Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Kolsch Re-brew

I got third place in a competition a few years ago with my Kolsch that I brewed.  I wanted an easy drinking beer without making a lager and having to deal with the time and cold temps that that involves.  A kolsch was a great option because it uses an ale yeast but ferments out clean and crisp.  I decided to rebrew that because I wanted to see if I could replicate an award winning beer.  I ferment low (62F) to keep it as clean as possible and slowly raise the temp to let the yeast clean it up.  This was also my first recipe where I really delved into water chemistry and used my tap water along with salt adjustments.

Kolsch
3.5 Gallons

5.5 lb Pilsner
0.5 lb Vienna

0.35 oz Chinook (60 min)

Wyeast 2575

Mashed at 148F, fermented at 62F, raised to 68F to finish.  4 g CaCl2, 1 g CaSO4.

OG: 1.043
FG: 1.008
IBU: 24
ABV 4.6%

7/19/2014: Brew day.  Everything went fine on the brew day.  Mashed in a little high around 149F, but it dropped over the course of the mash.  Went to add my hops and opened a 1 oz package of Chinook instead of 0.5 oz.  Added ~.8 oz instead of 0.35 oz.  Realized the mistake instantly and skimmed off hop particles.  Might be over bittered.  Could only cool to 80F, so put in fermenter and pitched the 1.25L starter the following morning 7/20/2014.
7/22/2014: Checked gravity 1.015. Bumped up ambient temp to 65F.
7/31/2014: Cold crashed to 45F for 2 days.


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