Brewing a Koslch, Questions on Process

Cold crash gets a lot of yeast out of solution. It simply means rapidly reducing the temp. Since you are naturally carbonating, it is not as valuable to you, as you are going to want some yeast present to do the work.

When I bottled, my approach to lagering looked like this:

1. Ferment at recommended temperature.
2. Always taste the beer when you think fermentation is done. This is especially important in cool fermentation beers like lagers and Kolsch. You are looking for diacetyl or acetaldehyde. (buttery and green apple, respectively). If you detect, do a diacetyl rest: raise the beers temp to encourage yeast activity, for 3-7 days, and taste again. When the taste is gone, you are ready to bottle.
3. Weigh out priming sugar and dissolve in ~1.5 cup water. Heat to boil.
4. Transfer beer and sugar solution to bottling bucket. Gently stir. Avoid racking sediment; there will be live yeast present. There is no need to add yeast or stir up the lees.
5. Bottle.
6. Allow bottles to sit for 3 weeks at 70 degrees to prime. Don't worry about this temp creating off flavors. The only sugar that is left is priming sugar and there is not enough of it to create noticeable off flavors, in my experience.
7. Put bottles in cooler to lager in the bottle. Some gradually lower the temp. I cold crash and lower to the 30s.
8. If the fermentation went well, the beer is drinkable when carbonated, but more time in the cooler likely will improve its clarity to both the eye and palate.
9. Drink!

 

It is indeed possible to lager in a carboy and then bottle later. The 'trick' is whether there will be enough live yeast in solution for bottle conditioning (carbonation) to occur. I have read posts from BAs who state that after lagering in the carboy there is still plenty of Kolsch yeast left in solution for proper bottle conditioning to occur. I can't personally vouch for this phenomenon with respect to ale yeast. I can state that I lager my lager beers in a carboy and then bottle and carbonation occurs just fine with lager yeast.

If you think there will be enough 1007 yeast in solution after lagering in a carboy then you can perform that process.

Cheers!

P.S. Something else for you to consider if you choose to lager in a carboy, you could add some additional yeast at bottling to ensure that there is sufficient yeast for carbonation to occur; just a thought.

 

Looks like Jack covered this, pretty much the same info I would have provided. I didn't mean to imply my way was the only way or even a generally preferred way. I settled in on it out of (mostly false) concerns that yeast would not be viable to carb things up. Even though I came to recognize the concerns were probably false, I liked the consistency of I had been achieving with my approach and was reluctant to change it up. I do stand firmly behind item #2 - I abhor overt diacetyl flavors. I also am a firm believer in #9.

 

There are many ways to approach making a kolsch. Here is mine...

I ferment my Kolsch's (I make one each year) around 58F - 60F for the first 3-5 days and then raise the temperature up 3F per day until I reach 66F. I leave it there for another 3-5 days to serve as a d-rest. After that, I take a gravity reading and hope to be 3-4 points above my target final gravity. If so, I bring it down slowly (no more than 3F per day) until it's at about 34F (it should have reached target FG by about the time it's in the mid 40's) and leave it there for 8-12 weeks before kegging. While I don't bottle, I do sometimes add fruit to my kolsch after 2 months of lagering (obviously I warm it back up to yeast fermentation temp range first - again by 3F per day) and there, so far, has always been enough yeast alive to ferment the fruit.

 

didn't see anyone answer your first question, or I missed it: you don't need to make your starter at 55. Room temp is fine.

I make 6 or 7 batches of Kolsch a year and due to keg shortages end up bottle conditioning about half of them on average. You've gotta wait a few weeks of cold conditioning to clean up the beer again, but it absolutely works fine. There's plenty of yeast.

 

Good call. I've heard arguments for and against doing so, but I don't have the luxury of having a temperature controlled room to make starters in. So my kolsch starters are generally made at room temperature. I tend to brew my annual kolsh in May, so that means 65F - 75F for me.

 

the key to making a good Koslch is being able to see the Cologne Cathedral while brewing. assuming you arent in cologne, just print a good picture and set next to your brew kettle.

 

It would not be advisable to keep the beer on the yeast cake for an upwards of 3 months. I recommend transferring it to secondary before the 8-12 week cold conditioning period.

 

Thanks I'll def secondary prior to lagering. Can't seem to quote you in my reply using mobile app.

 

I lager on the cake myself. Personally out of being just lazy, and not wanting to move beer when I don't think I need to.

I'll ferment my Kolsch similar to @koopa, and then drop the temp after a D rest, and let it sit until I'm ready for it. Usually forget about it, and it's 6-8 weeks hanging out. From there rack to the keg, and let it carb and all that goodness. Usually clear as a bell, and taste fantastic.

 

Over time yeast dies and the dead cells break down releasing compounds into the beer that can cause off flavors. Also, leaving the beer on the break material in your fermenter for an extended period of time can do the same thing. For standard ales and lagers, the general rule of thumb that most homebrewers subscribe to is getting the beer off of the yeast within a month to avoid that from happening. I've pushed it to five weeks myself and haven't noticed any off flavors. On a delicate flavored beer like a kolsch that takes quite an investment in time and fermentation space resource, I'd rather err to the side of caution then press my luck.

FWIW, most commercial breweries remove the break material within 24 hours and get the beer off of the yeast cake within a week. At this point, they consider the primary fermentation to be done and the beer to be "green beer". They then allow the yeast still in suspension to handle the job of cleaning up off flavors (diacetyl, acetaldehyde) that are produced during a normal fermentation over the course of another 7-10 days of secondary fermentation / maturation. It should also be noted that conical fermentors accelerate the fermentation process, so that is part of the reason why those commercial time frames are so quick. Commercial breweries also use filtering equipment to help speed up the lagering time. 1-3 weeks is pretty common place for commercial breweries these days, although some still employ the traditional 8-12 week time frame.

As an added bonus, doing the transfer to secondary can actually help rouse the yeast a bit and assist them in attenuating that final 3-4 points of fermentable extract at lager temps. Of course this is at the risk of oxidizing the beer. I have a co2 tank that I use to purge the secondary carboy as well as my transfer equipment which helps reduce that possibility.

 

Yeah, I don't know if my 3 weeks at lager temps would really be considered "lagering." More like cold crashing for 3 weeks. That said, with a nice low ferment temp and happy, healthy yeast, you will still get a clean tasting kolsch using my method. The key being to ferment at 56-58°F and no higher. Yes, you can get yeast autolysis from extended aging on the yeast cake but 3 weeks won't do it. It require months for the yeast to start dieing off, particularly at lager temps. That said, you could consider my racking to the keg for additional aging the "secondary," so if you're bottling, a secondary would probably be the way to go, both to achieve a proper lagering phase, as well as to help drop out other sediment for a cleaner beer into the bottles.

 

Many commercial lagers only have 21 days or less from start to finish, so yeah 3 weeks is lagering.