Slightly altered Kölsch recipe...

[Ken Lenard]

I like BryanH's Kolsch recipe. I made it awhile back but I messed up the hops a little. Bryan likes Mt. Hood and I picked Spalt. I only have an ounce of Spalt but a lot of Mt. Hood so I modified it a little and I'm making this next Monday...

7.5 lbs American Pale Malt
8 oz White Wheat
4 oz Carafoam (mash temp 150°)
1 oz Spalt pellets 4% plus ¼ oz Mt. Hood pellets 5.2% for 60
¾ oz Mt. Hood pellets 5.2% for 20 mins
Wyeast 2565 Kölsch Ale yeast

OG: 1.046, FG: 1.012, IBU: 30, SRM: 3, ABV: 4.4%

I found a couple bottles of the last batch and the carb stood up very nicely (bottled from a keg) and the beer was clear. I slightly undershot the hops on that one. I am dialing them up a little bit here, but not quite as high as in Bryan's recipe (I think he goes with 1¼ oz @ 5% for 60). Looking forward to getting it done and ready to serve. Cheers.

[BryanH]

Sounds really good, Ken, although you have me gnashing my teeth at the domestic pale malt.

I love Spalt. In fact I just kegged the last of two carboys of the Kolsch I brewed with Spalt. Spalt is my definite go to hop for Oktoberfest and Altbier although I generally learn towards a Hallertau type for light colored brews such as German pils, Helles and Kolsch because I like the slightly spicier/edgier taste in the crisper, pilsner malt brews. Hey, it's a win-win decision either way and frankly having never had two at the same time to A-B it could easily just be my imagination.

[Ken Lenard]

Well... you know how much I enjoy Mt. Hoods too so I agree, it's win-win. I don't know how well these 2 hops will get along in the same brew, but I can't imagine a problem here. On the pale malt, I gotta be honest... I think I may scrap pilsner malt altogether in favor of domestic 2-row. There are all of these people talking about DMS, longer and more vigorous boils to drive it off, etc. I have seen many homebrewers make Czech Lagers, Pilsners, etc. and just use domestic grain for it. I made my Mexican Lagers with domestic stuff and I also just made a few other gold lagers with 2124 that way too. I still think the Kölsch will be quite tasty this way. I will post back with results. Cheers!

[Ted]

Recipe looks good Ken. Spalt and Mt Hood should work well together. Do what you want, but I have no idea what you're talking about with DMS and Pilsner malt, I have no issues with Pilsner malt at all especially with DMS.

[BryanH]

There are all of these people talking about DMS, longer and more vigorous boils to drive it off, etc.

Well Ted beat me to it but I have no idea who "all these people" are other than the usual internet idiots who spew forth dubious advice based on incomplete information. As far as pilsner malt goes I think domestic pale malt is less than an ideal substitute, lacking the depth of flavor found in a good pils malt. I made one brew with domestic pale malt about twenty years ago and never used it again. I have never had any of those aforementioned problems mashing, brewing or fermenting with pilsner malt. That said, as I mentioned before it will surely be a good beer, however......

[Ken Lenard]

The people I'm talking about will say that you MUST boil for 90 minutes with pilsner malt so you can drive off any DMS that may occur. I have also heard them say that if you chill your wort down to (or under) 140° in a short time (I have heard 3 minutes) that you will prevent DMS from forming. I honestly have no idea where these guys get it from. But I will admit that a recent beer I made with pilsner malt did have a cooked-corn/vegetal taste to it and I'm not sure where to look for a solution. I could always order more pilsner malt so I'm not dismissing it permanently, but I happen to have a good amount of domestic 2-row in the brewery so I am using that in this beer.

[sully nm_156]

Last time I did a Kolsch and entered it in a comp and it got dinged for DMS. It was something that I never noticed myself, but once I go the sheets back and re-drank the beer I noticed it. I did boil with the cover on the pot, so that is likely where it came from. I don't know that boiling for 90 mins will drive it off, but I do know that boiling with the cover on the pot will get you some DMS.

The recipe looks nice Ken. If it were my beer, I might drop the carafoam as i always thought that Kolsch should be slightly on the dry side. I've also done a full pound of wheat which was about 11% of the grain bill. But that is just my taste. If you read the style guidelines, they imply a slightly dry beer, but its your beer, so do what you want. I've always liked the style, as at first taste it is just a plain beer. But on second glance, it has that extra something. Nice beer for the general drinkers and the snobs.

[Eric Wolf]

In last year's Schooner competition, my Bohemian Pilsner (with mostly Pilsner malt) scored well, but one judge commented that it had slight DMS. As a result, I switched from a 70 min. boil to a 90 min boil for my Pilsners. Based on my somewhat limited experience, I agree that Pilsner malt will give more depth and maltiness than US 2-row. The last Bohemian Pilsner that I made with Durst Turbo Pils is very malty with just a single infusion. If you are up for it, you could make two batches of this recipe - one with US 2-row and one with Pils. That way you could decide for yourself the actual differences in taste.

[Roy]

DMS is created in wort by conversion of SMM (s methyl methionine) which is a precursor to DMS. SMM is present in malted barley, but is driven off by higher kiln temperatures, so pilsner malt is most susceptible to this effect, since it retains the most.

If you boil your wort with the cover off and cool it quickly, you won't have a problem. After 75 minutes of boiling, SMM is essentially fully converted to DMS and evaporated from the wort, so that's why they recommend a longer boil. Even at 60 minutes, most of it is gone and once you cool your wort to 140-160F, the conversion stops happening.

DMS is a fault that is easily avoided by basic brewing techniques.

[Ted]

What sully and Roy said about DMS. I will say that a vigorous boil for 60 min should take care of the prob. I too wonder who "all these people are" and agree with Bryan that they are the chumps that know a little about a lot of things but don't know a lot about anything! Um, yeah, that's what I meant to say!?!

[BryanH]

Kolsch brewing today!

I have put this one off for a couple of weeks because the temp in my basement has been a little too high for fermenting this beer. I would still like it a bit lower but the nights lately have been cooling off and I'm giving it a go. This beer is for my LHBS' table at a local beer show next month so the time window to get it done was rapidly closing. For Ken and other Kolsch lovers this is pretty much my standard recipe and it's Spalt hops for this baby. Hopefully in another week or two I can get a second batch going that I can keep for my own consumption.


Hops edit: After going to the freezer I only have about six ounces of Spalt left so I'm going to save them for personal consumption. The ignorant drunks at the beer show are going to have to drink Mt. Hood.

10 Gallons

15.5# Weyermann Pilsner malt
1# malted wheat
.5# CaraFoam

129F 20 minutes
Decoct to 149F for 60 minutes

3.5 oz Mt. Hood 3.5%AA @ 60 minutes
.75 oz Mt. Hood 3.5% AA @ 20 minutes

White Labs 029 Kolsch/German Ale yeast

[Ken Lenard]

It's a great recipe. I need to take a pic of mine because it ended up oh-so-clear too. I just got a PM from a brewer on another board who made it and he was raving about it. Cheers & happy brewing.