+2 Kölsch of Darkness (steep/pv/late extract)

[mashani]

I could not figure out if I should post this here or advanced (feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place), but all it is, is a simple steep + hop boil - done as a partial volume boil with late extract addition, a slightly condensed boil duration, and a cold water top up - all of this to shave off boil/cooling time to make up for the time spent on the steep and "get 'r done". Ultimately ends as a 2.5 Gallon batch. Do a full volume boil if you have the pot and cooler and time.

I brewed something like this last year (+1 Kölsch of Darkness) and enjoyed it quite much. Think of it as a "Winter Kölsch". Slightly more malty, slightly more hop forward Kölsch like beer, with some sugar plums on top. People from Köln would beat me up for messing with it, because it's evil. but hey... they can go play with Krampus. (Krampus is the German "Christmas Devil" - he's what you get instead of Coal if your bad... He parades around and frightens bad kids. Back in the day he likely beat them with a switch. I'll post a pic at the bottom LOL).

0.5# Wheat DME
3.0# Pilsner LME (MoreBeer bulk, it's good stuff)
4oz Special B

0.5oz Santium hops (7%AA) @45
0.5oz Hersbrucker hops (2.3%AA) @20

WLP029 Kölsch yeast. 2 month old vial, so didn't bother with a starter, just direct pitched it. Plenty of cells already there. (Mr. Malty would say I needed 1.1 or 1.2 vials... not worth bothering with).

Steep Special B 20 minutes.
Top up water to 1.5 gallons, add the DME and 1# of the Pilsner LME, bring to a boil
Toss in Santium, and then 25 minute later toss in Hersbrucker.
10 minutes before flameout add other 2# of Pilsner LME.
@Flameout pull hop sacks, chill, add to LBC, and top up to 2.5 gallons.

OG was 1.052, which is a bit too high for the style, but that is intentional here, as this is not to style anyways. Should be around 15 SRM, around 27 IBUs.

Notes:

For those that have never used it, Santium is a Tettnanger, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh and some kind of higher AA American hop hybrid. It works well in place of a higher AA German hop like Tradition for bittering, and is good for flavor/aroma too. Is comes across like a German noble hop with a bit of orange like citrus tossed in if you use it for flavor/aroma. I like it a lot and use it a lot.

You could boil the bittering addition for 60 minutes and get a few more AA's out of it. But it wasn't needed to get to my target, as many of you know I'm all about shaving off minutes of my brew days as long as it makes good beer.

Full volume boil is of course fine. I saved at least 30 minutes doing all the little things here to shave off time, 75+ if I had mashed pilsner - and I know it makes good beer regardless. That's important to me, but maybe not you.

[D34THSPAWN]

+1 for the name, let us know how it turns out. I am interested in that, the only kolsch I have had was not very good, Leinenkugel's canoe paddler. Some of my close family lives about 2 minutes from their brewery so I feel obligated to try their beer but I never really like it. But this sounds delicious if a bit light for my tastes.

[mashani]

I'm not much a fan of any of their beers. I'd not really call Canoe Paddler a Kölsch. To me, it's just some American light beer. I don't know that they use a real Kölsch yeast. Doesn't seem like it to me.

If you took above, changed the boil times to 60/30, and left out the special B and reduce the malt by 1/4# to 1/2#, then you would have something more like a real Kolsch. If you want it crystal clear take out the wheat and use 100% pilsner. Modern Kölsch is 100% pils, where more ancient Kölsch had up to 20% wheat. I'll brew up real Kolsch in Feburary/March for spring/summer consumption. This is for winter consumption after long days of skiing, which is why it's "not quite right".

I happen to like wheat in my Kölsch, it gives it some head retention and a bit of extra mouth feel that an all Pils Kölsch doesn't have. It's just not going to be crystal clear. That doesn't bother me, but it might bother some.

You can't make a Kölsch without using a real Kölsch yeast. Folks will sub WPL001 or S-05 or Nottingham thinking they are "clean" yeasts. And they are. But real Kölsch yeasts make sulfur during fermentation, and although it goes away in that you do not taste the sulfur in the final product, it leaves this kind of "crispness" that you simply do not get with those other ale yeasts. But just so you know if you make some and you smell rotten eggs, think "awesome" not "yuck". You will be rewarded in the end. The only other yeast I'd use besides Wyeast Kolsch (2565) and WLP029 would be Wyeast 1007 (German Ale).

Wyeast 2565 and 1007 need cooler temps then WLP029 to make the best Kolsch like beer possible. Below 60 is best for those, where WLP029 is good at 64.

