Brewing an American Blonde Ale with Fermentis K-97 Yeast!
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- Brewing and tasting an American Blonde Ale that Mike fermented with Fermentis K97 yeast.
Mike wanted to get a light but decidedly American Blonde Ale ready for summer sipping. He focused on a light highly fermentable grain bill coupled with an extended low temperature mash. To give the beer some summer appeal he used Loral Hops to capture a unique fruit like quality but maintain some earthy/woody notes as well.
A semi-unique aspect to this brew was the use of Fermentis K97 yeast. This is a German Ale yeast that seems to primarily be a Kölsch style yeast despite some people that seem to use it as a German wheat beer yeast. I guess that's OK if you want a super clean wheat beer as we didn't detect any of the traditional German wheat beer characteristics you'd expect from other yeast strains.
This beer is crisp and light and ready for summer.
Recipe below.
CHEERS!
RECIPE:
6.5 gallon post boil batch
Mash 150F/65.5C -75min
Mashout 168F/75.5C -10min
OG 1.052
FG 1.009
8lb/3.63kg Weyermann Pils
1lb/453g Flaked Barley
1lb/453g Weyermann CaraHell (13L)
0.5oz/14g Cascade 6%AA-60min
2oz/56g Loral 10%AA-10min
Fermentis K97
Ferment at 60F/15/5C 10days, raise temp to 68F/20C addn'l 3days
#BlondeAle #K97 #BrewDudes
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I love using k-97….it’s a great yeast that doesn’t get the love it deserves!
Do you have other styles you've used it for? Cheers! -Mike
Alt-B, PA, kolsch/blonde/cream ale, Irish red. It’s my S-05 lol. I see it as a blend of lager and ale yeast….really clean but ads a little to the malt. I think the description of the yeast scares ppl from trying it..it makes great beer every time…
I use it more than anything else. It is fantastic in a stout!
I used K97 recently for a blonde beer that I brewed parti-gyle style with the grains from my Belgian Tripel. The result was surprisingly good, a light 4% beer with a punch from the Mosaic, Citra and El Dorado hops. I will surely use it again. Nice video as always!
Nice hop Combo! Cheers! -Mike
Loral is a great hop for a Blonde Ale! Nice choice!
Cheers! -Mike
I really like this yeast in blonde/kolsch style beers - takes a while to clear in my experience but underrated and clean.
I love the finish this yeast gave the beer. I'll be experimenting with it some more in the future. Cheers! -Mike
Looks great, thanks for posting!
Thanks for commenting! Cheers! -Mike
comfort in the summer time!
Its important to be prepared. Cheers! -Mike
You guys didn’t seemsthat thrilled with this beer, but I’m surprised I thought the recipe sounded excellent! A local brewery here did a hoppy kolsch with 1lb/barrel of loral in the whirlpool that I absolutely loved! I was stunned at how hoppy / resinous it came through in a 5% package. Also inspired by that I did a kolsch with 2oz of Nelson in the whirpool that I’m loving, although it really drinks more like a pale ale.
Thanks Curt!
An interesting ale for sure. Sounds great.
We liked it. Cheers! -Mike
Fantastic as usual. I may give K97 a shot!
Its been available for so long I can't believe its taken me this long to give it a go. Cheers! -Mike
Hmm, got some Loral I didn't really know what to do with. Thanks for the inspiration!
Came in a multi-pack of "American Classic" 2oz packages I got as a gift. I know precisely what to do with the C hops, but the Loral had me stumped.
Cheers! -Mike
Great video. Loral is a great hop and totally underrated. I make a kveik pal ale with loral. Loral is great in my table beer saison too
I think Loral would work well in a saison. - John
New sub! Liked 🙂😁😀👍
Thanks so much! Cheers! -Mike
I too made a Kolsch w that yeast (I had some as I use it for altbier). Made a very nice Kolsch to my taste
You asked in later comments what other styles. As I stated I use it in Altbier. Brings out the malt character. I think it’s good for that style as well
Yeah! No one brews enough Alt anymore. I might try to work that into the Fall rotation. Cheers! -Mike
Great video as usual, going to go get some k97 and try something close to this!
I'm really digging into these dried yeast strains. Cheers! -Mike
thanks guys....question which would not go away while I watched....K97 and one of your Cream Ales recipes.....this seem to be a natural. did a fair number of K97 brews in the Spring- kolsch 2x and the an Alt ale ....took a long time to clear but results were good......sort of lagered the batches for 2 weeks and drew off about .5L under very low pressure every couple days to taste and also clear out the beers. my kolsch was a bit off color wise but was refreshing
I'd love to try it for sure. The only thing that would give me pause is that with Cream Ale I am expecting a clean lager-like crisp finish and the Kölsch yeast finishes a little different. There really is something to that pillowy finish move Kölsch puts out. But its worth a try in cream ale I am going to do it next time I brew one. Maybe even split batch it. Cheers! -Mike
Safe travels to hbc boys. When you get a chance, can you let me know where local You are getting all the different dry yeasts? My shop by Uxbridge doesn’t carry many dry versions. Right on with the blond ale, it’s getting hotter for sure. Cheers from Uxbridge fellas.
