Kolsch Fermentation

Hello All,
I'm fermenting a honey kolsch now and it's been in the temp chamber for 11 days at 60F now. My plan is to rack to a carboy before starting to drop the temp to 34. I have a few questions:
1. Measure OG was 1.052, predicted OG was 1.048. Took a reading yesterday and measure 1.016, predicted FG was 1.012. Out of curiosity, I checked my hydro in water and measured about 1.003-1.004, so I think my readings have been off for the past few batches. Anyway, if I take another reading tomorrow and it hasn't changed, it's done with primary fermentation, right? Will it continue to drop during the lagering? If it's still higher than expected tomorrow (using another hydro...I happen to have a backup), is there any way to help it get down a little more? A gentle shake, maybe? It's really close to target, but I'd like to dry this out as much as possible.
2. This is my first time using my new temp chamber and lagering. How many days should it take to drop from 60F to 34F? Is the recommended 2 degrees/day right for a kolsch?
3. I read that sometimes people will boost the temp to maybe 70 for a day or two before dropping to lagering temps. Is this necessary here? I listened to Jamil's episode on kolsch and I don't recall him mentioning this in his fermentation schedule.

Thanks,
John

I would warm it to 65 for 2 days to finish up and clean up diacetyl (if there is any). You want a Kolsch to be fairly dry.

Then rack to carboy and drop for lagering. It will not drop in gravity further during lagering. You don't have to worry about Kolsch yeast dropping out of suspension too fast. 5-10 degrees a day drop would be fine. In fact you may have to add gelatin for a couple of weeks to really clear out.

Sounds like everything is going to turn out great! I will be making my 4th in a few weeks(this time also with a little honey). How much honey did you use?

What yeast strain did you use?

I'd probably leave it another day at 60 degrees, then warm it up about 3-5 degrees. That helps it fully attenuate, and works as a diacetyl rest and makes sure the yeast finishes up well for you. I'd keep it at the warmer temperature about 2 days or so, to ensure the beer is really done.

Then, I'd go ahead and just drop the temperature for lagering. The yeast won't continue to work at lagering temperatures, so you want the beer to be fully attenuated before lagering. There wouldn't be any advantage to a slow drop, as you want a quick drop to get the yeast to drop out and clear the beer.

Thanks for the replies...I wanted to rack sooner because I wanted to free up my bucket for another batch this weekend. Maybe I'll have to just suck it up and buy another bucket.

To answer your questions, I added a pound of orange blossom honey at flameout. I'm also going to use the orange blossom honey as priming sugar, as I don't think there will be much of the honey flavor left after fermentation and this should give it some more honey flavor. I used the Wyeast Kolsch 2656.

John

Cool, thanks for the honey info. I'll probably go 1/2 lb or so for pretty subdued flavor addition, but please let me know how it turns out.

I have a new smack pack fo 2565 right now in my fridge. Decided to get a fresh one after getting 4 brews out of my first.

I was worried about adding too much honey out of my habit to be a purist when it comes to style. I didn't want the honey flavor to be overwhelming because I think this beer will be the first kolsch that a lot of my friends will have ever had, but whatever...that's what homebrewing is about. To be honest, I couldn't even taste the honey when it went into the fermenter (my wife says she could) so the honey addition to the wort really just served to help dry out the beer. The real flavor, I think, will come from the use of honey as the priming sugar and I think it'll be tasty.

John