Dry yeast for Kolsch

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Midlife
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Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Midlife » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:48 pm

Hello,

I’ve drifted away from liquid yeast having found very good results with some mainstream brands. I m planning on a kolsch for summer and was wondering if Safale K-97 German ale yeast is good one? Or are there any others I’ve missed?

Thanks.

D

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:20 am

K-97 is about the best of the dry ale yeasts for Kolsch. You can also go with W-34/70 lager yeast at about the same 62/63 degrees F. to make a nice Kolsch. Or make a split batch and pitch K-97 in one and W-34/70 in the other to see if you can discern a difference.
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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Cobnut » Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:17 am

I’ve only brewed the one kölsch, but I used the cross my loof kölsch yeast which worked ok. I entered it in a competition and whilst it didn’t win a medal, I did get some positive feedback on the beer. Cheap option too.

Planning another kölsch sometime soon, so would be interested in your results.


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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Marshbrewer » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:11 am

+1 for CML Kolsch. I don't get on with their real ale and US pale yeasts*, so wasn't expecting much, but it's a cracker. Their Cali Common is great too. The Kolsch will ferment at 12° if double pitched, needs a diactyl rest, and a few weeks lagering / cold conditioning.

* I point this out to illustrate that I'm not an automatic CML fan, not to drag down their other yeasts; many people get excellent results with them and I'm in somewhat of a minority not enjoying the flavour of these two. CML are great to deal with.

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Robwalkeragain » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:45 pm

K-97 for sure.

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Kingfisher4 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:00 pm

JJSH wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:11 am
+1 for CML Kolsch. I don't get on with their real ale and US pale yeasts*, so wasn't expecting much, but it's a cracker. Their Cali Common is great too. The Kolsch will ferment at 12° if double pitched, needs a diactyl rest, and a few weeks lagering / cold conditioning.

* I point this out to illustrate that I'm not an automatic CML fan, not to drag down their other yeasts; many people get excellent results with them and I'm in somewhat of a minority not enjoying the flavour of these two. CML are great to deal with.
My experience with crossmyloof is extremely similar to the above. The only beer I have brewed so far which had an odd undertaste was with their real ale yeast, it was my first ever and probably my fault, but I like and trust Liberty Bell for similar bitters so haven’t revisited their real ale yeast.

The California common is my go to for my golden British Ales now. The US pale didn’t seem to clear, their Cali Common may be a good alternative.

The level of personal service and communication is phenomenal, even for relatively small value yeast orders.

Again, I am sure it is my failing, due to lack of ability to control fermentation temperature tightly, but the Kolsch and Cali have both proved superb at rescuing stalled fermentation with other much more expensive dried yeasts

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Marshbrewer » Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:02 pm

Kingfisher4 wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:00 pm

The California common is my go to for my golden British Ales now. The US pale didn’t seem to clear, their Cali Common may be a good alternative.
That's really interesting, as I've only done traditional Cali common & Kentucky common ales and pseudo lagers with their California Common yeast (all with great results). Do you ramp the temp up a bit when you are using it for golden British ales? Does it need a period of cold conditioning / lagering when using it for this purpose? I'm looking at getting a few golden ales down as hop testing SMASH's, so a good cheap yeast would be a godsend, particularly one that can be ordered with the hops!

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Kingfisher4 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 5:25 pm

JJSH wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:02 pm
Kingfisher4 wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:00 pm

The California common is my go to for my golden British Ales now. The US pale didn’t seem to clear, their Cali Common may be a good alternative.
That's really interesting, as I've only done traditional Cali common & Kentucky common ales and pseudo lagers with their California Common yeast (all with great results). Do you ramp the temp up a bit when you are using it for golden British ales? Does it need a period of cold conditioning / lagering when using it for this purpose? I'm looking at getting a few golden ales down as hop testing SMASH's, so a good cheap yeast would be a godsend, particularly one that can be ordered with the hops!

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.
My processes are pretty rudimentary at the moment, having only started brewing a year ago.
Fermentation is in a plastic FastFerment with an insulation jacket, hot water bottles or frozen 2 L ice bottles to regulate temperature!

Despite this, I have had good results, with the Cali common yeast at about 18°C, I am sure cold crashing would help, but even without this, the yeast drops out of suspension in my bottles and stays pretty well compacted.

A shiny new Grainfather conical has just arrived, so look forward to experimenting and improving further.

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Rookie » Wed Mar 20, 2019 6:20 pm

I used the K-97 for an alt that turned out pretty good.
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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by patwestlake » Fri Mar 22, 2019 1:51 pm

+1 for CML - used it twice and each came out really well. Fermented at 16degC for 10 days, an 18deg DAR for 2 days then down to 4 deg for 2 weeks. Did a bit of a vanishing trick over last summer once the neighbours discovered it!!

Not sure about the US Pale yeast - had similar interesting flavours and have gone back to US05.

Interested in K97 though, and also the Cali Common for golden ales vs my normal MJ liberty Bell

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Re: Dry yeast for Kolsch

Post by Kingfisher4 » Fri Mar 22, 2019 3:52 pm

patwestlake wrote:
Fri Mar 22, 2019 1:51 pm
+1 for CML - used it twice and each came out really well. Fermented at 16degC for 10 days, an 18deg DAR for 2 days then down to 4 deg for 2 weeks. Did a bit of a vanishing trick over last summer once the neighbours discovered it!!

Not sure about the US Pale yeast - had similar interesting flavours and have gone back to US05.

Interested in K97 though, and also the Cali Common for golden ales vs my normal MJ liberty Bell

Pat
I have brewed Summer Lightning with both Cali Common and MJ Liberty Bell on different occasions and whilst I'm still very new to this, would say that Liberty Bell was slightly more flavoursome, but Cali Common cleared and compacted well and tasted cleaner / more neutral. I and friends happily drank both and I'll probably use both yeasts again for the same styles until I decide if one is preferable to us or if both seem pretty equal 2 sachets of Cali are much cheaper than 2 MJ's so I may stick with that.

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