a kolsch, i'm gonna lager that sucker for a good while to get it nice and clear.
 
The last Kolsch I did came out ok but could have been much more clear. I want to get a good recipe under my belt while the cold weather is upon us so I can cold crash it for sometime.
 
There is a brewery in San diego called Ballast Point. There flagship beer is called "Yellow Tail Pale Ale". It is one of the best Kolsch style beers I have ever had. I would love to find the recipe for that one.
 
Hey guys and gals...wondering if anyone has ever brewed Jamil Zainasheff Kolsch called :JZ KRUH

Its from the Brewing Classic Styles book.

I have tried to brew a nice Kolsch beer for sometime now. None have really come out the way I have wanted them to. Wondering if any of you have ever brewed either the Partial Mash recipe or the All Grain recipe from the book. If you have please let me know how it came out and what you thought. I would like to brew it in the near future.

Thanks

Yeah I brewed the Kolsch from Jamil's book. I used the all grain recipe in the book and it turned out really good. It finished with a gold color, nice head, and a biscuit/bready like flavor. I have a temp controlled ferment chamber and kept the ferment at 60 F. The yeast was the Wyeast Kolsch variety recommended in the book. I let it ferment at 60 F for about 2 weeks then dropped the temp to get the beer to clear. That yeast doesn't flocculate well and can really benefit from cold crashing. I did harvest the yeast and plan to brew this one again.
 
I have brewed it twice the first time it placed first and second time I brewed it it took a second. I washed that yeast and made a cream ale and it took 3rd. Damn fine book that JZ has.
 
I'm just drinking a glass of Kölsch brewed from Jamil's recipe. I followed the all-grain recipe exactly with the exception of using the Wyeast 2575PC Kölsch II yeast instead of the specified 2565. Oh, and I substituted about of 1/4 of the Hallertauer hops with Spalt. I'm very happy with the results and I think it compares favorably to Reissdorf, which is the only German example I can get in my area. I've had Kölsch in Germany, but it's been a number of years and I don't have a good memory for taste that I could use to judge it.

Even though I lagered it for over a month, it never fell completely clear, which I understand to be pretty typical. I used it as my first attempt at filtering. I have to say, the results are pretty spectacular compared to my expectations. Not only is the beer clear, but I think it improved the taste. I can pick up the hop character more distinctly and the slight "bubble gum" flavor that the yeast tends to throw was reduced. Some fruitiness remained, however, which I believe is part of the style.

I'd say it would be an excellent recipe to attempt. Keep the fermentation temps low (I tried to stay around 60 degrees F.) Lager it for a while if you can and filter it if you have access to the equipment. If not, enjoy it as it is.
 
I'm just drinking a glass of Kölsch brewed from Jamil's recipe. I followed the all-grain recipe exactly with the exception of using the Wyeast 2575PC Kölsch II yeast instead of the specified 2565. Oh, and I substituted about of 1/4 of the Hallertauer hops with Spalt. I'm very happy with the results and I think it compares favorably to Reissdorf, which is the only German example I can get in my area. I've had Kölsch in Germany, but it's been a number of years and I don't have a good memory for taste that I could use to judge it.

Even though I lagered it for over a month, it never fell completely clear, which I understand to be pretty typical. I used it as my first attempt at filtering. I have to say, the results are pretty spectacular compared to my expectations. Not only is the beer clear, but I think it improved the taste. I can pick up the hop character more distinctly and the slight "bubble gum" flavor that the yeast tends to throw was reduced. Some fruitiness remained, however, which I believe is part of the style.

I'd say it would be an excellent recipe to attempt. Keep the fermentation temps low (I tried to stay around 60 degrees F.) Lager it for a while if you can and filter it if you have access to the equipment. If not, enjoy it as it is.

Well I am looking forward to it, I am going to do the partial mash at first and see how it comes out then I hope to try the all grain recipe after.
 
I never had a problem with mine not being clear but I never used the Wyeast 2575PC Kölsch II yeast on it either.

I generally don't have a problem with beers clearing, even without extended aging, but this one refused to. The 2575 yeast is listed as having low flocculation, but then, so is 2565. Also, I haven't brewed a lot of beers using pilsner malt, so it could have been a protein issue (I did a single-infusion mash, as per Jamil's recipe). It wasn't chill haze, as the clarity was off regardless of beer temperature. Whatever it was, a 7 micron filter took care of it.

There is another possibility, which is stupidity on my part. After a month of lagering I pulled some beer and noticed it was cloudy. So, I pulled the keg out of the fridge, put it away, and ignored it for about 4 months. Then I cooled it again prior to filtering. I noticed while filtering that after a while, the beer coming through the hose prior to the filter was much clearer. I guess I just didn't pull enough beer initially to get through the sediment. Also, after filtering, there was a large amount of sediment on the bottom of the original keg. Next time, when I lager a beer, I'll use a shortened dip tube or just pull beer until I get through the sediment and that may solve the problem.
 
That's great advice, I appreciate the tip there, drholtzclaw. I am making a beer with the Wyeast 2565 (pitching onto a cake) tomorrow for my bride, and she will expect nothing but clarity in her beer (she'll drink it out of our new stange glasses), and I don't have a filter setup. So I'll definitely let it lager for a few weeks and then pull a few pints before I give a crystal clear one to her!
 
Has anybody experimented with adding fruit to kolsch? You could use pectic enzyme to get it back to kolsch clearness, and it seems to me that the light sweetness of kolsch would match well in a fruit beer.
 
Has anybody experimented with adding fruit to kolsch? You could use pectic enzyme to get it back to kolsch clearness, and it seems to me that the light sweetness of kolsch would match well in a fruit beer.

I had a homebrew Kolsch last night made with pomegranate. It was really good, but a bit (only a bit) tart. I'd say it was a winner though. I also tasted the base Kolsch without the pomegranate, too, and it was a good beer.
 
I have Brewing Classic Styles, and am tempted to try this one but I have never lagered an ale after fermentation. What temp are people keeping this beer at for the 4 weeks of lagering?
 
I have Brewing Classic Styles, and am tempted to try this one but I have never lagered an ale after fermentation. What temp are people keeping this beer at for the 4 weeks of lagering?

Jamil says to lager for 4 weeks, you may want to go 5 for more clarity.
The temp should be 38-40 degrees.
 
I have Brewing Classic Styles, and am tempted to try this one but I have never lagered an ale after fermentation. What temp are people keeping this beer at for the 4 weeks of lagering?

I think the closer to 32 degrees F you can get is ideal, but like nealf, I used my serving fridge, which I keep at about 38-40 degrees F. This Kölsch was the first beer I had lagered, so I don't have a wealth of experience to draw from. I think German ales are a good way to get your feet wet with lagering, as many of their ales are lagered but the fermentation temps are closer to standard ale temps and so you don't get into the higher pitching rates the true lagers seem to require (never brewed one - just going by the Jamil numbers).
 
Ya see I dont use a fridge. I live outside of Boston and wait till the weather gets cold here. I use my garage. The temp in mid-winter usually stays between 34-40 degrees.
 
Brewing a ten gallon batch of the JZ Kruh right now. 20lbs of grain is about the max my MLT can handle!



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First in with the new chugger. Using it to during lauter to transfer from MLT to bk. working great and QUIET!



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Worked great for the vorlaugh too, so easy and such clear wort!
 
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