A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

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WishboneBrewery
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A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Apr 16, 2011 7:40 am

What Wit after a bit of discussion with Graeme Coates on twitter last night, here's what I'll go with for my next brew, I want it light and refreshing.
I've been really impressed how my last brew has got a lovely paler-than-light-straw colour and thought that if I chuck out the orange and Coriander and ferment with an Ale yeast rather than a Belgian, should make an interesting brew, along with my first use of Tettnang hops and a single hop beer to boot.
GC's suggestion of using the Whitelabs Kolsch yeast and this rolls up a few things to tick off my list of Things-To-Brew.

Hopefully a good session beer to sit in the garden drinking :)

Fermentables:
Lager Malt - 2520g 55%
Flaked Wheat - 1600g 35%
Flaked Rye - 455g 10%

Hops:
Tettnang - 4.3 % @ 60 mins - 50g
Tettnang - 4.3 % @ 10 mins - 20g
Tettnang - 4.3 % @ 0 mins - 20g

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol Content: 4% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.9 Litres
Mash Liquor: 11.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 70 % (lowering my efficiency from usual 80%)
Bitterness: 27 EBU
Colour: 2 EBC

Will be about a 2 hour mash period if the last Wit mash is anything to go by.

Thoughts?

coatesg

Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by coatesg » Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:33 am

Yup-this is basically an American Wheat beer but using German hops. My "American/Teutonic Wheat cross-breed" description was about right ;)

Wolfy

Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by Wolfy » Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 am

Wyeast's Kölsch yeast (Wy2565) drops amazingly clear and also imparts a number of interesting flavours to the beer, so I guess the WhiteLabs yeast might be similar.
Typically (or so I thought) a Wit beer is 'white' because of both suspended yeast and wheat proteins, which may or may not be the case if you use Kölsch yeast, but I'm not saying it won't work or be a good beer.

WishboneBrewery
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Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:58 am

I'm not fussed if it stays cloudy, though I bet it clears once in bottles, I quite like the hazy look.
I'll get the WL tube in a starter during the week. and Brew next Sunday.

MAF

Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by MAF » Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:35 pm

My latest brew is using the Kolsch yeast. I'm fermenting it at 15-16C to give a clean crisp ferment. Last time I used it I fermented around 20C and it gave lots of fruity esters. It did drop clear in the bottles (but due to overcarbonation it poured cloudy :oops: ) - but that was an extract recipe. Be interesting to see if it drops clear with the wheat/rye (or spelt malt in my recipe)

WishboneBrewery
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Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by WishboneBrewery » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:04 pm

Fingers crossed for the weekend, I bought the Flaked Wheat from my local Whole-Foods shop today.

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Re: A Wit Malt bill fermented with Kolsch yeast

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:20 pm

I'm actually going with this, added 5% Munich but its still very pale. I might throw 30g of hops in late instead of 20g to use the pack up.

Kolsch Wit

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Lager Malt 2.5 EBC 5 lbs. 8.6 oz 2510 grams 55%
Flaked Wheat 0 EBC 3 lbs. 0.3 oz 1370 grams 30%
Flaked Rye 0 EBC 1 lbs. 0.1 oz 455 grams 10%
Munich Malt 20 EBC 0 lbs. 8.0 oz 225 grams 5%

Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Tettnang Whole 4.3 % 60 mins 0 lbs. 1.8 oz 50 grams 55.6%
Tettnang Whole 4.3 % 10 mins 0 lbs. 0.7 oz 20 grams 22.2%
Tettnang Whole 4.3 % 0 mins 0 lbs. 0.7 oz 20 grams 22.2%

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol Content: 4% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.9 Litres
Mash Liquor: 11.4 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 70 %
Bitterness: 27 EBU
Colour: 3 EBC

Lager Liquor Treatment profile.

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