I've been ordering from Jaspers Homebrew in Nashua. Really fast delivery turn around and they have had most all the Lallemand dry strains I've wanted to play with along with these Fermentis strains. They are not a sponsor of our program so I don't mind dropping their name here. If there is something I can't get online from them then I usually hit Morebeer. Only because I've been ordering specialty stuff from them for years. Cheers! -Mike
that is my go yeast for a cream ale or a session pale ale, low abv and IBU, my father love those, it been a while that I didn't brew with, might use again, the only problem is the low flow, but nothing you can't resolve with a nice long cold crash
Its been undisturbed in my keg now for >10days. Last night we drank some while shooting new videos and it was getting clearer for sure. A lot clearer than it was when we shot this video. Cheers! -Mike
I used this for a Witbier, it was really mellow (just a bit of pils malt, wheat malt and Perle hop). For me it was too mellow, it could use a little kick.
I also wonder if doing a Ferrulic Acid rest in the mash would give this yeast something to work with along that German wheat ale concept. Cheers! -Mike
Hey, I think I was the one asking about K-97 - glad you guys had a good experience. Looking at your recipe there, looks like you were better about temperature control then I was, which probably explains it - I keep getting weird, sort of stone fruit flavors with it that I don't really care for in Kolsch or hybrid beers. Might work in a wheat beer, though, wonder if that's why people are using it that way, they're just fermenting too hot?
Brewing Classic Styles says 60*F and lager it.
Yeah... maybe it was. BREW ON! Next time I want to do a wheat beer ferment at 60F and 70F and compare the differences to get just at that point you're making. Cheers! -Mike
I use it at low 60s. I do find it beneficial to age it cold for a bit otherwise I get a weird sourness that goes away w time
@@goathairrug Oh, yeah, I mean, I did it wrong, to be sure. I don't have temp control, so I spent about a year going through every yeast I could lay my hands on to see what actually worked at the mid to high 70's temp that my basement almost always is (except in the dead of winter). Nothing wrong with K-97 except that it really, really, isn't one that works at those temperatures. There were some that really surprised me, though - W34/70 is gorgeous at that temp, so are, obviously, all the Belgian strains, a lot of British strains, and, of course, good 'ole US05, so I tend to stick with those at this point in my brewing career.
@@BrewDudes That's a good idea, yeah!
I appreciate this video. I have a pack of K-97 which I bought with intent to use in a (British) Brown Ale. I don’t recall where I got this idea but it’s not original.
Grateful to see your fermentation schedule and for the comments around flocculation/sedimentation. I’ll bottle condition whatever I make with it so might try some finings prior to bottling. Have you ever used ‘fungal chitosan’ finings?
For note, it is clearing up quicker than I thought in the cold keg. I suspect that if you bottle conditioned with this yeast you'd get good clarity. I'd let the bottle carbonate then put a 6-pack at a time in the fridge (if space was an issue) and they'll drop pretty quick I think. Cheers! -Mike
Loral ... I pronounce it like "moral" but with a 'L' and is marketed as a 'Lemon and Floral'. Kinda hit or miss hop. One my faves is from Dandy Brewing - NEIPA with Centennial, Sabro, Loral Cryo and Simcoe Cryo. Crazy combo but it works. I'd love to know if K97 gives off much sulfur?
I didn't give much sulfur in the final beer. I do tend to ramp up the temp near the end. With it fermenting in the garage if I was blowing off sulfur I may have missed it. All that said though we don't get any sulfur in the final product. Cheers! -Mike
So here is a personal conundrum. I don’t like pilsners (made from Pilsen grain) but I really enjoy Kolsch beers (also made with Pilsen), especially in the summer. What do you think causes this inconsistency?
Maybe you don't like the flavors contributed by the lager yeasts used in pilsners but you enjoy the flavors from ale yeasts used for a kolsh?
I second what JW said. I'm reverse of your taste preferences in like Pilsners, but not Kolsch. Most Pilsen grain in fairly neutral, which always the yeast and hops to do there thing. A lot of IPAs have Pilsner malt in them too and taste wildly different based on other factors.
COuld be hopping differences and the lager profile. Give this a try. Also there is a broader range of Pilsner malts out there than one might think. You might want to mix it up a bit. Get away from traditional German Pilsner malt. I absolutely love Dingemans Pilsner malt. There are some very different "craft" base malts in the American market too worth giving a look at. Try small batches with lager yeast and us05 side by side maybe. Cheers! -Mike
Can't stand K97. I was so excited when it came out and tried it multiple times. I kept getting a strange tartness that I could see working in an american wheat or something but not much else. I tried multiple styles and it just didn't work for me. Luckily I found Danstar Koln which is money
Great info - glad I didn't go with the K97.
Hey John and Mike, any update on the recipe episode? Did you get a lot of submissions?
We've gotten a good amount so far. Now we need to figure out how best to pick a few. Maybe we can do a YT Short to give info back on the process. Thanks for the interest and asking. Keeps us honest. Cheers! -Mike