My first recipe, help wanted - German Kolsch

[drathbone]

EDIT: See updated Recipe on the 3rd post


This is going to be a German Kolsch. I've tried to research and spent forever tweaking recipe calculator to match the style the best I could. Any tips would be appreciated. Also note, this is a work in progress, so I haven't fully decided on everything yet. Here goes:

5 gallon recipe

3.5 lbs of Pilsner LME
2.5 lbs of Extra light LME
.75 lbs Munich Malt - 20L

.75 oz German Spalt for 60 minutes
1.0 oz Hallertau for 30 minutes
1.0 tsp Irish Moss for 10 minutes

Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast.

Ferment for 4 weeks as close to 60 degrees I can get it. Bottle and condition for roughly another 4 weeks. I'm thinking 4oz corn sugar to carb.

This would be my first partial mash. From my understanding Munich cannot be steeped. Leave in pot at 155 degrees for 60 minutes with 1.5qt water (2qt per 1lb grain). I will read up on this more, any info would be appreciated, for now I'm trying to get the recipe and some tips.

I'm back and forth on the hops. Should I replace Spalt with 1.0oz Hallertau for 60 and maybe Tettnang for 30? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks everybody!

 

[djonas]

Okay! So the recipe doesn't look too bad but below are some critiques.

Kölsch is supposed to be a very clean beer that is carried on its malt and yeast characters. It looks like you have the malts down okay but I'm curious as to why you're splitting the bill between Pilsner and Extra Light LME; was there a specific reason behind that? Also, I believe that the Nottingham yeast will not give you the desired Kölsch properties; try looking into Wyeast 2565 or WLP029 instead.

You are correct in the fact that Munich malt ought to be mashed. If you didn't want to mash it, you could always substitute it and a portion of your extract for some Munich LME.

Your hops also seem okay. Looking through some literature it seems that aroma and flavor hops are generally not added to this style of beer. Since an early 60 minute addition imparts mostly bitterness, I would not worry about what kind of hop you are adding. Rather worry about hitting your target IBU's. A few recipes I looked over kept their IBU's around the 23-28 range. The 30 minute addition would also primarily add bitterness to your final product but some of the flavor may come through.

So those are just some things to think about! Good luck on your recipe creation; it really is an incredibly addicting habit!

 

[drathbone]

It looks like you have the malts down okay but I'm curious as to why you're splitting the bill between Pilsner and Extra Light LME; was there a specific reason behind that?

I think the main reason I did that is because Beer Calculus (http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe) had my SRM off for the style and from my understanding Kolsch uses more pils malt, so I leaned toward more Pilsner. Any reason after my recalc I should use pils vs Extra light?

I've recalculated using Munich LME

3.5 lbs Pilsener LME
3.0 lbs Munich LME

Comes out to 4 SRM which is in range. Dunno why I hadn't thought of that. Is the mini-mash still viable if I adjust the Munich LME to Grain ratio accordingly? I'd like to step up my game and try a partial mash.

Also, I believe that the Nottingham yeast will not give you the desired Kölsch properties; try looking into Wyeast 2565 or WLP029 instead.

Hmm, maybe I overlooked what I was typing (super sleepy ) but I had WLP039 pulled up looking at another unrelated recipe. I think my intention was WLP029 like you suggested. 1 number off - even though I said nottingham and not WLP039.

As for the hops, would simply changing to 1 oz Spalt to bring IBU up to 25 be a better idea? I wasn't sure if the 2nd hop addition was necessary but I threw it in there. I hit the mid range just changing to 1oz Spalt. Sound good?

Here's the rehashed all extract recipe:

3.5 lbs Pilsener LME
3.0 lbs Munich LME

1.0 oz German Spalt for 60 minutes
1.0 tsp Irish Moss for 10 minutes

WLP029 yeast

This recipe seems extremely simplified at this point, any reason I should worry about that?

 

[djonas]

Ha, ha! There are a ton of variables when creating a recipe but the headache is half the fun! Oftentimes the simplest of recipes produce beers that are very similar to the classic styles.

Now, keep in mind that Munich LME ought to produce a more malty product. This is okay if that's your goal! Some of the recipes that I have seen tend to keep the Munich much lower than the Pilsner to get a cleaner tasting beer.

As for the hops, having only a 60 minute addition pretty much solidifies the fact that hops are only imparting bitterness into the beer. Again, this is okay if you want a very malt forward beer without any hop aromas or flavors! The 25 IBU's seem adequate for your recipe. Do you know the theoretical ABV? I think the bitterness should be based around that.

Looks like you got the yeast taken care of too! I forgot to mention in the last post that you do want to keep the temperatures as close to 60 F as possible; good job on keeping that in mind!

Since you're working with extracts and no steeping grains, you don't have complete control over the color. In my experience with extracts, sometimes the color doesn't come out as planned but that generally doesn't reflect the taste of the beer. Don't worry about color too much unless you plan on entering this beast into a contest!

