Kolsch Recipe

[milkman]

G'day everyone
First post here, some great info on site.
I'm basicallya kit brewer, but add a mini mash etc sometimes, slowly working towards all grain, so i apologise if this has been covered elsewhere:

I'm trying to brew a Kolsch but am coming up short on recipes or ideas. I've found plenty of Bavarian lager type recipes, and theyaren't far off, but coming up short on Kolsh recipe -preferably kit based, with some "throw ins"

Any information much appreacited

Since i went to Karneval in Cologne last february, I've been looking for something similar, but can't even find one imported in my local bottlos

thanks in advance

Steven

 

[tdh]

2 x 1.7kg cans home brand draught or lager extract and 1 x sachet US05 dried yeast. Ferment at 16*C.

tdh

 

[tcraig20]

If memory serves, Kolsch is a fairly yeast-driven beer. I dont think you could approximate it without a liquid kolsch yeast strain. Again, if memory serves, its usually straight pils malt and about an ounce of perle or similar at 60 minutes.

You might be able to approximate it with a couple of kilos of LDME and an oz of perle.

If you want a decent commerical Australian kolsch, the Hunter Beer company make one. My brother in law is a German from Cologne, and he said that its very similar to the genuine article. Nice drop too.

 

[discoloop]

I've never tasted a Kolsch, but I gather they're meant to ferment out dry. I'd probably go a top quality pilsner kit, 1.5kg light liquid or 1kg light dry malt extract. A little dextrose to help dry it out (250g?) and a proper Kolsch liquid yeast fermented cold.

You might want to research this, but I believe the go is to ferment at very low ale temps (16 deg?) and cold condition as you would for a lager...

 

[DJR]

You need a Kolsch yeast strain to make a real "fruity,winey" kolsch. You are after the same taste you got in Cologne so US05 won't be the same although it does make a clean ale.

Choices are:
- White Labs WLP029 which ferments very clean and drops out fairly well after a bit of time in the fermenter, and works well at somewhat higher temps (16-18C but 20C would probably be OK too),
- Wyeast WY2565 which is very hard to get out of the beer as it has very low flocculation and needs a good long lager period,
- Wyeast WY2575PC which is seasonal and is the most widely used Kolsch strain in Cologne (which means Weihenstephan 177 or 165) and will be hard to get this time of year
- Safale K-97 dry yeast which is supposedly and Alt/Kolsch strain and should be expected to make some decent esters, flocculation is poor though so it ends up being quite cloudy.

You also need it to finish quite dry and in the 15-25 IBU range so i'd be looking at 2.5kg of pale unhopped extract or 1 1/2 cans of Coopers Lager kit, if using unhopped extract do a boil of some German hops (Magnum is fine) to get to 15IBU then 20g of aroma hops (Hallertau/Saaz/Tettnanger/Hersbrucker) at about 5-10minutes to get a decent background hop aroma, and add in about 500g Dextrose to help it ferment dry.

All grain is another matter altogether there is plenty of recipes floating around... KISS applies with Kolsch as it's a delicate style- 100% pils (up to 10-15% wheat optional) and 100% german hops works well with a single 64C rest...

And don't forget - if you have the ability to cold condition between 0-8C then do it - just 1 or 2 weeks really makes a difference

 

[discoloop]

Just a warning about the K97. This is just a personal opinion, but I find the yeast gives off a sulphery flavour at low temps and a kind of metalic one at higher temps. I've made a couple of light beers with it which barely turned out drinkable. A dark beer I made with it was much nicer.

Use K97 with care, and I'd recommend experimenting using it with a darker beer first. I think the yeast needs quite a strong malty character in the underlying wort to back up its strange flavour profile.

 

[Fents]

Theres a really good partial mash recipe in the BYO magizne (issue may - june 2009 vol 15) (http://www.byo.com/). i think you should seek it out.

 

[Skottie72]

Hi Steven, a few years back I brewed a really basic Kolsh recipe using a Coopers larger kit and some DME. I gave the ingredients a quick boil in a 12 liter pot, cooled in an ice bath, fermented with the Wyeat kolsh yeast and "lagered" the bottles for 4 weeks in the fridge. The beer turned out great, it was far the best kit beer I ever brewed, it really opened my eyes to the importance of yeast.

What ever recipe you use, give the Kolsh yeast a go, it makes a huge difference in my opinion.

Cheers Scott

 

[Ross]

Just a warning about the K97. This is just a personal opinion, but I find the yeast gives off a sulphery flavour at low temps and a kind of metalic one at higher temps. I've made a couple of light beers with it which barely turned out drinkable. A dark beer I made with it was much nicer.

Use K97 with care, and I'd recommend experimenting using it with a darker beer first. I think the yeast needs quite a strong malty character in the underlying wort to back up its strange flavour profile.

interesting... I've just made a series of light Aussie style lager/ales with this yeast & the results have been outstanding from a yeast perspective.

cheers Ross

 

[discoloop]

Interesting indeed, Ross. I experimented a lot with k97 a couple of years ago. For a while I was determined to make a beer I really liked with the yeast and put quite a lot of effort into getting fermentation conditions and recipe balance right... Gave up eventually and decided there was just something wrong with the yeast. <_<

In all cases extract formed the base...maybe the yeast isn't so good at fully fermenting out extracts. I'm guessing for an Aussie Standard you mashed on the very low side?

I stand by my 'take care' warning above but truth be told it kind of bugs me I never managed to brew anything I really liked with K97. More so now that I know at least one person has.....

 

[tdh]

My 2 bobs worth. K97 would have to be the weirdest dried yeast i've ever used. Ultra slow floccer, hints of phenol. No more for me.

tdh

 

[milkman]

Thanks for the rapid responses.
Bloody glad i found this forum, packed with good info

I'll have to do a bit more reading around here before i fully understand all the yeast talk. haha

I'm not expecting an exact replica, just wanted to give it every chance possible to be close to it.
Given me something to work off cheers