Tag: kolsch

Maine Coast Kolsch (for Anna Rose)

Posted by mac – 2011-05-28

mac batch #13.

Hauled all the brewing gear to Maine for a memorial day weekend brew. First outdoor brew with a turkey fryer, plus had hot and cold hose bibs right nearby. Great brewing setup, sounds of crashing waves make for better brewing I think. Enjoyed the help from friends, chiefly Kate X.
Left the brew log at home so I’ll have to live blog this one.

6.5 lb German pilsner
1.0 lb light wheat
0.5 lb Dextrine

Initial strike in 10 qts water at 168F for a target mash temp of 152.
Was 153F 30 min into mash. Mashed for a total of 60 minutes.

Sparge with 18 qts at ~174F, collected about 6.25 gal that measured 1.036 at 140F which I think corrects to about 1.048 [2011-05-31 edit] According to C.Lyons (1992), its closer to 1.052, but he’s using values for the density of water, I question whether that’s fully valid for a sugar-water solution.  Going by those numbers, I ended up with 324 points. [/edit]

2.5 oz x 2.6% AA spalt at 60 min
0.5 oz x 2.6% AA spalt at 10 min

Post chill we ended up with about 4.9 gal that measured 1.044 at 71F. [Edit 2011-05-31] This corrects to 1.045 using every table or formula I’ve found.  That means that post-chill I had 222 points.  To recap, pre-boil: 324, post-boil: 222.    Theoretically, these numbers should match, because during the boil, the only thing that leaves the pot is pure water in the form of steam, leaving all the sugars (points) behind.  So basically, my numbers after the sparge are total crap.  Either the corrections are no good, or I can’t get a reliable reading for some reason, or (perhaps most likely) my technique of using “the thief” to sample straight from the runoff bucket after the sparge is sucking up only the more dense wort near the bottom of the bucket.  Next time, I will stir thoroughly, and report back. [/edit]

Pitched Wyeast Kolsch.  Left in the basement shower stall because I’d hate for a wild ferment to make a mess out of that house, and because I bet the temp will be good there.

Kolsch for Anna Rose

Posted by mac – 2010-04-11

When a certain girl I know was 3 or 4, she decided her given name wasn’t doing it for her anymore, and instead introduced herself to anyone who asked as Anna Rose.

Neither Anna Rose nor her grown-up alter ego particularly like helping me with the brewing, but they’ve proven to be good at making up names.

Brew Day: 2010-04-11

  • 6.5 lb German Pilsner Malt
  • 1 lb Wheat (unclear whether this was malted or not)
  • 0.5 lb Dextrine (CaraPils)

Single infusion mash in 10 qts water at a target of 152*F for 90 min.

Sparge with 18-20 qts at 167*F

Collected a total of ~5.9 gal which measured 1.031 at 130*F, corrected to approximately 1.043 for a total of 254 pts.

Boil 60 min

  • 6.5 AAU Spalt hop pellets (2.5 oz * 2.6% AA) at 60 min
  • 1/2 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
  • 1 AAU Spalt hop pellets (0.5 oz * 2.6% AA) at 10 min

Chill to ~65*F, post-boil yield of ~4.8 gal at 1.051 (245 total points, or 30.6 pts/lb)

Poured off the trub into the primary, I ended up with ~4.4 gal.  To hit my target OG, I calculated that I’d need to add water to top up to ~5 gal.  After topping up, my temp in the primary was 71* (in the butter zone), but my OG ended up being 1.042 (three points low).  Not sure where I went wrong, but it won’t make a whole lot of difference in the end.

Pitched Wyeast 2565 Kolsch