Brewing Master

Question:

<So whatever you do, you will never be able to brew a real Koelsch <if you are outside the circle around the Cathedral of Cologne (Koelner <Dom)… <   <  ;-)) < <Best regards and a happy new year, <Olaf Hendel Perhaps a trademark violation is the best form of flattery???  ;-) Bruce Ross

Response:

Drank my first bottle of home brew Kolsch last night.  It was very very close to what I drank in Koln last Nov.  The reciepe I used came from the book "Brewing the Worlds Greatest Beers".  All grain reciepe and used Wyeast #1007. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <So whatever you do, you will never be able to brew a real Koelsch <if you are outside the circle around the Cathedral of Cologne (Koelner <Dom)… <   <  ;-)) < <Best regards and a happy new year, <Olaf Hendel Perhaps a trademark violation is the best form of flattery???  ;-) Bruce Ross

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee Lee, Check out the recipe on my homepage: http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/ I won a silver medal in the AHA National Competition in 1993 for a Kolsh I entered.  Good luck. — Bruce Cornell – Baton Rouge, LA      "When in danger or in doubt, http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/         The Robot – Lost in Space thanks, nice home page. anyone else have any kolsch stories? How about different types of yeasts used and results.

Hi, maybe it is of interest, that "Koelsch" isn’t simply a type of beer, it is also a mark of its origin. Therefore a real Koelsch MUST be brewed in the area of Cologne (Koeln, with o-umlaut, a city in Germany)! This was fixed by the german brewing-industry with the so-called "Koelsch-Convention" in 1986. So whatever you do, you will never be able to brew a real Koelsch if you are outside the circle around the Cathedral of Cologne (Koelner Dom)…     ) Best regards and a happy new year, Olaf Hendel — Versuchs- und Lehranstalt  fuer  Brauerei in Berlin (Research and Teaching Institute of Brewing, Berlin) Seestrasse 13        D-13353 Berlin         Germany Tel.:+49 (30) 45080-239      Fax:+49 (30) 45080-210             http://www.vlb-berlin.org

Response:

