Black Coal Kolsch

This session went pretty well. As you can see from the ProMash report, I was somehow able to get 100% efficiency from my system. Based on what I know of the scientific method and what I ended up with in my Advanced Chemistry class in high school (how was I able to extract caffeine from 7-Up? Answer: I wasn't.) it must have been an error in measurement somewhere. 

At any rate, most of the variables were held pretty consistent: mash temperature was good, fermentation temperature was pretty close to optimum, lag time was minimized by a monster 3-step starter. I think I had one of the biggest fermentations to date, and after a week in the conical with 4 days of consistent gravity readings, I moved the beer into carboys to lager. 

The timing of this beer couldn't have been better as Jamil Zainasheff has an article on kolsch in the May-June issue of BYO. I'm holding the beer at around 40°F and will keep it there for about a month as recommended in the article. I do have more airlock activity, so I may be able to drop the beer a bit further and get better attenuation from the yeast. It is, however, about 3 years old, hence the 3-step starter to get it going again. I have not yet resorted to the second addition of yeast to finish a beer, but that day may soon come.

Next up is the Oberon clone. Maybe Memorial Day weekend will be the time to do that so it's ready with the kolsch.

05-09-2009 Black Coal Kolsch 

A ProMash Brewing Session Report
Brewing Date: Saturday May 09, 2009
Head Brewer: Mike Ring
Recipe: Black Coal Kolsch

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
08-A Koelsch & Altbier, Koelsch-Style Ale
Min OG: 1.040 Max OG: 1.048
Min IBU: 16 Max IBU: 30
Min Clr: 4 Max Clr: 5 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
Batch Size (Gal): 7.00 Wort Size (Gal): 7.44
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.38
Anticipated OG: 1.044 Plato: 10.98
Anticipated SRM: 3.3
Anticipated IBU: 21.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.044 Plato: 10.98
Actual FG: 1.014 Plato: 3.57
Alc by Weight: 3.09 by Volume: 3.96 From Measured Gravities.
ADF: 67.5 RDF: 56.2 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.

Actual Mash System Efficiency: 100 %
Anticipated Points From Mash: 44.11
Actual Points From Mash: 59.05

Raw Pre-Boil Amounts - only targeted volume/gravity and evaporation
rate taken into account:
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 8.75 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.035 SG 8.85 Plato

With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:
Water Needed Pre-Boil Wort Size: 9.77 Gal
Water Needed Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.032 SG 7.95 Plato

Formulas Used
Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
68.8 7.82 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
12.5 1.42 lbs. Wheat Malt Belgium 1.038 2
12.5 1.42 lbs. Vienna Malt Germany 1.037 3
6.3 0.71 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
1.17 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 5.20 14.3 60 min
0.67 oz. Spalter Select Whole 5.00 3.9 30 min
1.17 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 5.20 3.6 20 min
0.66 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 5.20 0.0 0 min

Yeast
WYeast 2565 Kolsch

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Single Step
Heat Type: Heat Exchanger/HERMS 
Grain Lbs: 11.38
Water Qts: 19.54 Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 4.89 Before Additional Infusions
Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.72 Before Additional Infusions
Tun Thermal Mass: 0.25
Grain Temp: 68 F Before Additional Infusions

Rest Temp Time
Dough In: 166 0 Min
Saccharification Rest: 150 60 Min
Mash-out Rest: 168 10 Min
Sparge: 170 0 Min

Total Mash Volume Gal: 5.80 - After Additional Infusions

Runnings Stopped At: 1.010 SG 2.56 Plato

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.







Generated with ProMash Brewing Software

Railing Against Stupidity

I don't know if any of you folks on the other side of the pond have been subjected to this stupidity, but apparently the people at SAB Miller think we're all a bunch of uneducated buffoons who will take anything that's fed to us by way of the telly as gospel. The first thing to really get my goat was their claim to a special process called "Triple Hops Brewing", which according to their web site, does the following: 1) The first hop addition gives a "clean, distinctive Pilsner flavor and aroma". Okay, STOP RIGHT THERE. Flavor AND AROMA? The majority of the flavor comes from the water (ESPECIALLY in the case of a Pils/Pilsner/Pilsener - I don't know which style they claim to be brewing), malt and yeast. I was always under the impression that the last hop addition was the aroma hop. Maybe that's been my problem all along. 

2) The second addition gives "balance: perfect body and hop taste". HOP TASTE? IN MILLER LITE? Come on, has anyone ever really tasted hops in Miller Lite? 

3) The third addition the hops "add to Miller Lite's perfect head and locks in its great taste". Wow. What a steaming pile of crap. Another ad asks "Does the fact that we add hops at three times during the brewing process, instead of all at once, ever cross your mind?" Of course it doesn't because I would be shocked to think they'd use more than a smattering of hops in any given batch. Divide that smattering into three different additions and you've got, well, what's the technical term for a third of a smattering? A skosh? A pinch? A dash?

The latest insult was their claim that they use "the best hops in the world - Idaho hops." HUH? Idaho hops? I always thought that the noble hops were the best for classic european styles, and if one was brewing something that needed to be big and hoppy, you would probably go with cascades.  But Idaho? Hell, I didn't even know they GROW hops in Idaho.

I can't wait until their next attempt to shove misinformation and marketing down our throats comes when I'm having a really bad day, because it may just be enough to make me snap. They've even gone so far as to have trademarked the term "Triple Hops Brewing". Anyone ever think to trademark the term "potable drinking water"?

Hops v2.0.2

I've been doing a bit more reading, especially about commercial hop growing and some of the techniques that can be applied to small-scale hop produciton. I think one of the things I've been misinformed about is multiple bines on one line. Last year I had trimmed back the plants to one bine per line, but I read recently from Glen Fuller, an organic hops grower in Colorado (and also the supplier of hops to New Belgium for their Century Ale) that he lets three to four bines go per line, which increases yields. I'm guessing that this is also the number at which if you exceed the number of bines per line you'll begin to experience adverse issues, such as mildew or rot. I am going to give this a try this year and see how things go.

On a related note, here's a link to New Belgium's Century Ale.