I posted this else where and got no answers maybe this is a better spot.
I’m planning a kolsch /ipa. This will be our 4 of July beer so I was thinking 'mericuh sounding hops. I’m was thinking about using liberty and centennial. 10g at 75 min boil racking the kolsch off at 15 min. Using most of my liberty in the 1st 60 then hitting the smaller batch up to a boil again for late hopping with centennial.
During research I saw that liberty, mt hood, and crystal are “sister hops”.
What are their differences in those 3 hops and what would work best with my idea?
My recipe
Kolsch/ IPA
Brew day
10g
Mash- 150
15# rahr 2 row
1.5# honey malt
.5# victory malt
Hop additions
3 oz liberty at 75
1 oz liberty at 30
.5 oz liberty at 20
Rack off 5.5 at 15 to begin cooling kolsch
Remaining 5.5 for ipa
1.5 oz centennial
Bring back to a boil for 15
2oz centennial at f/o
Dry hop .5oz of liberty and .5 of centennial 7 days
White labs German ale/ kolsch
Ferm schedule
3 weeks at 16c
1 week at .5c
Bottled
I’m not really clear as to what you are doing. Are you doing one big boil, then racking some of the wort off with 15 minutes left in the boil to do a separate boil where you can add your late addition hops?
If so, I think your plan is fine, you could probably do all Centennial as they are very versatile and good for single-hopped beers (witness Two Hearted). Liberty will just give you some floral and noble character if you want to use them as more of a gimmick/schtick for The Fourth.
Either way, that is an s-load of honey malt. I would back it off to 0.25# maximum for the beer. I actually wouldn’t use it at all for a kolsch, and would hesitate with an IPA .
To clarify Im on a 1 mash 1 boil 2 beer kick.
So yea, I’m making a kolsch with a 60 boil then racking it off leaving about 5.5 gal of wort to hop hard to make what I hope to be an ipa.
I’m fairly new to brewing so only like 6/7 brew days undermy belt so just need the advise.
I got the honey malt ratio from doubling the Northern brewer cream ale kit recipe.
Do you recommend using a wheat malt instead of the honey malt?
I have a 1/2 # of victory and honey malt on hand and was trying to use it
[quote=“Hatchet Jackson”]To clarify Im on a 1 mash 1 boil 2 beer kick.
So yea, I’m making a kolsch with a 60 boil then racking it off leaving about 5.5 gal of wort to hop hard to make what I hope to be an ipa.
I’m fairly new to brewing so only like 6/7 brew days undermy belt so just need the advise.
I got the honey malt ratio from doubling the Northern brewer cream ale kit recipe.
Do you recommend using a wheat malt instead of the honey malt?
I have a 1/2 # of victory and honey malt on hand and was trying to use it
What about these options?
15# 2row
1# wheat malt
.5 victory
.5 honey
15# 2 row
2# wheat malt
.5# victory[/quote]
Split batches like that are a great way to learn about how ingredients affect beer, so you’re definitely on the right track. Let us know how they turn out.
If you are new(er) to brewing I would really advocate for keeping specialty malts to a minimum when designing recipes. Both of the above look good, (though I would lean toward #2) I forgot you are producing 10 gallons of wort so maybe your honey malt ratio is ok.
Not quite as extreme as a kolsch/IPA split but if you can brew 10 gallons an easy way to create some variety is to use whirlpool hops. Around once a year I’ll do a simple beer like a blonde or american wheat where I brew up a 10 gallon batch but I’ll pull half off it out into a fermenter and then whirlpool the other half with a good amount of hops (and maybe even dry hop it after fermentation). Fairly easy to do since I have a plate chiller but would be tough to do with an immersion chiller.
Works well for creating a basic easy drinking beer for hotter days and hop adverse guests and a more interesting beer to try out some hops.
Your plan overall looks like it should work, but you might want to make a few tweaks. With that grain bill (assuming you get decent efficiency, 75-80%), you will end up with a higher OG on the Kolsch than is typical, but definitely on the low side for the IPA. So instead of making 11 gallons of wort and splitting it 5.5/5.5, use the same amount of grain and only make 10 gallons. Then use 5.5 for the IPA, 4.5 for the kolsch, and add 1 gallon of water to the kolcsh wort before you boil it. That should give you a Kolsch with an OG around 1.045, and an IPA with an OG around 1.055.
Also, make sure you use a kolsch yeast for the kolsch. Otherwise it won’t be a kolsch, just a blond ale.
