Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch
In late-ish August of 2026, we were talking with our brewing buddy "Doc" and his wife. He and I were in similar situations where our homebrew inventory felt very low.
He proposed a "plan" to help us "catch up" a little... he wanted to host a "Quad Brew Day". He and I would each brew a batch, and each of our wives would brew a batch. Honestly, I'm not sure how much the wives will actually do, so really what we are talking about is "Doc" and I each doing two batches in one day. I've done this before, but never at someone else's house.
My "travel brew days" are already hectic, and keeping things as simple as possible is essential.
I thought I'd design a beer that was likely to go smoothly even when I will have to spend lots of my time drinking and doing most of the work on my "wife's" batch.
My wife chose the Anvil Foundry, so my recipe would have to be in the cooler with propane burner. I would start the mash at home and transport it to Doc's Brewery so that it would be ready to sparge and boil when I got there.
I had Colorado Kolsch yeast harvested, and decided that would be my yeast. I designed the beer with a short 30 minute boil.
And ... for the first time ever, I decided to do "no-chill", which would save time cooling the wort (at least while at his brewery).
I still wanted some hoppiness, so I'm adding my aroma hops in the fermenter as dry hops.
The name Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch ... well ... "Kolsch" because of the yeast (even though it is more of a Pale Ale with all the hops). "Kolorado" is "Colorado" starting with a "K" to match Kolsch.
With all the cycling and hiking I do in the area, I quite often see Coyotes (Koyotes?) on my adventures. Every once in awhile I see a strange looking Coyote. Darker in color and looking like the fur isn't as full and bushy as a "normal" looking coyote. When I see these weird-looking ones, I think and tell people I am seeing a Chupacabra. I changed Chupacabra to match the "Kolorado" and "Kolsch".
Strange, I know. I'll name my Pale Ale "Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch", you can name yours whatever you want.
Plans changed and we didn't end up brewing this at "Doc's" brewery. We ended up brewing it the next weekend instead with some modifications since we had the Foundry open.
The beer turned out more of a session IPA than a Kolsch.
For more about this beer, see Sheppy's Blog: Khupacabra.
| Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch --- Batch 1 (399) |
| Style | Kölsch | Batch Size | 5.50 gal | |||
| Type | All Grain | Boil Size | 5.38 gal | |||
| Brewhouse Efficiency | 65.00 | Boil Time | 30 minutes |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.048 SG | Estimated FG | 1.011 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 23.0 IBUs (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 4.8 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.480 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 5.5 SRM |
|
|||||
| Measured OG: | 1.048 | Measured FG: | 1.008 | ||||
| ADF: | 83 | Measured ABV: | 5.3 |
Ingredients
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.18 gal | Denver, Colorado | Water | 1 | - | - |
| 9 lbs | Base Malt 2 Row (Proximity) (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 2 | 82.6 % | 0.70 gal |
| 1 lbs 8.0 oz | Munich 10L (Proximity) (10.0 SRM) | Grain | 3 | 13.8 % | 0.12 gal |
| 6.4 oz | Prox Red (Proximity) (18.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 3.7 % | 0.03 gal |
| 1.000 oz | CTZ [14.90 %] - First Wort 30.0 min | Hop | 5 | 23.0 IBUs | - |
| 1.000 oz | Cascade [7.00 %] - 0.0 Days Into Primary for 7.0 Days | Hop | 6 | 0.0 IBUs | - |
| 1.000 oz | Centennial [9.80 %] - 0.0 Days Into Primary for 7.0 Days | Hop | 7 | 0.0 IBUs | - |
| 1.000 oz | Citra [12.00 %] - 0.0 Days Into Primary for 7.0 Days | Hop | 8 | 0.0 IBUs | - |
| 1.0 pkg | Colorado Kolsch (Propagate Lab #MIP-511) | Yeast | 9 | - | - |
Mash Profile
| Name | Description | Step Temperature | Step Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saccharification | Add 24.73 qt of water at 157.7 F | 150.0 F | 240 min |
If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Recipe Notes
Make a starter a day or two before brew day.
Use Denver water profile (as defined by BeerSmith) to
Ca=31,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=51,Cl=23,HCO3=104
Brew as directed from recipe.
Rack into bucket for no-chill. Let cool overnight. Pour bucket into fermenter with 1 gallon water.
Add dry hops directly into fermenter.
Ferment 1 to 2 weeks.
Keg carbonate to 2.5 to 2.7 volumes.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: | Strike Temp: | |||||
| Mash Temps: | ||||||
| Pre-boil OG | (1.053 SG) | Pre-boil Vol | (5.38 gal) | |||
| Actual Mash Efficiency | Pitch Temp | |||||
| Fermentation | ||||||
| Day 1: | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
9/15/2026 Brewing this at Doc's "Quad Brew Day".
9/16/2026 Mr. and Mrs. Doc wanted to move brew day up a week. Ordered ingredients today.
9/21/2026 Didn't brew at Doc's need to brew. Switching to be in Foundry.
9/26/2026 Did a brew day today. Didn't decide to do it until pretty late. Went well I think. Racked into no-chill bucket. 1.053 SG at that point. Need to calculate water addition t I think tomorrow. My wife is the sexiest.
9/27/2026 This morning, I calculated 1 gallon of water, so that is what I used. Dumped wort and water into Anvil bucket. The wort was around 67 when I pitched the yeast. Putting down in basement with cooling pump going. We'll see if that keeps beer around 65 degrees.
9/28/2026 Fermentation took off quickly yesterday. Bubbling already starting to slow down. Tilt says 1.018 at 64. Need to get those dry hops in. Planning on doing that today.
9/28/2026 Got those dry hops in. Still a bunch of Krausen and still bubbling, so I think we're good on what we intended. Only .5 oz of Cascade in partial bag, and actually closer to 1.5 Centennial, so I just used those. 1 oz of Citra as planned.
9/30/2026 Unplugged cooling pump yesterday. Going to stop Tilt logging today. Tilt says 1.007 at 69. I think I might keg tomorrow.
10/6/2026 Kegged. FG 1.008, lower than planned. Dry hops came through nicely. Maybe a bit more bitter than calculated. Chilling on right side of kegerator. Maybe a bit thin. We'll see how it turns out when chilled and carbonated.
10/8/2026 First pour from kegerator. Whatever the issue with Buckwheat's and Carbonation is not an issue with this beer. Lots of foam. Very hazy first pour. 2nd less so. Very much session IPA vibes on this beer.