2008 BKB Spring Brew - Kolsch - Brewing thread
MMMMkayyyy.... I tinkered on BeerSmith and got the ingredients lined out to keep within style parmeters. Here's how she looks.
Partial Mash Recipe:
8oz Light Munich
8oz Pale Wheat
Mashed @ 155 for 90min
Mash out @ 172 for 10min
Sparge @ 190
Boil size 3g
Add 2.5# Light & 2#Xlite DME and bring to boil
At boil add 1oz Target hops
At 45min left add .5oz Target hops
at 15min left add Whirfloc tab
After flame out let settle and siphon clear wort to a chilled vessel for cold break
After cold break siphon clear wort to another chilled vessel to cool wort to 75deg.
Top off with pre-boiled and chiile water until OG is within 1.04-1.048
Aerate for 1 hour with sanitized airstone and aquarium pump
Pitch yeast and primary ferment for 4 days @ 68deg
Them move primary to cold storage @ 50-52 for 14 days
Prime w/ 5oz Corn Sugar and bottle
bottle condition @ 50-52 for 4 weeks
Hears what BeerSmith had to say:
Expected OG: 1.045, FG: 1.011
Estimated color: 4.8
IBU's: 24.2
Est ABV: 4.42%
Seems all the parameters are met.
FLAME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brewing...er, well... sac resting as I type.
Okay, I just got back from Beer-Wine. Their shelves weren't exactly full. They have an order coming in early next week, but I'll be brewing this tomorrow. Here's what I was able to get:
3.3 Lbs Muntons Light LME
3.3 Lbs Muntons Extra Light LME
1 Lb light wheat malt - I'll use 8 oz
1 Lb light Munich malt - another 8 oz
2 oz Hallertau 4.7% - Recipe called for 4.25%, so my IBUs will be a little higher at 27.
WLP029 Yeast - I don't have time or DME to make a starter, so I'll just have to pitch the vial as is.....
OG: 1.044
Brewing as I type.
Put grains in pot with 1/2 gallon water. Brought temp up to 168, removed from heat, covered,stirred every 15 min, temp at one hour was 150. Sparged with 1/2 gallon hot water.
Added water and 4 pd can of alexander pale liquild malt. Brought to boil. Added1 oz of Mt Hoods hops.
Will add 1/2 oz of East Kent Goldings after 1st 15 min. then will add 2 pds light DME, and 1/8 pd sugar.
I put some spent grains in freezer to save for spent grain bread.
DC
update: OG with temp correction is 1.045
One of the hop bags came loose and hops got into wort so there is hops in bottom of fermentor.
tasted and very little hop presence. Darker than style specs but that was expected. Will pitch yeast when temp comes down.
DC
Well, OG was 1.045. I let the carboy with warm beer sit in sink full of cold water overnight. Temp on carboy this morning was 64. WL001 yeast says to keep temp steady at or above 70 degrees until fermentation starts. Ain;t gonna happen. We keep out thermostat at 65 in the house. I pitched a package of Muntons Premium Gold yeast instead. Will it be a waste of time pitching the WL001 once fermentation starts? Both the WL and Muntons ferment pretty clean. Will WL not even activate if temp doesn't get to 70 or will it work at lower temp with another yeast starting the fermentation?
DC
Brewed yesterday. A few things were different from what I panned. Made a pseudo starter with extra yeast nutrient. That sat for a few hours before being pitched, and it looked good. Lots of foam and bubbles on top, smelled good too. Steeped grains for 45 minutes. Added 1oz hops at 60, 2/3 oz at 47 minutes, and the last 1/3 oz at 40 minutes. Yeah, I know, screwy hop schedule. My bad, I was drinking and brewing. Other than that, good boil. Took way too long to cool, almost 3 hours I think. We should have left it in the snow longer.
Here's a question; I hope this didn't screw it up too much......we were so anxious to get the yeast pitched and get it going that we did just that, pitch the yeast. But we forgot to take a sample for a gravity reading. I realized this after about 2 minutes of stirring it in. I grabbed a sample, and took measurements right away. I got an OG of 1.049 at 71 degrees. The question; how much does adding the yeast first mess things up?
It was also darker than I thought it would be. The extract syrup was fairly dark for extra light too. We added the reminaing 1/4 Lb DME left over from making the starter to the boil. I don't think that will make that big of a difference though.....left it sitting at 73.
Mine came out darkerthan I wanted also. I even added the DME with only 15 minutes left. The Liquid extract even though it was alexanders I think is what darkened it.
As far as your OG it doesn't seem like it would be that far off so if it is still in spec even with the yeast then I wouldn't worry about it. Mine was 1.045 but I didn't stir it before taking sample. Just shook the carboy as best I could. There was still an obvious cold hot line it so I think mine was closer to 1.050. The recipe called for it to be 1.047 so I was close one way or another.
DC
Got my stuff this weekend but did not start to brew yet. Pilsen DME, 8 ounces of Munich, 8 ounces of Wheat, Hallertauer hops and Wyeast Kolsch yeast.
Well she's in the fermenter!!! Finished my brew session @ 3 am Monday morning. I'm a night owl. Only problem was that using the brew software the preboil level was too high. I extended the boil then added the hops as scheduled. Still was left with 7 gal yield and an SG of 1.040. The tea tasting was great along with a Reissdorf Kolsch. The notes in the beer were very similar. Can't wait to taste this finished.
9# Pilsner Malt
1# Wheat
1# Munich
Mash was 149F for 75 min till iodine negative
Sparged topped off to 8.5 gal... next time going to top with less... can always add more water to finished product to hit gravity. Topping off level was wrong. Thanks new software.
Wyeast Kolsch added primary ferment set to go @ 62F
I'll update when in secondary.
Color is good and already clearing nicely. Aroma was very mild. Think this will be close!