Who Uses What In Their Kolsch?

[mje1980]

I have made a few kolsch style ales, mainly with pils and wheat, once with a little munich. I am just wondering what everyone else uses, grain wise, besides pils and wheat??. Hops, i have spalt, so i will use those, and yeast, i have both 1007, and 2565.

C'mon fella's, dont keep your secrets!,

 

[Doc]

The basis for all my Kolsch style beers.
They come out great.
And remember the WLP029 yeast is really attenuative.

Beers,
Doc

Pils 86%
Light Munich 7%
Wheat 7%

Spalt 26 IBU @ 60 mins
Perle 5.8 IBU @ 25 mins

German Ale Yeast WLP029

 

[tdh]

Just Pils malt and 5-10% wheat malt if I feel the need.
Sorry Doc, I can't see any need for Munich malt, no hint of this malt in taste or appearance in all the Kolsch I've tasted (I've tasted nearly all of them).

1007 or 2565 are ideal yeasts and Spalt and something noble will do the trick.

I FWH with a noble variety and that gives a hint of hop flavour at the same time.

tdh

 

[Gough]

FWIW the Kolsch style beers I've made that I've been happiest with have been 100% Pilsner malt, Hallertau Mittelfrueh to just on 30 IBU in a 1048-1050 OG wort. 1007 is a great yeast for the style in my opinion and attenuates very well giving the really dry finish you are after. I try to pitch and ferment at 16 using this yeast in my ferm fridge. I lager for 4 weeks.

Very simple grain and hop bill, but very hard to mask any stuff ups at any stage of the process. I really enjoy the Kolsh style brews and will brew plenty more before I'm finally happy that I've 'cracked it' I'm sure That basic recipe is where I'm up to after some experimentation and research though.

Good luck with it,

Shawn.

 

[Duff]

Pils, Wheat and a touch of Carahell or Caramalt. Northern Brewer to bitter and Tettnanger to flavour. WLP029 which usually sees 81-82% attenuation. Just punch those figures into Beertools and away you go.

Cheers.

 

[tdh]

Looks like my kind of recipe for Koelsch, dead simple.
Definitely a style where you can find out where your faults lie, a very transparent beer.
tdh

 

[Lindsay Dive]

I agree, just stick to the Pilsner Malt and about 7% wheat, forget the Munich. Bitter to the very low 30's and you've already got the yeast.
Go for it.

Edit..just took out an extra 'the'.

Regards,
Lindsay.

 

[AndrewQLD]

FWIW here's my losch recipe, I was very happy with it, and it's nice an simple.

Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 28.84 L
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 3.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) (1.Grain 97.8 %
0.10 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (1.8 SRGrain 2.2 %
40.00 gm Tettnang [3.90%] (60 min) Hops 17.7 IBU
15.00 gm Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00%] (15 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029) [StYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.60 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 13.80 L of water at 72.5 C 65.0 C

 

[Lindsay Dive]

Andrew, I've tried a couple of brews with the IBU's around the 20 mark and went straight up to the maximum for the style...I prefer it that way.
Maybe that's just me though!

 

[AndrewQLD]

Andrew, I've tried a couple of brews with the IBU's around the 20 mark and went straight up to the maximum for the style...I prefer it that way.
Maybe that's just me though!

[post="113284"][/post]​

Lindsay, I was targeting the delicate characteristics of the style, so went with the lower IBU range. But you are right, closer to the 30 ibu's would make an excellent beer as well, might try it on my next attempt.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[mje1980]

Thanks for the fast replies people. Looks like i'll have to do a few back to back kolsch's !!!. I've only ever used 2565, so maybe this time i'll stick with a simple recipe pils 93%, wheat 7%, and 1007, then dump another batch on a third of the slurry, but with a little munich or caramunich 1. Hmmmm..... can't wait!!