Traditional Cathedral Kölsch

Traditional Cathedral Kölsch

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.048 FG = 1.012
SRM = 2.8 IBU = 25 ABV = 4.7%

Ingredients
8.7 lbs. (3.9 kg) Pils malt (< 2 °L)
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) wheat malt (2 °L)
5.5 AAU Tettnanger (60 min.) (1.35 oz./38 g of 4.1% alpha acid)
1 oz. (28 g) Tettnanger hops (10 min.)
1 tsp. Irish moss
White Labs WLP029 (Kölsch) or Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) yeast
3/4 cup DME or corn sugar

Step by Step
If you want to be true to style, start with as thick a mash as you can, at roughly 110 °F (43 °C). Increase the mash temperature gradually by about 1 °F (1/2 °C) per minute by infusing it very slowly with near-boiling water. To avoid excessive hot spots, keep stirring the mash gently while you are raising the temperature. Once the mash reaches about 146 °F (66 °C), stop for a 30-minute rest, which favors the formation of easily fermentable maltose. Then employ the next saccarification rest, for about 15 minutes, in the upper 150 °F range (around 70 °C). Then ramp the temperature up to sightly below 170 °F (roughy 78 °C). It is OK to thin out the mash at this point. Some German breweries have as much as 80% of their net kettle volume in water in the mash tun before they start the sparge. During the sparge, check the mash temperature periodically, and make sure it remains steady. The sparge for a Kölsch may be relatively fast. Do not continue sparging when the run-off drops below a gravity of 1.010.

Boil the Kölsch for about 70 minutes. Add the bittering hops about 10 minutes into the boil and the flavor hops, as well as the Irish moss, about 10 minutes before shut-down. You can get by with only two additions of German noble hops. If your palate craves a smidgen more aroma, however, you can add an extra half-ounce of hops exactly at shutdown.

Cool the wort to the proper temperature and pitch a true Kölsch-style, top-fermenting yeast. The White Labs WLP029 (Kölsch) prefers a temperature of 65-69 °F (18–21 °C) and really does not like a temperature below 62 °F (17 °C). The Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch), on the other hand, is happiest at what is more of an altbier temperature of 56–64 °F (13–18 °C). Select the White Labs yeast if you like a fruitier Kölsch; select the Wyeast yeast if you prefer a cleaner, crisper taste. Wait for about two weeks until final gravity settles in. Now rack your brew off its lees and put it into your lagering fridge (or cool basement). When the beer is done, rack it again and prime with dried malt extract or corn sugar and bottle the beer. Making Kölsch is that simple!

Traditional Cathedral Kölsch

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.048 FG = 1.012
SRM = 2.8 IBU = 25 ABV = 4.7%

Ingredients
5.75 lbs. (2.6 kg) German-style light malt extract (such as Weyermann or Bierkeller)
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) wheat malt ( 2 °L)
5.5 AAU Tettnanger (60 min.) (1.35 oz./38 oz. of 4.1% alpha acid)
1 oz. (28 g) Tettnanger hops (10 min.)
1 tsp. Irish moss
White Labs WLP029 (Kölsch) or Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) yeast
3/4 cup DME or corn sugar

Step by Step
Coarsely mill the wheat, place it into a muslin bag and put the bag into cold water. Heat the water for about 30 minutes to 170–190 °F (77–88 °C). Do not boil the liquid! Lift the bag out of the pot and rinse it with several cups of cold water. Do not squeeze the bag! Add your “wheat water” to your kettle liquor and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat when you stir in the extract. Stir and bring to a boil. From then on, follow the all-grain instructions to finish the beer.