Kolsch Style

[dhelegda]

Are Kolsch Styles hazy? I had on in the primary for about 3 weeks and was going to keg it but is looked like...well just look at the picture. So I added it to a secondary a week ago to see if it would clear and it's not looking much better.


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[Indian_villager]

Yep. If you want to clear it out hit it with gelatin while it is cold.

 

[dhelegda]

I need a bigger kegerator or refrigerator!


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[dhelegda]

Will adding gelatin to room temp beer change the effectiveness?


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[jmhbutler]

I assume you were planning to lager it once it has been bottled. Gelatin at room temperature will work but it may take longer and not be as effective. I've done it as warm as 11C with success. I'd stick it in the coldest place in your house and give it a shot.

 

[TipsySaint]

Kolsch should be crystal clear. Well beer crystal clear. To get the right flavor profile you will also need to drop to at least 55 for a couple of weeks after primary is mostly done in order for the yeast to properly work. I find with the step down it lets the beer get a light tartness to it. You can also run the beer through a filter (which kolsch should be as it should contain no yeast.) But even if it's hazy it'll still be good beer.

Kolsch is a tough beer to make, it's the string bikini of beers....not much to hide behind...

It's a great benchmark for figuring out how good your brew techniques are.

 

[dhelegda]

Added Gelatin and cold crashed it, cam out perfectly clear. Kegged it and it lasted 6 days.


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[Qhrumphf]

Yeah the German ale yeasts (Kolsch and Alt) are notoriously powdery. I typically ferment mine around 58, let them rise up at the very end to the mid 60s for a diacetyl rest, and then lower them down to about 40 degrees for a few weeks. The last week of "lagering" I hit em with gelatin (because it really does work best when the beer is already cold) and they come out near-filtered clarity. If you add gelatin when it's not cold already, you won't strip out any chill haze, and it won't work very well.

 

[edognight]

I have done that countless times, where I was worried about the cloudiness, and then it came out perfectly. In my case, kegging made all my beers clear, and cold crashing the Kolsch for a month, or at least a few weeks did the trick.

 

[biertourist]

To summarize the already great information:

The beer style Kolsch should be crystal clear. (Filter or extended cold aging "lagern")
Kolsch yeast is very low flocculating and the beer stays cloudy for a long time if you don't cold crash / lager / filter.


One trick I've found is to buy a few pounds of dry ice from a grocery store and wrap it into a towel and tie it around the carboy to crash the temp cold in a hurry. -I get crystal clear beer in 2 hours then and then get rid of a 1/2 pint to a pint of yeast on the next pull from the keg; from there on out it's smooth, clear sailing!

Adam