The time has come for me to begin thinking about brewing this year’s xmas beer that will be bottled and stored. This year I am not brewing anything close to a xmas beer and have decided to “imperialize” my kolsch.
The main thing I want to emphasize is high attenuation using WLP029. The plan is to mash at 148F for 90 min and add 1/2 lb table sugar in attempt to get around 85% AA which would put me near a FG of 1.010 and an ABV around 7.6%. I am keeping the OG relatively low at 1.068 so that a lower FG can be achieved. All of this is just goals and estimates obviously. Any other tips or thoughts?
Any advice on mash pH? I can’t think of what I do the normal koslch at off the top of my head but I am thinking 5.3 would be a good place to start with yellow balanced water.
I have another often asked question regarding bottling. If I cold crash this and fine with gelatin, should I worry about them carbing up properly? If I pitch enough healthy yeast to begin with it should be okay right?
There’ll be plenty of yeast left to do the job. Gelatin just drops the amount of yeast below the visible threshold, but plenty are left in the beer. If it were a really big beer, adding some dry yeast at bottling might be helpful.
Average water that is not too soft or too hard should be just fine for a Kolsch style. If in doubt, shoot for chloride and sulfate both around 100-150 plus or minus a little. If you’re already close to that with your source water, don’t even worry about it, it’s not essential IMHO.
Thanks. Right now I have it at 75 sulfate and 60 chloride per the yellow balanced profile in bru’n water. I should back them down to 50 for a 1:1 ratio?
I would just note that the higher alcohol can come across as slightly sweet - I made one that a good brewer thought was under attenuated, but at 1.009 it was just the alcohol that caused the impression. It was perfectly good to enjoy, though.
Yeah I kind of assumed that would be the case. Although a lager, I had a Helles bock that was excellent and crisp but slightly sweet from the alcohol. I think this could likely come across the same way. I do use some Vienna in my kolsch which I have decreased a bit here to help with the possibility of too much malt character. So you brewed an imperial kolsch type beer?
Yes. I entered it in an informal contest as such and was met with some folks who said “there isn’t a category for that beer”. I said just evaluate it for what it is called - most liked it, but it was a bit strong. An award winning brewer whom I trust in terms of palate, generally, missed the attenuation, assuming that the slight sweetness came from under attenuation. Clearly not the case.
I agree with the suggestions above to get it crisp and fully attenuated.