New Dry Kolsch Yeast

Saw this (also on special) at Hoppy Days. Keen to give it a go.

To be fair I think a vague descriptor is best, it's impossible to predict attenuation to the percent

I understand and agree in principle, but all of us use spreadsheets/calculators to predict numbers. So why not give a range, like white labs & wyeast? Something like 73-77% so it reinforces that the exact attenuation varies from batch to batch, but at least I’d know on average to expect 75% (& if everything is set up perfectly, then I’ll get 77%). They’d have the numbers, so I don’t see the harm is just giving out some numbers. Hell, they could say the same, then give the numbers in brackets like 75+/-5%.
I know by now we should know roughly what the numbers would be with those descriptors, but it just seems like an unnecessary withholding of information - one of my pet peeves.
/end rant 😄

I like to know a range so I can see how well it's attenuated, as an indicator of the health of the yeast.

I know that mash temp has a bit to do with how far it will attenuate, so is that why ranges are stated? ie. Mash at 63deg will give 82% attenuation, mash at 68deg will give 75% attenuation?

Nice, I just used K97 for a Kolsch... ferments with a decent range. Currently fermenting at 16C. Anyone used this to try and brew a kolsch? "Brewing Classic Styles" recommended US-05 fermented cold as a dry yeast option.

I have brewed a lot of kolsch over the years mainly using Wyeast 2565 and love the subtle red apple and pear esters it gives off. I was excited to try K97 but it simply is not a Kolsch yeast. It gave off low level banana which was totally out of place in a Kolsch. Super excited to give this new yeast a go.

For attenuations, it's a good idea to just suck it and see over a couple of brews via refrac / hydrometer readings and insert the resulting figure into your software.

For example Melbourne Ale Yeast, when used with some of the recipes from the original Bronzed Brews got me as full as a boot on a few pints so I had to drastically alter those recipes to get them down to the correct ABV. Similarly a lot of Notto recipes.

Very basic beer fermenting with it to allow character to shine through.

Same sort of experiment as my home brand yeast beer, so I have a sort of gauge.

Anyone done a brew with this yet?

Finally found it for a decent price, ordered some and will probably do a split batch of a basic kolsch between 029 and the koln to see how it all goes.

So I brewed a split batch last night. 15L of a basic recipe (see the what are you brewing 2019 thread for details if you are interested).

I added about 5g into my 4 and a bit litres of wort of the Koln dry yeast after rehydrating. I have also done the same with WLP029, from about 25-30 mL of slurry from a starter, and another demijohn with Gigayeast GY021 Kolsch, about 40mL of slurry from a fresh pack, which is probably about a quarter of the pack.

All 3 were aerated with an airstone + aquarium pump for about 5 minutes before pitching. The WLP029 went off first, it had a nice krausen to it this morning so about 8-9 hours lag time to krausen. The Gigayeast looked a bit slower, i ended up adding some extra slurry to that one and warming it up then it went nuts a couple of hours later, so probably about 13 hours to krausen. After that I felt bad for the dry yeast so i sprinkled a little more in, probably about 1 or 2 g, only a small amount.
After all that dry yeast started last, it formed a krausen finally probably after about 16-18 hours after pitching (see below)

Anyway so far so good. Nothing smells very sulfury yet but i find that takes a good couple of days to come out. Looking forward to the final result to see which one goes the best.  

Plus also looking forward to seeing how some mash pH adjustment with phosphoric + acidulated goes for a nice crisp / tart kolsch

really quick update... pulled a little sample. been fermenting for a week. All of them have dropped pretty clear now, the koln is still fermenting just very slowly now. Edit: actually they're all still fermenting slowly, just had a slight air leak in the rubber bungs.

Pretty impressed with the taste for the dry yeast! It's dry, malty/crisp, clean but with enough esters to set it apart as a Kolsch from say US05. The GY021 tastes good too. Both of them taste better to my palate than the WLP029 batch (which is still alright, just outshone here a bit)... I'd have no hesitation in using it again. Huell Melon seems like a good hop to use in a kolsch as well

Going to give it another week or so then bottle & put some into mini kegs and see how it goes when carbonated.

Like your work, Ben. Thanks for your effort and for sharing.

My last kolsch was with WLP029 and I haven't been totally wowed by the result, so your observations strike a chord.

It was slow to start for me. Did you pitch two packs or just the one and did you rehydrate?

I forgot to say earlier that while it does taste good, 2 packs at $6 or $7 each makes it not much cheaper than a liquid yeast, plus a liquid yeast you can split up and make a starter each time you need it...

Not sure which way round it was, but I just got back results from the NSW state comp and scored 1st and 2nd place in the pale ale/hybrid category with two of the beers from the split wort experiment , with GY021 and Lalbrew koln.

84 and 78 points, the 78pt beer ended up winning the category after the mini-BOS round.

Edit: The original 84 pointer beer was the Koln dry, the GY021 scored 78pts, due to some sulfur as it was young. But by the time the mini-BOS round was run the sulfur must have gone away and the GY021 ended up pipping the Koln to the 1st place, but the Koln still took 2nd.

Edit: Also wrote-up what I did here - sykesey.id.au/?p=12