[Pi]

Brewing a Kolsch; pitched a 1 gallon starter at 64. It's going great after a brief lag time, but the temp is up to almost 70. Is this from the fermentation activity? It's only been fermenting for about12 hours. Gonna try and drop the temp.

[bluesman]

I wouldn't try to drop the temp too much as you might get some flocculation, but try stabilizing the temp instead.  It might be on the fruitier side at 70F, but it will still be a good Kolsch. I typically ferment this yeast in the 58-62F range, but a little warmer will be fine.

[udubdawg]

this yeast can sometimes be finicky at cold temps, and in my experience doesn't necessarily need to be that cold as compared to other strains.   I pitch at 64 and let go to 67 all the time.  Last time it got out of control and hit 70 I slowly brought it back down to 67 over a day.  FWIW some guy named Hieronymous gave that batch a silver medal.

long cool lagering will clean it up and you'll end up with restrained white wine grape, very slight tartness, sometimes other fruits at low levels.  I know the fruitiness it produces doesn't appeal to everyone but I love this strain.

good luck--
--Michael

[agamenong]

I fermented a Pale Ale with this yeast at 69F and got a lot of sulfur notes. I let it condition for 4 weeks and the the sulfur notes droped significantly.

[guido]

I've used the WLP029 at both 55F and 68F.  Personally, I prefer the 55F Kolsch, but the one at 68F was still very good.  As was posted before, stabilize it at a constant temperature and you'll be fine.

[kylekohlmorgen]

I think the Wyeast Kolsch yeast needs a diacetyl rest to clean up the beer, so even though you're at high temps, I would still do it. 72-73F would be enough.

Might need a few more weeks to lager (as well as a few more days to drop the temp to lager temps, but I think you'll be ok.

Would love to hear how it turns out!

[morticaixavier]

I use this yeast in my Kolsch and porter it's great and works fine in the upper 50s.

Funny thing though. I just sent my kolsch to a comp last weekend and the notes from the judges were that it was too clean.

one quote: "This should be a fruit ale"

and that from a national ranked judge. sad. anywho. I find that at 58-64 it's very clean. haven't had it hit 70 except at the end when I was trying to get it to finish up. Hadn't thought of it as a d-rest but I didn't have any diacetyl in the finished beer.