Been a while, life has been a thing for sure. Brewed 1 time last year, it is still in the fermentor. About to clean the gear and work on brewing a good Kolsch. Lots of time I used the Brewing Classic Styles recipe as my starting point but I keep seeing different versions of the Jamil Kolsch Some are Pils/Vienna, some are Pils/Vienna/Wheat and some have cara-pils..... I am thinking 10# Pils 1# Vienna 25 IBU Hallertau Tim
Nice to “meet” you Tim. I’m no expert on Kolsch just wanted to say hello. I think @Sunfire96 brews the style often?
This would work very nice. Kolsch should be simple and elegant. It's one of my favorite beers. You could also go 97% German Pils (Wyermann is my favorite) and 3% Carahell or 100% Pils, but the grain bill you have will work too. I don't use wheat in any of my Kolsch's, it's not needed. Hallertau is a really good hop. Save some for a late addition, there should be a nice noble hop aroma, but not as much as a German Pils. 20-25 IBU is bitter enough to stand out a bit, but not so harsh that a light lager drinker won't like it. The other hop that works really well is Tettnang. Yeast is the key to the beer. I like my Kolsch's to be clean, so I use Wyeast 1007. Wyeast 2565 will be more fruity and malty, WLP029 will be a clean with a touch of tartness on the finish (some call it "snappy"). I have heard good things about Koln Kolsch dry yeast, but I haven't tried it yet. Good luck and happy brewing.
I am looking for a bit of "fruit" but I want it to be "humm I am tasting something, not sure what" kind of fruitiness
Hello, welcome to the forum! @HighVoltageMan! Knows way more than I so about brewing consistently good light beers, but I just wanted to add that my favorite kolsch yeast so far is the Lallemand Koln dry yeast strain. Dry yeast makes life so much easier, but I also prefer the flavor to some other kolsch yeasts I've tried. Cheers!
Not sure what @Sunfire96 has experienced but I used it and fermented it at 60 degrees - took 21-22 days to get down to final gravity (longer than 3/70 and/or Nottingham but the final beer was fantastic. I ended up with a very clean yeast profile and a balanced beer - crisp and excellent german hop finish. I just bought some more of this yeast as I do love the strain (and dry yeast in general)! Was thinking of making a Kolsch or an American Wheat beer with it this weekend! - I haven't used a liquid yeast strain in years now! -
Big fan of koln dry yeast as well. Seems very versatile based on fermentation temp. I like it a little fruity so ferment in the mid 60s. It is slow to start which is recognized by the manufacturer
I think next time I do this recipe it'll be 10 gallons and I'll do one fermenter at 60 and the other at 66 to see for myself the difference.
Here is my go to Kölsch recipe...pre-3 kids I would brew this up 2-3 times a year...most recently i used the Koln dry yeast and got the most Kölsch flavor I've ever experienced. Good luck!
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1276074/kolsh-v1 So going with this, put in a lot of time thinking about the wheat,but kept coming back to it, so I guess I will try it this way. Not sure I will add the Epsom Salt.... Broke my Tilt changing the battery....so that sucks, but the water is chilling with the campden tablets...so we are ago for a morning brew Also, how long are you lagering,and can i do it after I keg? on gas?
Getting ready to fire the kettle this morning, decided to add a "ramp" mash as well will dough in with a strike temp of 127f should drop a few degrees, and then ramp to 150f for the main rest.
So this was one of the, if not the best brew days in years...so I guess the fermentation will go sideways...lol Hit my numbers, overshot the OG 048 vs 054, and entered the wrong fermenter vol when I created the recipe, so had some extra left over. Pitched 2 packs of Koln Dry Yeast, at 72f chamber set at 60f....think I should have pitched 3 but we will see....
She kicked off sometime Sunday night or Monday, was bubbling away when i left for work Monday morning. Tonight she has started to slow down, i bumped up the temp 1 degree, and will do it again tomorrow as well. I realized that I forgot to drop the whirlfloc, this upsets me....but I will ad gelatin before i keg it, but that means I have to open the closed fermentation system, I am also really missing my Tilt..... Will pull a hydro sample tomorrow
I let this go 1 day too long, damn you Tilt.... FG at 1.008 a bit to dry and a bit to strong....there is a TON of yeast in suspension....hydro sample is in my fridge crashing to see what clears...think I will crash it fro a few days, then rack to the keg and throw some gelatin at while it lagers.....
