"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." – Benjamin Franklin (founding father, homebrewer)

Itsok Kolsch

Posted: April 26th, 2008 | Author: Stacy | Filed under: Homebrew, Kolsch | 4 Comments »

I first made this recipe from The Joy of Homebrewing last spring, and Kathy and I drank it all up right quick. Yum! It turned out the be the perfect light, malty, flavorful but not heavy spring/summer beer. I wasn’t really planning to brew this weekend, but a conversation with some of my students after class about beer left me craving a kolsch. Not enough breweries in town make one! So I guess it’s up to me to supply my own this season.

With the price of hops and malt rising, I was pleased to find all the hops I needed in my freezer — leftovers from last year, or acceptable replacements for the hops I didn’t have. And Let’s Brew has bulk wheat malt extract for only $2/lb, which is great!

Nearly done with the first 30-minute boil, then I add more hops and boil for another 30 minutes. Then it’s time to strain, sparge, and let it cool before I pitch the yeast. In a month or so, I’ll have fresh kolsch to enjoy! Maybe if my students are nice (and 21+), I’ll share some with them!

4 Comments on “Itsok Kolsch”

  1. 1 Jason Brown said at 7:49 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    I am about to brew this one for the first time, but int he third edition copy of the “bible”, the brewing directions do not mention when to add the Saaz hops. It says to start with the Perle and the malt, then jumps to adding the Tetnanger in the last 30 min. of the boil. Do the Saaz and the Perle and the Saaz go in from the start?
    Any help or advice you might be able to offer would be appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Jason M. Brown Sr.

  2. 2 Stacy said at 8:01 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    The first time I made it, I re-read the recipe a dozen times before I was satisfied that I wasn’t crazy and it was just missing the Saaz step! I’ve always added the Saaz with the Tetnanger and been happy with the results. It comes out a bit malty but well balanced, not hoppy in the finish. Maybe one day I’ll add the Saaz with the Perle, but then again, why mess with success? The Itsok Kolsch brewed with the Saaz added at 30min. is a serious crowd-pleaser.

    Happy brewing!

  3. 3 Jason Brown said at 5:43 am on May 23rd, 2009:

    Thanks for the help!

  4. 4 Peter Ives said at 6:32 pm on July 29th, 2009:

    I’m set to brew the Joy’s Itsok Kolsch tomorrow evening, and was pondering the Saaz hop question that Jason asked. Both the Perle and Saaz are listed as boiling hops and the Tettnanger as flavor — so my heightened interpretive skills tell me Papazian should have said to add the Saaz with the Perle. I’ll give it a shot and let you know.
    By the way why ‘Itsok’? I was in Manchester, UK a few weeks ago and had a Kolsch on tap that also had some other name like ‘Itsok’ (or maybe it was something else, the bartender said it was the specific brewer — but it looked like he was making it up).

Leave a Reply