Helmut Kölsch

I debated not naming my Kölsch a stupid, nonsensical pun, but then I remembered who I am and what I represent. Thus, the name.

The Recipe:

8 lb 2-row pale malt
8 oz European Munich malt

6 AAU (56g @ 3% AA) Hallertau @ 60
3 AAU (28g @ 3% AA) Hallertau @ 30

1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min

Wyeast 2565 - Kölsch

Mashed at 152° for an hour using about 10.5 quarts of water. Sparged with 170°-190° water until I had about 26 quarts for the boil. My sparge was a combination of fly and batch sparging; more on that below.

O.G.: 1.035
Est. IBU: 36.2

The OG ended up extremely low, even for this relatively low-alcohol style. The reason for this is that, despite double-milling, I ended up with a dismal 61% mash efficiency, my second-worst since building my mash/lauter tun. I noticed right away that the mash was draining way too fast, so I tried to mitigate by slowing the outflow by adjusting my ball valve. Due to a design flaw with my spigot, this is extremely messy; so, I decided to close it off, pour in most of my on-deck sparge water, and do a mini batch sparge. I poured in about 8-10 qts and let it sit for five minutes, then resumed the drain. Still, efficiency was godawful.

Poor efficiency is something I can deal with; my problem is the wildly unpredictable nature of my last few mashes. I have already ended up with a 6.6% dunkelweizen which I was expecting to be in the low 5% range, and now a Kölsch which will be lucky to hit even 4%, with all other kinds of wild things in between. Perhaps it is time to invest in my own grain mill? It may indeed just be.