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Beginner's Kolsch


ICzed

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I know you've already researched this yeast before purchase, but I had to have a look at Wyeast about it's description. They say it's low flocculation and

This powdery strain results in yeast that remain in suspension post fermentation. It requires filtration or additional settling time to produce bright beers.

so it'll be interesting to hear how much drops out with conditioning.

 

Cheers matey. Arrggghhhh, me hearties.

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Good afternoon my Tooleybuc tourguide. smile

I know you've already researched this yeast before purchase' date=' but I had to have a look at Wyeast about it's description. They say it's low flocculation and
This powdery strain results in yeast that remain in suspension post fermentation. It requires filtration or additional settling time to produce bright beers.

so it'll be interesting to hear how much drops out with conditioning.

 

Cheers matey. Arrggghhhh, me hearties.

I think you can pretty much clear any beer with enough persistence through either filtration or cold conditioning. I generally avoid these types of yeasts (T-58, S-33 & the like) though because of the need for extended efforts to drop them out of suspension. I like yeasts that clear up after themselves & drop from suspension all on their own thus clearing the beer without the need for extra effort on my part.

 

Right now though, given the extra efforts I appear to going through with this Kolsch, I feel like someone has sneakily conned me into brewing a lager! lol

 

Ale my @#$%! pinched

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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If you're happy putting animal products into your beer (as I am) then you could use gelatine to drop the yeast out, negating the need for extended periods of cold storage. Still give it the week cold crashing, add the gelatine about 2-3 days before kegging or bottling. Should result in a much clearer beer without waiting for ages. cool

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If you're happy putting animal products into your beer (as I am) then you could use gelatine to drop the yeast out' date=' negating the need for extended periods of cold storage. Still give it the week cold crashing, add the gelatine about 2-3 days before kegging or bottling. Should result in a much clearer beer without waiting for ages. [img']cool[/img]

Your new found love affair with gelatine has been noted multiple times Otto Man over numerous threads. wink

 

What you do in your spare hours & possibly with leftover gelatine is your own business, but the stuff is not for me! lol

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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OK. But fortunately I've never found it's only a choice between gelatine and cloudy beer. And I lied; it is that I'm not a big fan of gelatine. But to each their own.

Indeed my Russian bride smuggling friend' date=' or was it something else most recent? That's right, it's all happening out in Tooleybuc! [img']lol[/img]

 

...it's not that I'm not a huge fan...

That quote suggests to me there might be a little more than aeroplane jelly being produced out there by the fair Brunhilda & your good self! tongue

 

This gelatine addiction has the potential to spread like an ICE epidemic through the homebrewing community if not contained & dealt with appropriately early! ninja

 

If you have a problem' date=' if no-one else can help, & you can find them, maybe you can hire... The G-team! [img']tongue[/img]

 

biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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IMHO. friends don't let friends use gelatine! cool

 

I read about it and tried it twice. Both times it seemed to strip flavour from the beer even if it did have a fining effect. So ever since I've chosen not to use it. However that's just my personal approach and if it works for others then go for it.

 

Lusty, I also experienced a very traumatic sight many years ago. Brunhilda entered a jelly wrestling comp and... Argh. The horror. And the nightmares are returning.

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I have heard that about it stripping flavour too. Mostly hop flavours/aromas from what I can gather. I have only seen one side by side experiment on this and the drop was negligible in that scenario, however it is only one instance. It would vary no doubt. I will monitor it as I go and if it starts negatively affecting flavour then I will look elsewhere, perhaps Polyclar or something.

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Just switched out the 2 x 20gm Ella dry hop bags after 2 days in the FV, & put the remaining fresh 20gm hop bag addition in. It's smelling pretty good in there. happy

 

Will remove that latest hop bag late Sunday & then begin the week of cold conditioning in the brew fridge.

 

Fingers crossed this pseudo lager of sorts comes up with the goods. unsure

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys.

 

Just a quick update on my first kolsch beer.

