Kölsch

[Flike01]

I'm a very new brewer. I have completed one batch, my first being a brewer's best ingredient kit of IPA which turned out absolutely wonderfully. It was probably the great success and exhilaration of the brewing/fermentation process that turned me to feel more daring already on my second batch. Essentially, I have two questions for anyone out there who cares to answer, but I'll give a little background on the situation first:

Last night I began my second batch on a Kölsch style homebrew (also an ingredient kit from brewer's best). I picked it, because I wanted to go in a very different direction from my prior brew, and I was also curious about spices/flavorings, and I figured a lighter bodied pale ale would be a great test subject for a flavor or aroma infusion. I also have found that friends and family have become fascinated with my stories of my first batch, and many of them want to try my beer...though many of them aren't really in the same field of my tastes when it comes to beer (very bitter and hoppy = delicious).

So the kit says that the ingredients contained, with the intention of a 2.5 gallon extract brew will give the final product an IBU range of around 25-28. I wanted to bring this down even a bit more, so I used 2.25 gallons as my starting measure (feel free to critique if this is a good or bad method). I also used sweet orange peel in the final ten minutes before I terminated my boil and started to chill, to give an orange aromatic property to the beer...though I only used 1oz so it might honestly be a nonfactor.

So here comes my questions:

1) After I vigorously stirred in the 60F-ish water to my chilled wort, I took a gravity reading of 1.034. The kit suggests that the OG should be around 1.042 - 1.046. Should I panic about this discrepancy? I am heavily considering adding sugar to my 2 day old fermenting wort tomorrow to increase the ABV for the final product...because according to my estimated calculations, my alcohol content will be around 3.15% at this rate, if that reading was 100% accurate.

2) Was trying to add an orange aroma to a Kölsch too bold of a move? Or a dumb move? I'm somewhat versed in beer...but I also am smart enough to know how dumb I can be, and I just sort of leaped into this decision without researching it all too much. Everything I read basically said oranges only belong in Belgium style...but I wanted to try something fun. Also...I didn't have a nylon bag (I have one on its way in the mail...but couldn't wait) so I just threw the orange peel into the wort at the 10 minute mark, and was hoping that wasn't a bad idea. Any criticism or thoughts on that is more than welcome as well.


Thanks for anyone who takes the time to read this and respond

 

[Flike01]

Also as an addition to #1 -- If I do pour in the sugar (I would boil/dissolve it into water first), would I stir it into the fermenting wort? Or should I just pour it directly in and let it be as to not disturb it or the yeast?

 

[Quadrupled]

If your wort volume is less, your OG has to increase from it's original number. In your case, your og has to have risen to about 1.047-1.051 ([(x*2.5)/2.25], where x=42 - 46). The OG of extract batches cannot come out wrong unless extract was left out, so don't worry. Your boiled wort and the water you added were likely just not well mixed - I would not add any sugar.

As for the orange, don't fret about something that you cannot undue. I notice a slight lemon flavor in the Kolsch's that I've brewed, so orange might be a nice tweak. You'll see many unique additions to beers the longer you follow the forums.

 

[mvcorliss]

Unless I am reading you wrong, by reducing your volume of wort you would have increased the IBU's not decreased them. You are putting the same amount of hops in a smaller volume.

The difference, I think will really be negligible.

 

[passedpawn]

IF you brewed with malt extract, your OG was probably correct and you made a measurement mistake.

That OG will definately be low for a Kolsch. Adding sugar will lighten it up further, making it worse (although you will increase the ABV). I would not add sugar. If anything, add more DME during the fermentation.

 

[JonM]

Did you get all of the extract out of the jug? (I'm assuming you used liquid extract)

 

[Quadrupled]

Also, look at Revvy's link.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/at...inal-gravity-reading-wrong-dont-panic-289735/

 

[Flike01]

Thank you for all of the responses, guys!

I did use liquid extract (my dry malt was 2lbs of wheat), and I did get all of it out of the container. My gf actually took a sanitized spatula and got out what I wasn't planning to get out into the wort.

As for the IBU thing...I would have thought the same, but the notation on my instructions from the kit reads as:

"The volume of the wort boiled affects hop utilization. Boiling more than 2.5 gallons will increase the IBU's and they will decrease if wort volume is less than 2.5 gallons. IBU's for this recipe are calculated for a 2.5 gallon boil"

I'm not sure if this perspective makes sense or not, but I understand it in the way that, yes you are making a more concentrated wort base in your partial boil...but you are also going to be adding more water to your 5 gallon fermentation total at the end so it would be a little more watered down.


Either way...I will refrain from adding sugar if the reading was just a poor reading due to water/wort mixture like suggested in the link. I'll keep an eye on fermentation (planning on putting it in the new glass carboy Wednesday night-ish based on how fermentation seems to be playing out right now), and I will let you guys know how the end product turns out.

Once again, thanks for your help

 

[Flike01]

I checked the gravity tonight and it was perfectly on 1.010. I went ahead and racked it into my carboy along with a clarifying agent (it was super hazy).

We'll see how it turns out from here...the orange aroma was -very- present and apparent

 

[drathbone]

Doing a partial boil requires slightly more hops to equal the same IBU's vs a full boil. Lower volume boil lowers hops utilization.

If you used extract, you're gravity will be off doing a partial boil even with "vigorous stirring", it takes some time for it to settle into a homogenous solution. Also, the extract measurements are fairly precise. X amount of malt extract = X gravity points in a 5 gallon recipe. So unless you added stuff beyond the recipe, you're OG should be pretty spot on despite your reading after topping off, so no worries.