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26 users commented in " Brewing a Kolsch Beer Recipe: Beer Styles "

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in April 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm

DJ – Another great article. I bought the ingredients for a Kolsch recently, and I’m looking forward to brewing it. This will come in handy!

in April 8th, 2008 at 6:44 am

Thanks! I’ve got 15 gal fermenting myself. Made it on Sunday, and I can’t wait to start drinking it!

Chad said,
in April 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm

It should be noted that Kolsch yeast is, well, messy. A blowoff tube is highly recommended unless you like painting your walls with krausen. It is also a very low flocculation yeast. It takes a while for the beer to clear — yet another reason for extended maturation or pseudo-lagering. It makes a huge difference in the clarity of the beer.

cleveland brewer said,
in October 21st, 2008 at 12:42 pm

I brewed this recipe and it came out outstanding.
The hardest thing about the recipe is the lager time!

Norberto said,
in January 20th, 2009 at 7:11 am

Hi, I just wanted to know what is the batch size (Q) for these ingredients.

in January 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am

It is based on a 5 gallon batch size — Brad

Cowboy Up said,
in January 21st, 2009 at 9:14 am

I am going to brew this beer soon. Did you use a secondary fermentation or single? I will also be using Tettnager for the hops and Safale German Ale dry yeast. Should I use 2 pks. of Yeast? Thanks for the article and the help. Cowboy Up!

in January 21st, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Hi – Yes I do use a secondary fermentation. One package of dry yeast is sufficient if you hydrate it properly before using it. — Brad

boydna said,
in February 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm

A 90 minute mash? Is that a typo?

in February 2nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm

No,
When mashing at low temperatures (148-150F) you do need to use longer mash times to achieve full conversion. You can either go with a longer mash, or perform an iodine test periodically to make sure you get full conversion.

Brad

Martin said,
in February 6th, 2009 at 3:39 am

Great article. I like too much good beer from Europe.

Regards

citabria said,
in February 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

For the extract recipe, isn’t it 8 lbs of pilsner LME and .25 lbs of Munich MALT?

in February 6th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

Yes, that sounds about right.

First Stater said,
in February 23rd, 2009 at 6:20 pm

Isn’t this a bit strong for a Kolsch? I have it somewhere north of 5.8 ABV, hardly the session strength typical of a Kolsch. I usually use around 8 pounds of Pilsen. I’ve also have seen many recipes adding a bit of wheat for head retention, something I normally do for a Kolsch. Regardless, a great beer and thanks for giving it some respect.

Fred said,
in June 30th, 2009 at 9:32 am

I have a question on Mash time. When you only want to make a 2 gal bach of beer, is the mash time and hops time shortened by a factor of 5? The Kolsch recipe calls for a finished volume of 5 gals. I only want to brew 2 gals but don’t know if I should use the 90 min mash time or should use 30 min since my volume is only 2 gal. As you can tell, I’m new at this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

in June 30th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

For a small batch I would probably do a iodine test to check it. Get a little bit of liquid iodine (from the pharmacy) or iodophor and put a few drops on a small sample of the clear liquid from your mash. If the liquid turn dark purple it is not ready yet. If it is relatively clear when you add the iodine then it is ready to go and you can proceed with lautering.

Chris said,
in July 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

I have a question about water to grist ratio. Are you using the standard 1.5 quarts to a pound of grain.

in July 30th, 2009 at 6:27 am

I use 1.2 quarts/pound, but yours may vary for your brewing system.

Chris said,
in August 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Thanks DJ, Just brewed this on Saturday. I didn’t worry to much about the ratio. I just added strike water until I was about an inch of water above the grain bed. Turned out to be about 4 gallons for the 10.5 pounds of grain. I batch sparged and got over 70% efficiency.

My Kolsch is fermenting right now and I look forward to drinking it. Thanks for the great article and recipe.

keithshead said,
in August 7th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

Just ordered the kolsch yeast and spalt hops, but i want to do a partial mash. What would the amounts be for a partial mash of 5gallons?
Cheers

admin said,
in August 7th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

keithshead – It will be hard to brew an exact Kolsch with partial mash as it is difficult to find ultra-pale liquid or dry malt. Unfortunately the process of creating malted extract also darkens the malt since you have to concentrate or dry out the wort with heat. I would look for the palest base malt you can find and then use some very pale malt in your mashed portion as well.

in August 25th, 2009 at 9:12 am

[...] with the kolsch, i mean with one type of LME and two hop additions, it’s not that hard to reverse engineer.  I’ll figure out a comparable all-grain recipe when I switch over next [...]

in September 28th, 2009 at 7:02 am

[...] around. I did a Kolsch as my second batch, it was great… You can read out the style here: http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/ Hommel [...]

chrismcnally said,
in November 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm

Great article! I am going to brew this next week.

I don’t understand how i know the fermenting is done. what should I expect for a FG, OG or how long to keep in primary and secondary? When I condition the beer, at what temp should I keep it, same as the ferment temp 60 degrees? then the lagering, I usually cold condition in the fridge, is that OK?

Thanks very much for this article there are a lot of us who want to brew this kind of beer.

in November 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Fermentation is done when the measured FG has not changed for several days and also when you see no more signs of active fermentation (such as bubbling). When cold conditioning your beer it is best to use a fridge with an electronic brewing thermometer attached as regular fridges actually don’t have very precise temperature control. Temperatures can vary considerably.

chrismcnally said,
in February 2nd, 2010 at 5:55 pm

I brewed this beer and I think it’s very ‘budweiser’ like. Hopefully others will do better. here are my notes:

i fermented at 64. we had some nice days and I could not get it down to 60.

My yeast started smelled like banana peels! All the banana was gone in the final tasting though.

OG 1.050 FG 1.010

fermented for about 3 weeks, 64 to start, eventually down to 60, then letting it cold crash near the end.

The bottle carbonation is taking a long time, I had some out for 18 days carbonating and then in the fridge for 2 weeks. They taste pretty good. I am giving them to my Lager loving friends.

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