BeerBorg

Subject was "Should I?-India Pale Kolsch (IPK)-Amarillo/Meridian/Sorachi". I edited it because I did something a bit different. Instead of below I used a combination of Hersbrucker and Amarillo. Saved the Meridian for something else. So I at least used some appropriate hops, albeit a bit late in the boil LOL.

No, I am not and will not make a Roasty beer with Kolsch yeast, I don't care what Stone says. But maybe I will make this.

My temps are warm enough to use my washed WPL029, but I'm really more in a hop head mood.

Would be simple, short boil, not going for lots of bitter, not really much more then a regular Kolsch - just lots of flavor in a crisp light beer. Sort of like IPL, but with Kolsch yeast.

For 2.5 gallon batch:

3# Pilsner DME
0.5oz Meridian and 0.5oz Amarillo @20
0.5oz Meridian and 0.5oz Amarillo (hop stand)

Merdiian described as lemon/mixed berry/fruit punch, and is supposed to blend nicely with other hops, sort of like how Mosiac does.
And Amarillo is just yum.

Maybe dry hop with Sorachi to crank up the lemon. Or more Meridian. Either way, that would just put it over the top, so far out of Kolsch territory that I'd get beat up on the street by the Kolsch enforcement gang in Koln... LOL.

What does the Borg say - should I do it, or be a good German boy and make my Kolsch the right way?. I've got some santium/hersbrucker I could use and make more "real" kolsch... I love real Kolsch and brew them somewhat regularly. But I feel like being weird...

Sounds like it might be good. I would say to go ahead and do it. For me, this is part of the fun of brewing. Working up new recipes and mixing styles to see what you get. As the old saying goes....Variety is the spice of life.

Go for it. I'll keep the Kolsch Police confused as to a crackdown by brewing the Dandelion Kolsch tomorrow .

Yep, do it! You know you can do a normal Kolsch anytime you want to.

I did this but I decided to partially honor my Germanic origins and used a mixture of Hersbrucker and Amarillo instead of the Meridian. It will at least seem sorta Kolsh like, except some dumb American tripped and spilled his stupid American hops in it.

I think I'm going to mix the Meridian and Wai-iti hops in an American wheat and some Belgian pale ale kind of thing.

I bottled this, and it was dry, but tasted juicy, and had hints of earth and spice. It was intriguing. I think I'll like it.

This is awesome. The Hersbrucker is a background flavor that plays nicely against the much more prominent Amarillo flavor/aroma.

EDIT: For reference I used 1/2oz of Hersbrucker and 1 1/2oz of Amarillo in the final recipe. And steeped a bit of carafoam which helped as you see.

Trub bottle with some chill haze since I didn't crash it and this isn't even 3 weeks in the bottle. The non-trubby bottles after a few weeks will be a lot clearer.

Nice... Dry and juicy!

Wow...that looks and sounds really good.

Nice stange!

Kealia wrote:Nice stange!

You gotta have one if your gonna make Kolsch.

Even if it's totally whacked Kolsch!

A tad late to the party but that looks damn tasty and refreshing!