kolsch made from extract?

I think you may be right regarding commercial examples. (In fact, I'd bet on it.) But a little Vienna or Munich seems to appear in a lot of homebrew recipes (including mine). Not sure how that tradition got started.

 

I think the use of pils extract that doesn't match the flavor if a good German pils prompted some to add a touch of Munich for added flair.

 

Another yeast option that makes a great Kolsch is Wyeast 1010. It is labeled as American Wheat, but it actually did come from a Kolsch brewery. I do use a little Vienna in my Kolsch and I know of at least one brewery in Cologne that does the same, but most of them don't use the same type of Pils malt that we think of. Schill actually makes "Kolsch Malt" which is more widely used in Cologne.

 

Do you know specifically which Koelsch brewers use this malt? I have brewed with Schill Pilsner malt, and it was very husky/grainy to my palate. I have read, as well, that their Koelsch malt at 100% will produce a beer with around 8-9 SRM. I haven't seen any Koelsch in Koeln that looks that dark. Also, which breweries use Vienna? Thanks.

 

I used the Schill Kolsch Malt once to homebrew a Kolsch but I did a 2/3rd Schill and 1/3rd German Pilsner Malt to ‘mitigate’ the darker color of the Schill Kolsch Malt. The resulting beer was golden in color and tasty but it was darker than any Cologne brewed Kolsch that I have ever had (Reissdorf, Gaffel, Sunner, Fruh, etc.).

Do you happen to know which of the Cologne breweries use Schill Kolsch Malt and how they use it?

Cheers!

P.S. Below is a description of Schill Kolsch Malt from the Northern Brewer website:

“4.5° L. From a maltster co-op based in Osthofen, near Köln, this malt is used by some of the brewpubs in that city to make their trademark ale. Kölsch malt has a light, sweet and extremely German flavor and aroma with a little bit of biscuit character. We've had good results using a multi-temp step mash with Kölsch malt, but a single infusion — although not traditional — works as well. Style nerds please take note: the maltster rates the color of this malt at 9 EBC. If you use 100% Kölsch malt for the grist of a Kölsch, you will be within spec according to Eric Warner's Kölsch (7-14 EBC, or 3.5-7 SRM — p. 51), but definitely on the dark end of the BJCP guidelines. If you are brewing for a competition, you may want to incorporate some pils or wheat malt into the grain bill to dilute the color.”

 

I wasn't given specific breweries, but when I was studying at Doemens, one of my German colleagues had been raised in Cologne and he was the one that told me about it. Now that I say that though, he did not tell me that they use it at 100% of the malt bill. I do know that Schill is very popular in Germany for their base malts.

Muhlen brewed my favorite Kolsch and I was told by a brewer there that they use Vienna. My Kolsch is modeled after their's and I use the Wyeast 1010 for it. I would not be surprised to learn that 1010 came from their brewery.

 

It is important to remember that most of those breweries use steam heated kettles and they will not get anywhere near as much malliard reaction as a direct fired hoomebrew set up. That could account for at least some of the color.

 

Muehlen is my favorite, too. I have to say, however, I would never have guessed it contained Vienna. I know some places use 5% wheat, and I like to believe I can pick up on it in the mouthfeel. On the other hand, this cements my growing sense that Vienna is going to be my go-to supplemental malt for a Helles/Festbier I'm working on. Still, never would have guessed that; rather I always assumed the depth of malt in that beer came from the decoction mashing they still employ. (FWIW, they apparently still use open fermenters, too. You hear/see anything about that?)

 

I suppose that steam heating might be an aid but the Schill Kolsch Malt is 4.5 °L and every German Pilsner malt that I have brewed with has been less than 2 °L.

Cheers!

 

Mr Malty has this one listed as being from Uerige (Altbierbrauerei) via Widmer.

 

I would be very interested to know if this is factual as Altbier is a favorite of mine.

 

Jim, I would be concerned that 1010 was most recently sourced from Widmer (according to Mr. Malty); who knows what mutations have occurred within the Widmer Brewery!?!

Cheers!

 

That would be ironic as it was a Uerige master brewer that told me it came from Cologne.

 

I don't know if they used open fermenters, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. They aren't uncommon in Germany. I did see open fermenters in person at Schneider and it was awesome. I'll see if I can dig up the pics.

 

Very interesting. I definitely don't take the Mr. Malty stuff as gospel. I also heard the Augustiner strain that is sold commercially might not be from Munich, but from Salzburg's Augustiner. (Getting way off topic now, but I find this fascinating....)

 

That would be really funny. I use the Wyeast Munich II as my house lager yeast and have always assumed it was from Augustiner in Munich. It definitely has a similar flavor profile. I modeled my Pils (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23966/157956/) after it and used that yeast and I love the results.

ETA- I haven't been told by anyone in Germany that this yeast is actually the same, so I have always gone by what I thought I knew.

 

Either way, you can't lose. Augustiner in Salzburg is world-class.

Back to Koelsch now...

 

My only suggestion is to start it at 59 for a week then let it free rise to 68 and hold for the remainder of the 3-4 weeks then do your packaging as usual. Eliminate the secondary. As far as water, without knowing "Fort Wayne" water, I'll say as long as the water taste good and has no chlorine/chloramine, go for it. You can cut it with distilled. It's impossible to say.