[Brewbirds]

We're wanting to do another Kolsch pretty soon. Question for you...is Kolsch Malt vs. Pilsner Malt just a regional (growing) difference?

We had a very good Kolsch at the local clubs picnic and the brewer said he "just used Pilsner" but I know there is Kolsch Malt is available.

Our last one was a kit and our next will probably be a partial mash so curious about the grains.

Oh and on the wheat, would a wheat LME work?

Thanks

[jimjohson]

if you use pilsner in the partial you'll have to boil for 90 min. imo the lme won't do what mashani is using it for. steep some flaked wheat or add wheat to the partial.

[mashani]

I've never used Kölsch malt, but considering how lightly kilned it is, I would treat it exactly like Pilsner - as in I'd plan on extending my mash time by about 15 minutes and do a 90 minute boil if I was to use it as a base malt. I don't know if the difference is just regional growing or slightly different kilning process, but I think it is basically a pilsner malt type when it comes down to it.

If your mashing anyways, I'd just add some wheat to the mash, unless you really need to do it as a partial volume. I only did things this way to save me hours between mash, boil, and chilling time. If I had the time to do it as a mash, I'd do it full volume and the wheat would go in it. You could use DME/LME, but why in this case I dunno, unless you are doing a BIAB and it won't all fit in your pot. I think I'd consider using some white wheat, that would be easy and keep the color light.

EDIT: There actually appears to be various types of Kölsch malt. What I am referring to above is anything that is like 1.4-1.7L. There seems to be some 4.5L types of stuff floating around too. That is probably safe to treat like 2-row, but it's going to make a beer that might be darker then you want if used as 100% of your bill, unless your making an evil mode Kölsch like this. I think I'd use 3Lish Belgian Pale malt over that if I was looking for a quicker converting base malt.

Another interesting option for a very pale malt would be Golden Promise. It's the pilsner equivalent of using Maris Otter instead of 2-row. You would want to do an extended mash/boil with it too. It would be untraditional, but would make really good beer I think.

[ssorck]

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[mashani]

I sense trouble ahead. Went from a thin coating to this in about 30 minutes. A tray is now under it. 3.1ish gallon capacity is probably not enough for this 2.5 gallon batch LOL.

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[D34THSPAWN]

That looks dangerous, good luck and wear goggles when you are around the keg!

[Brewbirds]

Thanks for the info Mashani.

WOW thats after 30 minutes; can we see her once she blows?

[mashani]

Thanks for the info Mashani.

WOW thats after 30 minutes; can we see her once she blows?

It went from a think coating at about 12 hours after pitching to that 30 minutes later. Not 30 minutes after pitching LOL.

It's been holding that level of krausen so far, only a bit of hissing and tiny bits of ooze out of the lid/vent hole. No big blowout yet, but it could happen later in the day. Lots of awesome looking churning going on down in the keg though.

I'm fermenting at the real low end of the temperature range for this yeast, so it might stay in check. But I'm not smelling sulfur yet, so it's by no means ready to settle down.

Note if you use the WYEAST version, definitely leave more headspace then I did here. That one needs more like 30%. I pushed it a bit since I was using the white labs strain which is not quite as much a blow off machine.

[Kealia]

This looks great. I too like a Kolsch ready for the Spring and I think this coming year I am going to try out MoreBeer's Kolsch malt in place of the Pilsner that I usually use. I've been using a little munich in my recipe with the pilsner but I think I'm going to go with a bit of wheat next time instead to try that out.

I am big fan of the WLP029 yeast, though.

That thing is rocking!

[mashani]

It's in the bottle. It fermented the crap out of it. No off flavors, very clean, dry, crisp, and delicious with just hints of the dark fruit. I am drinking that hydro sample and digging it even though it's flat and room temp. I am pleased with how clear it is considering I did *nothing* to try to make it so. Krampus is pleased. EDIT: I washed the yeast and will make some more stuff with it in the spring. I think it's going to be too cold here soon to keep it happy.

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[Kealia]

1.052 down to around 1.008/1.006? Yeah, I'd say it did it's job well.
I find that WLP029 flocculates extremely well, too. That's one of those "sit back and let it do its thing" yeasts, for sure.

Congrats again, that sounds (and looks) great.

[mashani]

1.052 down to around 1.008/1.006? Yeah, I'd say it did it's job well.
I find that WLP029 flocculates extremely well, too. That's one of those "sit back and let it do its thing" yeasts, for sure.

Congrats again, that sounds (and looks) great.

At first I thought "crap, bugs got in it or saison yeast is still alive in my lbc somehow" but it doesn't taste wrong in any way, it tastes totally clean and crisp as it should. Maybe just due to the slight underpitch (more daughter cell growth).