Kölsch brewers, diacetyl rest?

I brewed one last month and did do a diacetyl rest. My fermentation temp was 58. My diacetyl rest was 65. Then I cooled down to lagering temps. I didn't bother with intermediate steps.

Do you need a diacetyl rest? Maybe not. This is my third time using a Kolsch yeast strain (first time was the White Labs yeast) and I've always given it one. Maybe it's not needed. But you definitely should taste before you transfer off the yeast. If you taste diacetyl, rouse the yeast and warm it up.

 

A diacetyl rest couldn't hurt. And diacetyl can form after fermentation, so accelerating that and cleaning it up is a good practice IMO.

 

I don't use 2565, but WLP 029. Never done a diacetyl rest (and never had any problems with it so far), but I will say that I have found that this yeast tends to clean up much better during the lagering stage after I have fermented near the upper end of the recommended range (i.e. around 66) in primary.

I'd tend to agree with VikeMan here, then, that since you fermented rather low, a diacetyl rest at this point couldn't hurt.

 

I didn't strategize it this precisely. Warmed it up when the fermentation seemed barely active. held it for a week. Tasted ok. Cold crashed to help drop yeast for another week. Kegged. Lagered.

 

2565 is on tap 8 months of the year for me. D rest? Always. I go up to about 68 on all of my lager strains. I give it about 4 days, and then if you want to crash it before transfer you can. It'll need about 6 weeks of cold conditioning to really get tasty. I don't have any set plan for cooling it back down.

 

I have used 2565 a number of times (a dozen or so). I have always fermented cool (e.g., 58-60 degrees F) and I have never conducted a diacetyl rest. I am very sensitive to diacetyl and I have never perceived any diacetyl in those 2565 beers.

Cheers!

 

When I brew lagers I use the 'rule of thumb' that you need to pitch more yeast for a lager. When I brew with Kolsch my philosophy is that it is an ale yeast so I pitch amounts consistent with my ale batches.

Cheers!

 

Aha, just the man I was looking for. Six weeks of cold conditioning on 2565? That's basically lager-like.

I realize that technically Wyeast 2565 is an ale strain, but if it needs to be cold conditioned for six weeks to reach its peak, it's basically just a lager with a higher primary fermentation temp, amiright.

 

I see the strain listed as an Ale yeast. You can certainly use this yeast into the mid 60s. You start to get esters that are a little overwhelming in Kolsches and Cream ales. Baltic porters do fine with this temp.

I really like the flavors I get when I treat this yeast like a lager yeast. I ferment cold and like the flavors of fermenting cold. I condition the beer cold for at least a month, but this is more often a byproduct of letting it hang out in my keezer for a while. Yes, I cheat and sip on it until it peaks. The Kolsches and Cream ales I make (derived from BCS) always seem to shine when they are about 4-5 months old. I'm sure the beer would set up at room temp as well. As for doing a D rest, most of my beers get a rest when I ferment cold anyway. I want to make sure they finish up and I hit FG. An advantage to the D rest is that the beer is at a good temperature for your priming sugar and will carb up quickly. While this isn't important for drinkability, this is important to help remove a little oxygen in the bottles and to let the yeast clean up.

 

I have never tasted diacetyl in a 2565 beer. However it is a very sluggish yeast so a D rest *might* help move things along, maybe. Still need at least 5-6 weeks to clear though unless you add gelatin. I can see why it might need a few extra months in the bottle or keg to improve its flavor though since the yeast is super sluggish.

 

Kölsch is a top fermented lager beer, a hybrid beer in . Lagering 4 weeks at 40F is pretty standard.

 

Thank you, Sir, this is very good info indeed.

- LL

 

You've apparently had success, so who can argue? My strategy hinges on the fermentation temp. I pitch Kolsch closer to standard lager temp, so I build a starter closer to a lager. The Mr. Malty calculator has a setting for "hybrids" so that's what I do. The difference in strategy suggests an experiment.

 

When fermenting around 58 F, I pitch somewhere between the recommended ale and lager amounts, and no matter what I always round down a bit, so I'm probably only pitching slightly above standard ale rates.