Comments on: Brewing a Kolsch Beer Recipe: Beer Styles

By: Kolsch | The Simple Pioneer

Kolsch | The Simple Pioneer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:13:08 +0000

[...] 2 cups of water for 10 minutes. If you are kegging, carbonate the beer to 2.5 volumes. Source: Beersmith.com Picture by: Joe [...]

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:41:09 +0000

Jason – You have to use very pale (lager or pilsner) malt and brew it all grain to get an authentic light color.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:41:13 +0000

Brett — I just brought a keg of this recipe to a holiday party. First kolsch I’ve made. People liked it, and the 5 gallons were gone by the end of the evening.

One question: The only criticism I have is the beer came out amber in color. Most kolsch’s I’ve had were very light in color…I did use irish moss as a clearing agent, but is there something else you’d recommend for making the beer lighter in color? A different base malt perhaps?

Thanks,
J

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:59:16 +0000

The light DME added at bottling is for priming right? Is light DME the same as corn sugar? I saw one of the posters ask this question and I’m not sure why you would prime with both. What am I missing?

By: soup67

soup67 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:16:14 +0000

brett– if the hops are being added at the 60 minute mark, they boil for 60 minutes. FWIW, boiling them for only 30 mins puts this beer at the bottom of the style range in bitterness; 60 mins right in the middle.

I agree with First Stater– you could do with a pound less base grain and bring this beer in at around 5% ABV.

Nice recipe otherwise– thanks.

By: brett

brett — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:57:31 +0000

you have it backwards. You will boil for 60 minutes before adding the hops. And I quote “Boil the wort for 90 minutes. At the 60 minute mark, add your hops.”

Remember, this is a very distinctive beer with little or no hops flavor. If you add the hops at 30 minutes in a 90 minute boil.. you will kill it. Well, at least as far as what a good kolsch is aiming for.

I have made a few batches of this with several recipes and it is one of my favs. This recipe is next on my list.. oh and by the way, a bit of wheat for head retention and at least 2 weeks “secondary” or “lagering” time definately makes the difference. Hope this helps! Cheers! Bdd

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:25:21 +0000

Hi,
I believe you add the hops with 60 minutes left to boil (i.e. boil the hops for 60 minutes). For proper laagering you really need a refrigerator or converted freezer with a temperature control to maintain proper fermentation temperatures. Used refrigerators or freezers work well – and they usually do not cost much.

Brad

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:45:06 +0000

Can you clarify how many minutes in you add the hops to the boil? Is it after 30 and boil for 60 minutes or after 60 (“at the 60 minute Mark”) and boil for 30? Also, any recommended sites for lagering in the average household? A well explained approach to Kolsch, I look forward to trying it out!

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:09:57 +0000

Yes you do!

Brad

By: MFT

MFT — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:55:40 +0000

So here is a real rookie question. At bottling do I still need to add corn sugar to prime?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer.

By: Planning a Kolsch - Home Brew Forums

Planning a Kolsch - Home Brew Forums — Fri, 20 May 2011 04:03:35 +0000

[...] http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/ I followed those instructions and the recipe, and after a few weeks conditioning in the bottle I had a brew that was a favorite among many. [...]

By: Uncle X

Uncle X — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:15:42 +0000

At 60°F I’m not sure any diacetyl rest is necessary. In fact, there are a lot of people who only bring their lagers up to 60°F for their diacetyl rest (I usually try to get mine up to about 68°-70°F). That said, I don’t see any harm in allowing a rest for a couple of days, just make sure you do it before racking to secondary. On another note, I saw several suggestions that people perform iodine tests to determine whether a mash conversion was complete or not. I recently participated in an experiment put together by BYO magazine and Basic Brewing Radio that tested iodine tests. The results seem to indicate that an iodine test shouldn’t be relied upon to determine if the mash is finished. A positive iodine test will show that your mash is not finished, but a negative test does not necessarily mean that the mash is finished. If you haven’t heard it, you should check out the podcast from March 3, 2011 here: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

By: best way to wing it on temps in a bathroom - Home Brew Forums

best way to wing it on temps in a bathroom - Home Brew Forums — Tue, 10 May 2011 05:41:13 +0000

[...] http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/ [...]

By: Tory

Tory — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 04:06:58 +0000

With the lower fermentation temp (60F) should there be a Diacetyl Rest between Primary and Conditioning? If so how high should the temp be, and how long for the Rest?

By: Dan Carpenter

Dan Carpenter — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:57:19 +0000

Getting ready to brew a Kolsch in about 2hours but i have made a great deal of changes.
I use 2row lager as my base and add carapils and munich with a pound of maize with a in fusion mash of 152degrees for 1hour and use Hallertauer, Saaz and Tettnanger.
The three batches i’ve made have turned out to be very close to Goose Islands kolsch.
Its my dads favorite beer that i make so i try to make one every spring for him.

By: RJ

RJ — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:51:28 +0000

I’ll be making this this weekend. Assuming I ferment at 60F and can lager at 50F, what temp should I bottle carbonate at? I normally do room temp. Our house is 68 during the day and gets down to 62 at night. My basement fluctuates between 57 and 63 this time of year.

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:11:37 +0000

Thanks Frank – It is not that difficult to brew if you brew all grain. You need the right yeast, and very pale malt, but the rest is straightforward. It is more difficult to do with extract as it is impossible to find extract that is truly light enough in color to duplicate a proper one. The extract process makes the malt too dark.

By: frank Koelsch

frank Koelsch — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:48:33 +0000

My name is Frank Koelsch—as you see it is the english version.
I have drank about three varieties of Kolsch beer. I am interested it brewing some form of Kolsch beer. I would like some advice on a starter brew and where to get the ingredients.

By the way my family came from the Koln area, as I understand.

By: DJ @ Fermentarium

DJ @ Fermentarium — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:27:31 +0000

I almost always use White Labs, so used White Labs WLP029 German Ale/ Kölsch.

By: Big B

Big B — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:27:15 +0000

what type of yeast did you use?

By: DJ

DJ — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:41:02 +0000

Yep. That was an unintended sexist remark, and probably could have been worded better. I apologize.

I guess what I was trying to get at is, it’s a very popular beer with the women in my neighborhood who often stay away from the darker or hoppier beers. It does not mean all women do not like darker or hoppier beers, but in general I’ve found this to be the case.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:17:10 +0000

Um – I’ll let DJ answer that one since it was his post.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:08:21 +0000

Women like it too? really? I mean really? Come on!

By: chrismcnally

chrismcnally — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:55:30 +0000

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.

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:07:33 +0000

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.

By: chrismcnally

chrismcnally — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:25:52 +0000

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.

By: Beer # 2 and 3, recipe advice

Beer # 2 and 3, recipe advice — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:02:26 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: overcarbed.com - your homebrewing and beer destination

overcarbed.com - your homebrewing and beer destination — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:12:33 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: admin

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:39:49 +0000

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.

By: keithshead

keithshead — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:16:38 +0000

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

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:14:33 +0000

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.

By: DJ @ Fermentarium

DJ @ Fermentarium — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:27:32 +0000

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

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:09:08 +0000

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

By: Brad Smith

Brad Smith — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:02:33 +0000

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.

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:32:41 +0000

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