Brewing more Kolsch

I’m brewing a couple of batches of Kolsch for a friend’s wedding in September, which is fun and I’m excited they want my beer. When I brewed this Kolsch for my own wedding, I foolishly sanitized the bottling bucket and failed to rinse it absolutely clean. That batch was undrinkable as it had the distinct taste of Star San. Not wanting to experience this again, I figured I should get started just in case something goes wrong.

Well, so far it’s much darker than I want it to be. The lady at Let’s Brew convinced me that 1lb of dry amber malt wasn’t that dark, since they didn’t have the 2lbs of extra light malt I needed. Stupid me! I mean, seriously, it looks like a dark amber or a light brown ale right now, and it’s 90% wheat and extra light malt extract.

This has also convinced me to buy a propane burner for brewing, rather than continue to use my stove top. The burner and range top got super hot yesterday, which makes me think my beers are carmelizing and all becoming darker than they should be. So my next Kolsch batch will be brewed al fresco. Here’s hoping it all turns out alright!

Kolsch bottled!

After two weeks of fermentation, the kolsch was ready for bottling. Since lagering was optional and the temperatures in my garage right now are a little high to lager a beer well, I decided to just bottle it and call it good. We’ll see how it turns out! The malt extract got a little burned on the bottom of my brew pot, so there’s a slight burned sugar flavor in it right now. I’m really hoping that goes away.

Besides, I have a bigger problem: I’m out of bottles! My seven year beer bottle surplus has finally been depleted, which is totally amazing. I’ll have to start collecting bottles from friends.

Itsok Kolsch

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!