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WL029 Kolsch Ale - anyone use this ? What's your experience

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kchomebrew

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Just started my primary for a Kolsch ale - used WL029. I'm on day 3. Moving along great. Have the primary right at 57F-59F. From what I could tell, everything I read told me that high 50's is best for this strain ? Seems to be working great.

So I've never brewed a Kolsch. OG was 1.035. Is this a typical OG for a Kolsch ?and would like to know what sort of schedule I should be on for primary and secondary and temp. for secondary. I'm going to go 8 to 14 days in the primary. Will rack to the secondary and I've read that it's best to keep this in the secondary for 3 weeks at near freezing temps ? Is this right ? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
OG was 1.035. Is this a typical OG for a Kolsch?

It's a tad low, but nothing to worry about. You'll just be able to drink more per session.
I'm going to go 8 to 14 days in the primary. Will rack to the secondary and I've read that it's best to keep this in the secondary for 3 weeks at near freezing temps ? Is this right ? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

I've done mine with 2 weeks in primary and 3-4 weeks pseudolagering in the low 50s, since that was all I could manage at the time. The beer turned out fantastic! I think if you do bring the temps down near freezing, you will need at least a month for the flavors to clean up properly.
 
I am about 1/2 way done with my keg of Kolsch made with this yeast, and everyone seems to like this beer the best. Nice easy drinker.
 
With that yeast for a kolsch, I do a 19 day ferment, crash the fermenter to 30F for 2 days, transfer to brite keg onto gelatin or biofine for 1 week (also at 30F) and then transfer to serving keg for 3 more weeks. Then I/we drink the crystal clear kolsch as quick as we can:mug:
 
I love that yeast. Tastes wonderful, ferments in all kinds of conditions.

When I did my Kolsch, I think I had an OG of about 1.045, so yours is a little low, but whatever, you'll just be able to enjoy more of it before getting silly. I fermented at about 68* for two weeks, hit my FG before then, but let it go to let some yeast settle out. Then I aged in secondary for about three weeks at the same temp. You don't have to lager it, it just traditionally is lagered. So if you have the capability, lager for a month or two at 40*ish.
 
Just started my primary for a Kolsch ale - used WL029. I'm on day 3. Moving along great. Have the primary right at 57F-59F. From what I could tell, everything I read told me that high 50's is best for this strain ? Seems to be working great.

So I've never brewed a Kolsch. OG was 1.035. Is this a typical OG for a Kolsch ?and would like to know what sort of schedule I should be on for primary and secondary and temp. for secondary. I'm going to go 8 to 14 days in the primary. Will rack to the secondary and I've read that it's best to keep this in the secondary for 3 weeks at near freezing temps ? Is this right ? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


Funny to read this about 3 years later.


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