In response to your requests for Kolsch recipes, the following is a wonderful Kolsch that was my first of this style.  It is easy to make, for an all-grain recipe, and was ready to drink only 3 weeks after fermentation started.  It reached its peak flavor about 1 month after kegging and stayed wonderful until it was all gone about 2 months later. I believe this style should also bottle nicely, although I have not tried doing it.  Also, the second recipe is actually a California Common style, but I made it with my WY Kolsch yeast and "wow!", what a beer!  I plan to make many, many more batches of it for general consumption.  Enjoy!                            SUDS Recipe Report                        Page:   1    Category         :  K lsch                      Method           :  Full Mash    Starting Gravity :  1.048    Ending Gravity   :  1.012    Alcohol content  :  4.6%    Recipe Makes     : 11.0 gallons    Total Grain      : 19.00 lbs.    Color (srm)      :  3.8    Efficiency       :  80%    Hop IBUs         : 21.0 Malts/Sugars:   1.00  lb.     Cara-Pils Dextrine        17.00  lb.     Pilsner 2-row               1.00  lb.     Crystal  20L             Hops:  1.50   oz.     Hallertau        3.3%   60 min  3.00   oz.     Cz Saaz          3.6%   60 min  2.00   oz.     Cz Saaz          3.6%   30 min  2.00   oz.     Cz Saaz          3.6%   10 min Boil temperature of water: 212F Grain Starting Temperature: 70F Desired Grain/Water Ratio: 1.0 quarts/pound Strike Water:  4.75 gallons of water at 134F First Mash Temperature: 122F Second Mash Temperature: 152F Boiling Water to add:  2.90 gallons Water Absorbed by Grain:  1.90 gal Water Evaporated during boil:  2.00 gal Wort Left in Brewpot:  0.50 gal Add  7.75 gal of water to yield 11.0 gal of wort Notes: 1.  Used WY 2565 (K lsch) yeast, with 3 smack-packs started two days     before brewing and on one day before dumped into 1 liter of starter     wort.  (Pitched at 82F, placed in water baths.) 2.  Used a mixture of 5 # DWC and 12# Klages for the 2-row malt. 3.  Mash 122F x 20 minutes, then 152F for 90 minutes, then     1/3 tsp non-iodized salt per each 5 gallons charcoal filtered     soft tap water.  Acidified sparge water with lactic acid to     pH of 4.7.  Added 1 Tbs Irish Moss in last 10 minutes of boil.     Got excellent hot and cold break. 4.  Approximate cost is $ 26.68 for 10 gallons, or $ 0.67 per pint. 5.  Sparge final run off (with total 13 gallon wort at start of boil)     still had SG of 1.020.  Could have run the sparge slower or recirc     longer.  (Ran RIMS recirc during late mash and throughout mash out. 6.  Ended up with 11 gallons of 1.048 wort.  This was the first run in     my system since adding insulation to mash tun – held temp during 122 F     protein rest and subsequent 152-153F mash without any noticable loss.     I had hoped for an efficiency of 70% but actually got 80%, even with     the shorter (30 min) sparge. 7.  Set up 0800-0830, heat water 0830-0900, mash started 0900 finished     1100, cool down started 1315 – 1430 (using 1/2 inch immersion chiller)     clean up finished at 1530.  Total time: 7.5 hours. 8.  Fermented for two weeks at between 65-75F, using water baths for carboys     and additions of ice every morning.  On 8/17/96 racked into secondaries,     FG = 1.012.  Added 1.5 Tbs polycar to each 5 gal carboy, then placed in     refrigerator at 42F.  By the next morning the beer was very clear.     Calculated alcohol = 5% (6.5-1.5).  Attenuation = 75%. 9.  Lots of chill haze at 32F, but clears nicely at about 42F, which is     a good serving temperature for it.  Very nice beer!  Lots of lager     characteristics, nice hoppiness, and minimal ale esters.   Note: was excellent after one week in the keg, and very very nice after one month of aging.                            SUDS Recipe Report                        Page:   1    Category         :  California Common Beer      Method           :  Full Mash    Starting Gravity :  1.045    Ending Gravity   :  1.011    Alcohol content  :  4.4%    Recipe Makes     :  6.0 gallons    Total Grain      : 12.50 lbs.    Color (srm)      : 13.9    Efficiency       :  63%    Hop IBUs         : 41.7 Malts/Sugars:   1.00  lb.     Munich Light               0.50  lb.     Crystal  40L               0.50  lb.     Crystal  20L               0.50  lb.     Crystal  60L              10.00  lb.     Pilsner 2-Row (Belgium)   Hops:  1.00   oz.     Cascade leaf     5.6%   30 min  1.00   oz.     Cascade leaf     5.6%    5 min  1.50   oz.     Northern Brewer  9.3%   60 min Boil temperature of water: 212F Grain Starting Temperature: 70F Desired Grain/Water Ratio: 1.25 quarts/pound Strike Water:  3.91 gallons of water at 135F First Mash Temperature: 125F Second Mash Temperature: 155F Boiling Water to add:  2.45 gallons Water Absorbed by Grain:  1.25 gal Water Evaporated during boil:  3.00 gal Wort Left in Brewpot:  0.33 gal Add  4.23 gal of water to yield  6.0 gal of wort Notes: 1.  Had trouble hitting temps – used 140 x 5 min, 120 x 30 min,     145 x 60 min, and 154 x 30 min.  Starch test negative after     first 60 minutes.  Also had trouble with sparge sticking several     times – suspect grains ground too finely (Napa Fermentations,     a frequent problem with their grinds). 2.  Pitched at 70F, then chilled down to 65F with water and ice bath.     Used WY Kolsch yeast from large starter. 3.  Added 1.5 tsp CaCl2 to bottled water. Bruce Ross

Response:

Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee I’ll have to let you know in about a month,  it’s still in the fermenter. The signs are favorable though ). heubs

Any other Kolsch stories out there?   Any special instructions on priming? Lee

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee Lee, Check out the recipe on my homepage: http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/ I won a silver medal in the AHA National Competition in 1993 for a Kolsh I entered.  Good luck. — Bruce Cornell – Baton Rouge, LA      "When in danger or in doubt, http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/         The Robot – Lost in Space

thanks, nice home page. anyone else have any kolsch stories? How about different types of yeasts used and results.

Response:

Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee

Response:

Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee

I’ll have to let you know in about a month,  it’s still in the fermenter. The signs are favorable though ). heubs

Response:

Anyone out there have a good reciepe that they have tried for Kolsch Beer? I was in Koln about a month ago and feel in love with this type of beer. Thanks, Lee

Lee, Check out the recipe on my homepage: http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/ I won a silver medal in the AHA National Competition in 1993 for a Kolsh I entered.  Good luck. — Bruce Cornell – Baton Rouge, LA      "When in danger or in doubt, http://www.tyrell.net/~bcornell/         The Robot – Lost in Space

Response: