[gmwren]

How would Sterling be?

[gordonstrong]

How would Sterling be?

I've used it before in a Kolsch.  I like it.

[gordonstrong]

I always use Spalt Select in my kolsch.  Isn't this the traditional kolsch hop?

I think you're thinking of altbier.

[gordonstrong]

I tend to step mash my Kolsch.  I most often use Durst pils, and I find it helps the clarity to do a short rest at 131F/55C.  Then I'll usually do something around 144F/62C for the main conversion and then a short rest at 158F/70C to give it a little body.  It's sort of what I do as rests for decoctions, but I step Alts and Kolsches (Kolschen?).

Wheat is not present in most commercial examples in Koln.  I only found a few of them.

I've had beers made this way advance to the 2nd round several times.

Do you have to do this?  No.  Does it make it better?  I don't know; I haven't made them side by side.  But I know this way tastes good, and I have been to Koln.

[malzig]

Kolsches (Kolschen?).

I'm pretty sure Kölsch is like deer, both singular and plural.  Sometimes you might hear someone say "drei Kölsche", which is something like "3 of those things from Köln".  If you don't use the umlaut, though, you should add an "e"; so it's Kölsch or Koelsch,  not Kolsch (sic), which would be pronounced incorrectly.

[tygo]

If I remember my German correctly this should be pronounced something like "kerlsh", correct?

What about the water profile for this one?  Should it be kept to a low mineral content?

[gordonstrong]

If I remember my German correctly this should be pronounced something like "kerlsh", correct?

What about the water profile for this one?  Should it be kept to a low mineral content?

Yeah, that's close.  Sort of shape your mouth to make the 'e' sound but then shape your lips to make the 'o' sound.  It adds a kind of ooo to the e that puts it in the ballpark.  At least that's how it sounds to me.

I usually make it with relatively low mineral content, but I like most of my beers that way.  I use 50/50 CaCl2 and CaSO4 and keep the total amount fairly low.

[johnf]

Gordon's description is pretty close to how they say it in Köln as I recall. On the other hand in an English conversation with a native German speaker in Bamberg about the rest of our trip, he said it a lot closer to how Americans typically say it.

Kinda like "how do you pronounce Louisville?" Do you want to know how they pronounce it there or how they pronounce it in, say, Chicago which is thought to be a neutral US accent.

[Hokerer]

Yeah, that's close.  Sort of shape your mouth to make the 'e' sound but then shape your lips to make the 'o' sound.  It adds a kind of ooo to the e that puts it in the ballpark.  At least that's how it sounds to me.

Yep, that "lips trick" is how we learned it in German class too.  Good old Frau Eck.

[hopfenundmalz]

Gordon's description is pretty close to how they say it in Köln as I recall. On the other hand in an English conversation with a native German speaker in Bamberg about the rest of our trip, he said it a lot closer to how Americans typically say it.

Kinda like "how do you pronounce Louisville?" Do you want to know how they pronounce it there or how they pronounce it in, say, Chicago which is thought to be a neutral US accent.

I think of the "oe" in German as how we say it in shoe.  But that is me and my poor Deutsch.

My German friends say the broadcasters there all have the Hanover accent.

[tygo]

I'm definitely going to add one of these to my brewing schedule soon.  Sounds like a great beer to have on tap for the hot summer months.

[tschmidlin]

In Köln it also sounded to my ears a little bit like it starts with a really hard G, like a regular American hard G ending with a harder K sound.

[oscarvan]

FWIW mine:

German 2 row pilsner 7.5
German Wheat 1
German Munich .75

Tettnanger @60 1.5
Spalt @15 .5
Spalt @ 5 .25
Czech Saaz @5 .25

Wyeast 2565

65º two weeks, another week at 34º, Keg and drink, although it will continue to clear for another two weeks in the kegerator to where you can read a newspaper through it.

No medals..... just raving reactions from the wife, and from my colleagues that have spent enough time drinking various iterations of it in Köln.

When you order beer you don't use the plural. You order "two beer" not "two beers" so in this case "zwei Kölsch".... If you were to describe many Kölsches as in "there are many different Kölsches brewed in Köln" I think it would be Kölschen.... but German is my third language and I am only abou 65% proficient. I defer to Kai on this one.

[euge]

Kolsch will most likely become one of my house beers. The simplicity coupled with great flavor won me over immediately. Now that we're going into summer a big batch is in order.

[bluesman]

Kolsch will most likely become one of my house beers. The simplicity coupled with great flavor won me over immediately. Now that we're going into summer a big batch is in order.

+1

I need to brew one up for the summer. Great on a hot day.