 

Transferred to the keg earlier today after a week of cold conditioning in the brew fridge. It transferred very clear. I fast carbed it to be able to pour it early & am happy with what i tasted, glass lacing, head formation etc. I'll likely leave it alone now for the next week to allow for a more improved carbonation & malt integration.

 

Overall I'm very happy with how it has turned out for the style of beer it is aimed at. Clean, crisp, light malted, good level of bitterness, & a nice but subdued aroma.

 

I'll post a pic in due course.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Kolsch.jpg

 

Positives = Clean, crisp, easy drinking, suitable bitterness, good glass lacing, good colour, hint of an almost honey-like undertone. (reminded me a little of Stella Artois, just a little!)

 

Negatives = A little hazy, lacks a little head retention, lacks a decent amount of hop influenced flavour.

 

Next time around = Slight hop revision, add in a healthy hop flameout addition, possibly a small amount of Munich malt, & definitely an inclusion of the rye malt I had originally planned for the brew.

 

I'm glad I brewed the beer. Certainly learned a few things. happy

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Good to see you've left your fingerprint on this beer. tongue

 

At least it has turned out drinkable and not making you want to pour it all down the sink. I used to love Stella Artois back in the day, but I had one last year and it was very bland compared to what I remember. Must be all this hoppy craft beer de-sensitising my palate. lol

 

Hopefully those adjustments to the recipe for next time will produce something even better! cool

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  • 5 weeks later...

Righto, since my DIY fermenter won't be ready for another week to brew this high ABV IPA I have planned, I've had to come up with something else to brew.

 

I had some portioned off 2565 Kolsch yeast sitting in the fridge, so I began stepping it up a day or two ago. Firstly a small 500ml LDM mix, & have recently added that to a 1500ml LDM mix so it should be ready for my Sunday brewday. happy

 

I managed to get hold of some Galaxy & some Rye malt this time around to brew the beer a lot closer to what I had originally wanted to. Given what I tasted from the first brew, my hop scheduling is quite a bit different & a couple of subtle changes to the malt grist including the rye malt.

 

Black Rock Ultra Light LME 1.5kg

Light Dry Malt extract 1kg

Ale Malt grain 300gms

Munich Malt grain 200gms

Rye Malt grain 200gms

Dextrose 100gms

Galaxy (14.2%AA) 20gms @ 20mins

Galaxy 20gms @ 5mins

Galaxy 30gms @ flameout

Galaxy 10-20gms dry hopped

Wyeast 2565 Kolsch yeast 1½ litre starter

Brewed to 23 litres

Ferment @ 15°C

OG = approx. 1.047

FG = approx. 1.012

IBU = 25

Kegged ABV = 4.6%

 

I admit to being a little nervy about the short boil & whether enough noticeable bitterness will be drawn from it. Galaxy is a beast though, & I've wanted to try this short boil technique with Galaxy for sometime now so what the heck I say! devil

 

My first Kolsch was a nice easy drinker. I would have liked to stick with more Pilsner malt rather than Ale malt but it's what I have on hand atm. That said, this recipe should produce a much more interesting beer on a number of levels. wink

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For a number of reasons, I ended up having to hold this brew over for another week. Finally put it down a little earlier today.

 

The brew day itself went fine, I just have some concerns about the late hopping schedule because I've never bittered a beer starting this late in the boil before, & I also have some nervous thoughts about the yeast I pitched from the starter I made a week ago. unsure

 

I pitched the yeast @ 19.6°C & have that reducing down to 18°C where I will leave it at overnight in the brew fridge. Tomorrow I'll lower the temp down to 15°C for the rest of the ferment as I did the last time around.

 

I'm still a bit of a newby with my re-use of yeast & the practices I've adopted, so a reasonably fast starting ferment will put my mind at ease to some degree.

