Maggie Kolsch - Tuesday, June 13, 2023 ( Very Bitter ) TOSSED

Tossed this one and the next one out. Just way too much hops at the 60 min. mark. What were you thinking? I need to go through my recipes more and think about how it will taste. I should of used some Magnum at the 60 min. mark with some Hallertauer at the end of the boil, but not too much. Keep it light.

Make a starter on June 5 - One step. Pitched the Kolsch in the flask at around 3 pm. I forgot to add some wort to the package of Kolsch or even massage it to get all of it to come out of the package. Next time you have to add some wort and put in a long handled spoon to mix it all up. At least shake it a lot to mix in with the already wort in it. In the end though, I got it all as I added a lot of wort from a plastic cup and shook it somewhat. Hard to do as the risk of spillage was great. I ended up with 4.5 L in the flask. Starter done on June 7. Took out the over build and am ready for brewday. Looking at the 5 L flask, I seem to get more yeast in the over build than I do after I take out 1 L for an over build. I know the flask is big, but not sure how to do this any other way. I watched on You Tube one guy only over builds in a 500 ml jar. If I do that I will only get half the yeast and will have to make an even larger starter when I use the Conical. I will most likely have to do a step starter but I do have 3 flasks. I am sure I read somewhere that the ideal temperature for this yeast is 18C. I think on the package itself. Their site says 59F to 72F. I am turning it down to 62F now that it is active. Done.

Ingredients

22 lbs. Pils Malt

1 lb. Munich I

1 lb. Vienna

102 grams Hallertauer at 60 min.

Escarpment Labs Kolsch

CA - 37

MG - 4

CI - 36

S04 - 70

PH - 5.35

O.G. - 1.049

F.G. -  1.010

% -     5.13 - ( 79% )

SRM - 3.5

BU - 23

Mash - 9 gallons

Sparge - 9 gallons

Mash Water

Gyp - 2.5 g

CI - 1.8 g

Eps - 2.4 g

Lactic Acid - 4.8 ml

Boil

Gyp - 2.5 g

CI - 1.8 g

Eps- 2.4 g

Sparge Water 

Lactic Acid - .3 ml

                                                            Conical Prep

You need to clean all the valves in oxiclean and boil them to finish. You never took them apart last year after the final brew day. I smelled beer when I brought them out. Dummy... Hose down the mash tun and boiler out on the deck. Be careful to not get water in the electrical housing. They needed cleaning with BKF too. Almost done prep. Just have to give the kettle and mash tun a good scrub with BKF and install the valves and I am good to go. Mill the grains too. Buy water on Monday, June 12. You will have 2 days to get organized for brew day. A lot to do to prep for brew day. Valves were a pain in the ass. The kettle screen parts were rusty. I can't use the small cone. My spares are different and am not sure if they work or not because how would I know? I will know when I see a lot of trub going into the Conical at the end of brew day. Done. Will see when I am done cooling the wort and start to drain to my ss pot. If it is hazy or even chunky, something is not right with the hop stopper hardware. Still not done prep. Will work on the Conical tomorrow and put it together for Tuesday.

                                                                        BREW DAY NOTES

Had a boil over. I was only 2 feet away but enough for a small mess. Almost put the no foam in but was cleaning the mash tun. Not fun cleaning that up. However, the chiller is in at 8:10 which I never got with Mr. Robobrew. 6000 watts works faster than 1500 watts :) Not sure when I can pitch the yeast. Have to get the wort down to 64 F. I will be close and use the fridge to do the rest. Wort tastes fine, lots of bitterness. Gravity right on at 1.049. The best thing about not brewing lagers is just setting the ferm temp and walking away for 2 weeks. No screwing around with the temperature of the fermenter and the outside temp. 

                                                      PITCHED KOLSCH YEAST @ 7 AM June 14

June 15 - Going good.

June 20 - Bubbling every 30 seconds or so.

June 21 - Very slow but steady. Keg in 7 - 10 days from now.

                                                           KEGGED JUNE 30 AT 8:30 AM

                                                            TASTE ON KEGGING DAY

Smells good. I remember that smell from years ago when I started to make this style. Been a long time since then. Thought I tasted more sweetness than usual, but it is hard to evaluate at kegging day. FG was fine though, it should not taste sweet. Will add gelatin on July 12. Will check for clarity and may not need it, but I mostly do. I will have 3 weeks to condition.

                                             ADDED GELATIN TO KEGS ON JULY 14

Sampled for taste and clarity on July 19. Not clear but pretty good. Got time. Got a big load of hop taste being from the bottom of the keg that the gelatin pulled down. 2 L pop bottle has some in and I carbed it up. Taste it later. Good beer. No off flavours. Not sure if I want it full time. Could not get another Kolsch yeast so I got a lager strain ( Goldrush ) which can be fermented at 62F. 

                                                       TRANSFERRED TO KEGS JULY 21

Finally got the Pub room tap hooked up. Lots of foam of course. Don't think any of my Kolsch

beers tasted like this one. Kind of light tasting with a good bitterness along for the ride. Clear too.

I have another one in the Conical with the yeast that I wasn't sure of the viability. Will keg on

Aug. 1st.

                                                                     TASTE ON JULY 28

Way over the top bitterness. Very cloying too. Why? I realize I added lots of hops, but that is what

you do when you use the Conical. Done this many times. If I ever brew this again I will just have to use some Magnum at 60 and a small amount of Hallertauer at 5 or 10 min for a bit of flavour and leave it at that. Actually hated it and I have another batch to keg. Yikes!!!

                                                        FINAL TASTINGS ON AUGUST 5

Nope. The 102 g of Hallertauer did a real number on this batch and the next one as well. Gave it a cloying taste which was over the top. Tossing this and the next one either now or when we get back from Nashville. Thinking on selling my big system but will hold on to it for now. I really need to get some tasty recipes together so I can easily brew them in the summer. I only want to brew once a month anyway and carrying them over to the shed to clean them is fine for now. When I cannot carry them over, yes, that will be time to sell them. I have to get a brew that suits dry yeast as only brewing once a month will not be good for over builds of liquid yeast. 

                                                       NOT SO FINAL TASTINGS AUGUST 20

Just got back from Nashville and drew a pint from the Pub Room. The tap stuck a bit, normal. Way better than expected. Way better than any beer I had from the US. Their Dale's Pale Ale was very good. I did remember it and that is why I bought a 6 pack. I did turn off the fridge before I went on vacation because I planned on dumping it. Not now though. Turned it back on. This definitely does not taste like a Kolsch. It tastes like a lager with high BU. It still has too much hop bitterness and aroma but what is done is done. Move on and do it right the next time. This is changing daily. The over the top noble hop taste is mostly gone and you are left with a high bitterness. Almost weedy. If it gets more weedy, out it goes. Had a glass on Aug. 29 after I made beer. Sucks. Weedy, too much noble hop aroma. Not sure how long I can drink this shit. I am going to taste the July Kolsch which have been in the fridge for a few weeks now. No gelatin yet. If it tastes like this shit, out it goes, fridge off and move forward to brewing better beers.

                                                  JULY KOLSCH IS INFECTED - TOSSED

Well, the way I treated it. In the fridge, out of the fridge. Hardly any hop taste though. Jesus...