Here is the last thing. There's a point to my detached, objective advice. I am a firm believer that what I brew is a reflection of my character. Thus, if I have an idea; a goal, so to speak, I try my hardest to end up with what I had in mind. So, take advice for what it is and give what you want a shot!

 

[jeffmeh]

I made this one last summer, and it turned out great. Note that I do full-volume BIAB, so adust your water volumes accordingly.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 8.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 4.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 70.00 %
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 20.00 %
0.75 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.50 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2.50 %
1.00 oz Pearle [8.20 %] (40 min) Hops 28.2 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnang [4.80 %] (2 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
Misc
1 Pkgs Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
70 min Mash In Add 37.00 qt of water at 155.9 F 152.0 F
20 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 0 min 168.0 F

 

[markg388]

kolsches are usually brewed purely with pilsner malt, with a small optional addition of wheat, carafoam or other specialty grains. having almost 50% munich extract is going to be make your beer quite a bit darker and have a bit of a different flavor. It isn't going to de-rail your beer by any means, but it'll be more like an oktoberfest color and flavor rather than kolsch.

most german beer recipes are incredibly simple, so don't worry about that!

 

[drathbone]

So is my calculator off as far as SRM when using nearly half munich malt? Is that because its extract and not grain? My understanding 5srm should fall within BCJP guidelines for a kolsch, which is what the calc estimated.

Abv was around ~4.8abv. I'm on my blackberry right now at work so I can't get exact numbers by in playing with the data again. Since I'm trying to be close to the style, perhaps my original presentation as far as the extract/grain bill was more appropriate to the style? I'm having a hard time using mostly pislner while keeping SRM above 4 and staying within 1.050og/1.011fg.

The reason I'm trying to be so specific is I'm contemplating entering this into a contest within the regional home brew clubs in my area. So I wanna get this one right.

 

[jeffmeh]

Also, while I use Nottingham yeast quite a bit and like it, if you are truly trying to brew a Kolsch to style I would go with a Kolsch yeast.

 

[markg388]

if it's for competition, i'd definitely lose the munich then as kolsches are supposed to be as pale as possible. I don't know where you're getting the 4 SRM, BJCP says it can be 3.5-5. My kolsch recipe is 90% pilsner and 10% carafoam and it scored a 42 last summer, I fear the munich extract is going to lose you points. you're probably best off using 100% pilsner malt extract, that's the closest to what the germans are doing.

 

[drathbone]

Does anybody use the calculator I posted a link too? Maybe I'm not using it properly. I tried using all pils extract in the calc and comes to 1srm, which is why I threw a darker malt in there To bring it up. Should I ignore that or am I in putting the data wrong?

 

[drathbone]

Would using 100% pils maintain the styles color?

 

[jeffmeh]

According to BeerSmith, for a 5.25 gal batch, 6.5 lbs. of Pilsner LME (3.5 SRM) and 0.75 lbs. of Wheat LME (8.0 SRM) will get you to an OG of 1.05 and an SRM of 4.8. Also, the SRM style range I see for a Kolsch is 3.5-5.0, so you would be in the range. You could increase the the Pilsner and reduce the Wheat accordingly and get it a bit lighter, but 7.25 lbs. Pilsner and no wheat only gets you to 4.4 for that OG. 7 lbs. even hits OG of 1.048 and SRM of 4.3.

You may want to go with late extract addition so that it does not get any darker than need be.

 

[djonas]

drathbone, you might want to look into downloading at least trial versions of some good brewing software. BeerSmith is popular for Windows users and BeerAlchemy is decent if you have a Mac. I use BeerAlchemy and almost every calculation has been accurate to the final product.

If color is worrying you a lot and you want your beer to be within a specific SRM range, start off with all Pilsener LME beer in the program then add small amounts of Munich LME or some other colored grain to get the desired result. Wheat malt is not a bad alternative for head retention and flavor purposes.

Late addition of extract is also a good idea to keep that color as light as possible.

 

[drathbone]

Thank you. I downloaded beersmith and in 21 days I will be purchasing a product key. That other calc was garbage.

Final question (I hope ), most of the websites I find have pilsen extract (liquid or dry) that is a mixture of Pilsner and Carapils. Is this the same as Pilsner Malt Extract? I know Carapils is for body and head retention, but when it comes to putting in data in beersmith, does 6lbs of Pilsen Extract (pilsner+dextrin) from say, northern brewer = 6lbs of Pilsner Extract in beersmith? Or should I be calculating out the ratio of pils/carapils or something like that?

 

[djonas]

I just looked around and some sources say that Pilsen is the same as Pilsener with regards to malt extract. Now, I'm not sure if I buy that so this would be a good question to post in the Recipes/Ingredients section! Maybe the answer to your question lies in the website of the manufacturer?

When I formulate recipes in BeerAlchemy, it offers a Pilsen Extract choice so I don't think you'd have to do any ratio calculations for BeerSmith. Maybe the amount of Carapils in the extract is low enough to not matter anyway. Ha, ha; I can see that you're taking this stuff quite seriously!