 

I really like the look of the recipe, so my fingers are certainly crossed for a good outcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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It looks like a nice beer Lusty and probably one best drunk fresh. I once bittered a beer with a shortish boil like you have done. I know some people (not you) say that bitterness is bitterness but I found the beer fine at first but the bittering kick softened more quickly than a 60 minute bittered beer.

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I reckon you'll be fine, yeast wise. It's only a week since you made the starter. You've basically created 3 smack packs worth of yeast in it, one week ago; you will not have lost many cells in that timeframe, even if it wasn't kept in the fridge.

 

A bit O/T; should have seen my Urquell lager starter take off in the last few days. I pitched yeast harvested on 26/4 (800mL jar size), straight into a 4 litre starter and it took off like a rocket on the stir plate. 8 hours (maybe less as I'd gone to bed after pitching) and it was showing strong signs of activity. It even had a krausen of sorts on it. Compared to the pitch of the original smack pack which took a good 30-36 hours to show any signs of activity. I left the stir plate on for nearly 60 hours, and I could see all the yeast swirling around in it this morning. I turned the stir plate off at this point and will leave it for another day or two, then stir it all up again in order to harvest more, then crash chill in the fridge until pitching day. cool

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Hi Hairy & Kelsey.

 

You make a lot of sense (as usual) Hairy about the late boil & bitterness. I don't think I'd do this with all hops, but with Galaxy because such a harsh bitterness is produced by it in longer boils, it almost forces you into using it this way to avoid that. I've been chatting with a guy (on another forum) that has links with the Stone & Wood head brewer & he suggested it was used this way in their Pacific Ale. He's also made an IPA using Galaxy with additions starting @ 10mins! w00t

Time will tell I guess. No worries about it being consumed fresh either! wink

 

As far as the yeast starter goes, mine too was massive! This was from yeast harvested & stored from the first Kolsch brew bottled back in early May. It took off like a rocket in the starter & actually foamed out of the flask even though I had it covered with foil! pinched

 

I'll have to be a little more mindful of that in future.

 

I'll update down the track.

 

Cheers & good brewing,

 

Lusty.

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As far as the yeast starter goes' date=' mine too was massive! This was from yeast harvested & stored from the first Kolsch brew bottled back in early May. It took off like a rocket in the starter & actually foamed out of the flask even though I had it covered with foil! [img']pinched[/img]

 

I'll have to be a little more mindful of that in future.

 

 

That happened to me once too lol it was before I got a stir plate though. I think the stirring motion helps to subdue the foaming while it is at its most active. This current one had about a centimetre layer of foam on it the whole time the stir plate was on, and there is a very small ring of krausen muck around the wall of the flask. It has settled down now that the stir plate is off, although still bubbling, so I'll give it til Wednesday morning then turn the stir plate back on while I'm at work for my first half, should be nicely mixed up again by the time I get home to harvest some into the jar again. happy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys.

 

I haven't spoken about this brew for a while, as everything has gone smoothly through the fermentation etc. It's now in week 3 where I am currently cold conditioning the beer still in the fermenter. The Galaxy dry hop was added Wednesday last week (I think), & I will remove that hop tea bag this coming Wednesday as to reduce the chances of any grassy tones in the beer. I'll continue cold conditioning this all week until Sunday where I'll then keg the beer.

 

Hopefully this version has an improved hop character & a light spice on the palate from the rye malt. A lot of time, planning, & effort went into making this beer, so I'm hoping for a good result.

 

Expect an update on Sunday after I've fast carbed it up & poured one from the keg! wink

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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I couldn't help myself & drew off a sample from the FV that is still cold conditioning. Very pleased with how the Galaxy has worked via the short boil. It certainly does not lack bitterness at the glass. Lovely Galaxy flavours & aromas. happy

 

Have taken the Galaxy dry hop addition out of the FV & will continue cold conditioning until Sunday when I keg it & fast carb it up. I'll give a bit more info on what the rye malt has added to the beer then, as I was more concerned with what the hop schedule had done when sampling it here.

 

Bring on Sunday! biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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