Maggie Kolsch - Monday, July 19, 2021- Conical

This is my August beer. Slow and cool. Going back to Perle and Hersbrucker hops. Will finish off my stash of Tettnager and Hallertauer Mittlefrauer in the Robobrew.

Ingredients

22 lbs. CMC

1 lb. Munich I

1 lb. Wheat

10 ozs. Acid Malt - 2.5%

56 g Perle at 60 min. - 6.7%

55g Hersbrucker Spat 10 min. - 2%

Escarpment Labs Kolsch

75/25 RO/Spring

Mash and Sparge - 9.50 gallons total water in each vessel

7.10 gallons RO - ( .10 gallons is 380 ml )

2.40 gallons spring ( .40 gallons is 1.50 L )

3 bottles RO

1 bottle Spring -  I use spring water because 

my well water is treated with a water softener and I don't want salt in my beer water.

O.G. - 1.050

F.G. -  1.010

% -     5.26

SRM - 3.6

BU - 23

This should be the same as my last one in April. It was a very good beer. No filtering but you have time to use gelatin when you toss them in the fridge. CPBF these in your PET bottles which you have never used. Transfer off the gelatin to kegs, carb up and bottle. Yup, doing that. Did a 2 L starter to a 3.5 L starter with over build. This takes just as much yeast as a lager. Done clean up at exactly 1 pm. I thought I smelled something in the wort I didn't like when draining to the fermenter. I tasted the finished wort and it wasn't there and it was quite good. No noble hop taste, ( which I did't want ) just a craft beer taste I guess. Hard to say since it didn't taste like a Helles, Pils, or any other European lager. I do need to buy all Pilsner malt this fall because if this is good, it will be even better with that malt. I want to brew this more along with my IPA's, but will most likely sell some Citra hops later on this year. I do want to get my money back though, so the price will be $23.50 which was my cost but no lower. TB and OBK want $38.00 a lb. plus delivery which is stupid expensive nowadays.

                                                       AERATED AND PITCHED JULY 20

It started to bubble up 2 hours after pitching the yeast. However, the next day seems to of slowed down a lot. Having trouble get it at 62 F, it is either 66 F or 60 F. Working on it. Not sure why it isn't more active. I did though take out too much yeast to the over build. I looked and was left with a little short of 3 L, which should of been 3.5 L. No idea if that is the reason for the sluggish activity.

July 21 - Slowly picking up steam in the afternoon.

July 22 - Going as good as it is going to get. Okay, similar to previous Kolsch fermentations.

               Still having issues trying to get a steady temp. 64 F this morning. Need 62 F.

July 25 - Still going good, steady and slow. 62 F - 63 F. Depends on the cycling of the fridge

                and when it turns on and off.

July 26 - Slower but still steady.

July 27 - Same. Should be able to keg around August 5.

August 1- Doing a D rest just because. Keg on Aug 4.

                                                TASTING NOTES - WED, AUG 4

Tastes fine. Didn't get it from the keg, got it from the first sample. Set fridge at 3 C. Added

 gelatin on Thursday, August 5. Rack on day 8 and punch up for the weekend. Sample was nice, but it didn't have a german noble hop taste which I didn't want. I wanted something a little more traditional and I think this beer fits it. A slight noble hop taste which may or may not be in the final product. Sampled on Aug 8 and the gelatin is working, but not clear yet. I still have 5 days to go. Taste is fine. This is a unique beer with the Perle and Hersbrucker hops and does not taste like a Pils or a Helles. This beer is different from those styles, which I wanted. Way better than Beuas Lug Tread. Last time I bought it, I did not like it at all, tasted awful. It could of been old or mishandled by the beer store. Nothing like fresh beer handled cold. Like most beer here in Ontario, it all kind of sucks.

                                        Transferred to Kegs and Carb Up - Aug. 12.

Taste is quite different from my previous Kolsch beers. The Perle and Hersbrucker Spat does taste different but not off. This is a traditional German Kolsch recipe, so give it a chance to age and when you have finished your 2 lbs. of these hops, make a decision on what type of hop to buy next. I am not going to pay $20 or more to the GTA Brews to buy hops and malt. I will just buy hops by the lb. and hopefully continue to buy bulk malt from Kawartha Homebrewers as long as the Lindsay store stays in business. Needs more time to clear and that won't happen without some aging, but still a drinkable beer. Need to brew another one as soon as possible. Also need to get some Pils malt instead of CMC 2 row.

                                                     Taste On September 1

Weedy. That is what I am tasting now. Is it me? Is it the first time aroma hops? ( Hersbrucker Spat ). No idea. I am using Hallertauer for an aroma hop for the next Kolsch and we will see. Still not sure what happened with the odd taste. Made another one and left out the Hersbrucker hops. Tastes fine. I will not use the Hersbrucker hops again. I am selling 4 lbs. of Citra and will give them away to the first person who comes to buy my Citra.