Kolsch suggestions....

[Targos]

I have a Kolsch yeast in the fridge and am researching a recipe heres what I have so far...

Targeting 5%abv and 25 IBU

85% Pilsner
12% Wheat Malt
3% Honey Malt or 2% Acidulated Malt and bump up the base malts
Goldings for bittering I have some left over from my saison
Small amount of Saaz for flavor and aroma hopping

I am having difficulty determining which way to go with the specialty grains since I have never had a Kolsch and I wonder what the flavor difference of a typical kolsch is versus say a classic pilsner like Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser Budvar(Czechvar).

Should I look to add a touch of sweetness with the honey malt or maybe a more crisp clean bitter finish maybe some acidulated malt to give it a little tang on the end.

Suggesting something totally different to do with the yeast is ok too, I am planning on a mocktoberfest brew for this yeast cake

Any thoughts on this from the more travelled beer drinkers out there?

[gm-]

I would not use any wheat malt in a kölsch. I've made a few kölsch in the past and the one that I liked the most had 90% german pilsner malt and 10% vienna malt. As for hops I used tettnanger for both bittering and half an oz for just a bit of a flavour. Not sure how acidulated malt would turn out in a kölsch, could be interesting or it could be overpowering

[mr x]

I'd try a bit of acidulated, maybe three percent instead of the honey malt.

[jtmwhyte]

I would not use any wheat malt in a kölsch. I've made a few kölsch in the past and the one that I liked the most had 90% german pilsner malt and 10% vienna malt. As for hops I used tettnanger for both bittering and half an oz for just a bit of a flavour. Not sure how acidulated malt would turn out in a kölsch, could be interesting or it could be overpowering

I pilfered this recipe from "another site" and changed it up slightly and it has been one of the few I've re-brewed from "that particular source". I only note this because it uses a good amount of Wheat and it is fantastic.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1007 German Ale (I changed this from WLP029 in the original recipe).
Yeast Starter: 2L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: ~1.055
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 36
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 2 SRM
Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 20 Days at 19 degrees C.

All Grain

7# 2 row Pils Malt
2.5 # Wheat Malt

Single infusion mash for 60 minutes at 151 degrees.

1 oz Perle 7.8% AA for 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnanger 4.4% AA for 15 min. (I'm leaning more toward Spalt Select in place of Tet now as I have a pound of it).
1/2 oz. Tettnanger 4.4% AA for 5 mi.

[sleepyjamie]

I made the Kolsch from bcs and wasn't a fan, however the Kolsch from rogues roost I really enjoy. Wish I had that recipe.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

I made the Kolsch from bcs and wasn't a fan, however the Kolsch from rogues roost I really enjoy. Wish I had that recipe.

Same

[mr x]

What's wrong with the BCS version? Try the American home brewer's association site. They have an online catalog of nha winning recipes. Might find a good one there.

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[mr x]

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/ ... ers-Circle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/HeliosKolsch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/KolschNHC07" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/SummerKolsch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/KoelschdeToro" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Ooops, wasn't tryingto diss the bcs one, havent tried it specifically. I just meant I really enjoy the rogues one and haven't had many that taste the same as it.

[sleepyjamie]

I guess the bcs one just didn't compare to rogues. But then again I only made it once so could have been my batch.

[mr x]

Maybe rogue's really isn't a kolsch...

[sleepyjamie]

Haha touché. Like I said I'm not that experienced in tasting kolsches.

[mr x]

Me either, but just comparing other award winning recipes to the JZ one, there's nothing dramatically different there. So maybe yours was a fine example. It seems that most of these have used an actual kolsch yeast. Would rogues do that, hard to say...

[gm-]

I tasted köslch at few brewpubs in Cologne and the BCS recipe was the closest I've tried so far, but I've only tried to make 2 so far..

[Jimmy]

Can't say I've ever had a Kolsch I've liked...just not my style

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[CorneliusAlphonse]

The kolsch at rogues tastes similar to the one at clocktower in Ottawa. The similarity between these two bars... It is totally plausible that they both use non kolsch yeast

[akr71]

85% pils
15% wheat
bitter to about 40 ibu
that is all


Oh, Except I late hop it and sometimes dry hop just for shits n giggles
The best one I ever made used Perle hops

[Targos]

So I brewed this in my new 15 gallon kettle from EBS great service thanks dave!

I went with
6700 grams pils
200 g acidulated
500 g vienna

Tett at 60 mins for 28 ibus

I was targeting 9 gallons post boil 1047 leaving most trub behind.

I am a new Beer Smith user it was telling me that my total water should be 13.35 gallons iirc.

After a 90 min mash at 149 I did an iodine test and it was clear, so I lautered that batch then filled the cooler again with the remaining water which was heated to 169f stirred and let that sit for 10 mins and lautered that out.

The boil was slow to get going but went well on my kitchen range.

I thought everything was best kind until I was finishing up and took a gravity reading, 1.027

I was disappointed with that efficiency, I think I maybe had 9.5 gallons collected leaving most trub behind. I did use a different brew shop crush this batch.

Now I'm wondering what to do for my marzen calculations, I want to end up with 6 gallons of that batch.

As an aside my last all grain a saison targeted 1060 and I hit it dead on but I did a lower temp dough in and 3 step temp mashes.

....

[jtmwhyte]

Where was the grain crushed?

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[Targos]

It was crushed at a local shop in St Johns nl.

I thought it looked ok, the grains were crushed not whole endosperm and the husks weren't shredded.

Maybe he needed to tighten it up slightly but I don't think it was that bad.

I will ask for a finer crush next time.

I'm wondering now if I should get some pH strip to check the mash next time too...

[CorneliusAlphonse]

7.4 kg (16.3 lb) grain to about 10 us gallons of wort coming out to 1.027... honestly doesnt sound too far off. sounds like ~60% efficiency. I think the target of 1.047 is a bit high. what efficiency % were you using for calculations?

[mr x]

And are you confident that the grain was weighed properly?

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[Targos]

It could be me going with what beer Smith tells me when I may very well have it miss configured.

I had entered 9 gallons finishing volume 1047 at 75% eff, I followed its suggestions on water for mash and sparge.

And no I didn't double check the grain weight.

I see some process changes here for sure.

Check crush
Weigh grain
Test gravity of first runnings and pre boil gravity/volume

I will target 60 % eff on the marzen and post the recipie later on...

Thanks for the suggestions all!

[Jayme]

Sounds like a fair bit of acidulated malt to me too. Not sure if it's enough to throw your ph way off, but something to consider.


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[mr x]

I don't think that's too much. 2/74 is under 5 percent.

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