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Author Topic: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch  (Read 2872 times)

Offline gmac

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Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« on: July 29, 2011, 08:43:07 am »
You can always tell the day after I've been driving for hours because I have all these dumb brewing ideas.  Yesterday I drove from Montreal to my side of Toronto (8 hours) so I had lots of windshield time.  Here is what I was thinking.

I have a batch of kolsch yeast (Wyeast) ready to go in a 3L starter.  I made a kolsch last week so I've been slowly building it back up from the residue left in the starter jug and now it's probably enough to do another batch.  But, I don't have pilsner malt or wheat malt and I'd read about using kolsch yeast in a cream ale somewhere.

Here's what I'm considering and I know it doesn't fit into anything approaching a recognized style.  Just thinking simple and summery for the end of August vacation.

8 lbs - Pale Malt (my supplier was out of 2-row so dug a bit deeper and bought 55 lbs of Weyerman Pale Malt)
2 lbs - Jaggery (instead of mashing corn or rice)
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 60
1/2 oz Cascade @ 30
1/2 oz Cascade @ 10
Kolsch yeast. 
Thoughts?

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2011, 03:08:06 pm »
Jaggery is good, but mild, and it will dry out the beer.  Mash warm at around 155 to 156 F.  And ditch the Cascade hops that will otherwise tend to cover up your jaggery.  Keep it simple, and it will be lovely.
Dave

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Offline gmac

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2011, 04:37:47 pm »
Ooops.  Sorry Dmtaylor, should have checked back earlier.
Ended up with 10 lbs of 2-row, 2 lbs of jaggery, 1 tbsp of black patent at sparge.
Mashed at 1.049 for 1 hour.  Added 1 oz of Centennial at 60, 1 oz of Amarillo at 10 and 1 oz at flameout.
Didn't help that my neighbour came by and we kicked my keg of Centennial APA that was awesome.  So, this will probably be a higher alcohol APA with Kolsch yeast instead of WLP001 like last time.  Not the best planning and forethought but hey, can't do everything perfect.  I am sure the jaggery will only end up as more alcohol and the flavour will be lost but hey, there's always next time.
Final result is 20 L of 1.076 OG wort.
Thanks anyway...

Offline jamminbrew

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2011, 05:48:59 pm »
Gmac... I think I'm gonna try this recipe, sounds pretty good.
Dmtaylor...  What hops would you use for the flavor/aroma?
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2011, 08:54:42 am »
I thijnk it sounds pretty tasty, but I agree with Dave that you prolly wasted the Jaggery. Also, I know a lot of people think Kolsch is a "clean" yeast but to my tastes it has an extremely pronounced yeast taste. If you are going for something "clean" don't use kolsch yeast. About the only thing I have ever found kolch yeast good for it kolsch.

Offline gmac

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2011, 09:07:29 am »
I agree, I probably wasted it but it was an impulse buy when I was getting Indian coriander and it was only 2 bucks for a kg.  The beer is fermenting away, I'll let you know what it tastes like.  I have a truer kolsch ready to go into a keg today or tomorrow so I'll see what it tastes like and how it compares to this one.

I had to use the jaggery because if I didn't it would be gone soon.  I kept walking by it and picking off little pieces to eat.  It certainly has a unique, buttery characteristics unlike anything I've ever tasted before.  My friend who is from England loved it and says that it reminds him of a candy that he grew up with and it must have been made with jaggery instead of regular sugar.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2011, 09:51:57 pm »
I think any hops will go okay with jaggery, even a little Cascade or the like, but too much of the "C" hops will tend to overpower it.

Personally I love Kolsch yeast and have used it for many beers other than Kolsch with very favorable results.  My experience is with the Wyeast; I haven't tried White Labs yet.
Dave

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Offline majorvices

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2011, 08:49:55 am »
I know a few breweries who use WLP029 as their "house yeast" so I tried to do that with my brewery. Just doesn't taste right in Alt or IPA. In fact, I had more success with US-05 for both of those styles. Now using WY1007 for the alt.

Also brewed a stout with WLP029 once and it just had a yeast character that came through even the dark roast malt.

I really like the WY2565 for my kolsch as well, but that yeast is very stubborn to drop out of suspension and has even more yeast character than the WL strain. So I guess in the end YMMV.

Offline gmac

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2011, 10:01:32 am »
I'm using the WY2565 for my normal Kolsch.  It will be 2 weeks tomorrow and is still bubbling away.  I've been keeping it in a swamp cooler but I haven't been religious about the ice since about day 5.  I'm gonna let it come up in temp and I hope it finishes out soon.
This is for a 5K run my wife is doing at the end of this month.  I'm going to keg it, cool it and fine it with gelatin and then leave it alone for 3 weeks.  The day before the run I was going to transfer it over to a new keg to take to the after party. 

Do you think this will be enough time to clear?  Any suggestions on how to handle it if not? 

I'm hoping to use the yeast for a 10 gal batch right after I keg this one so that I have some for myself too.  Next summer this will go into the brewing rotation in the spring but this is the first time I've made one (I'm assuming I'll like it since every seems to).

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Jaggery Cream Ale/Kolsch
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2011, 12:00:57 pm »
Without gelatin, it takes ~5 weeks for the 2565 yeast to settle out.  But with gelatin, you'll get it to clear within 48 hours (and probably much less than that).  Sounds like a plan.
Dave

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