Fest beer!

[Bigbre04]

Hey yall,

Looking at brewing an Oktoberfest beer soon.(i know that i am actually fairly late, but i do my best). Likely i would use Apex Munich lager yeast assuming that my chiller survives the heat of this week. Let me know!

I am ordering different hops today. Some Saaz/nobels are in my future, so i will adjust the recipe with different hops when i make a final purchase.

This is where i am so far:
Marzen
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1576950


I will need to slightly rework these due to improving my efficiency recently, but they would be similar.
This is another option that i generally brew for the Pirate Festival on the island.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1403499

Vienna lager that i brewed last fall.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1474638

 

[dmtaylor]

As long as you change the hops, you'll get a decent Oktoberfest beer from these recipes. The first recipe looks best. However, I would delete the Crystal 40, and reduce the Special X to about 2% to add a more subtle character. This is not a sweet or caramelly style, it is all about the toast & bread crust.

 

[Bigbre04]

As long as you change the hops, you'll get a decent Oktoberfest beer from these recipes. The first recipe looks best. However, I would delete the Crystal 40, and reduce the Special X to about 2% to add a more subtle character. This is not a sweet or caramelly style, it is all about the toast & bread crust.

i got rid of the c40.
I added 1lb(.8%) of choc for flavor and color. I could sub in RB, Midnight wheat, or blackprinz... RB is an interesting idea...
left the Spec X at 4 lbs(3%) for the flavor and color. at that percentage it wont be strong flavor wise, but it will add a really interesting background flavor that works well with a small amount of 300L choc.
added 4lbs(3%) of victory for the graininess.

Many of the recipes that i have looked at include crystal...c60 or "english dark crystal" generally around 2%.

 

[Bigbre04]

hops wise,

Looking at hallertau tradition, Fuggles, Sabro, Citra, and EKG. I wish they made magnum in a lupomax/cryo format...i might get some magnum as well its cheap enough...

Edited: ordered uk fuggles, perle, magnum, Cryo sabro, cryo citra.

 

[Dave Y]

As long as you change the hops, you'll get a decent Oktoberfest beer from these recipes. The first recipe looks best. However, I would delete the Crystal 40, and reduce the Special X to about 2% to add a more subtle character. This is not a sweet or caramelly style, it is all about the toast & bread crust.

Yup! Mine was gigged for being sweet, literally 10 seconds from winning the BotM. So it was a great, malty German lager but not ‘bready’ enough. I tinkered with the recipe and think I hit the mark.

I agree, I like the first recipe more.

Your Vienna is perilously close to this one though. I try to target about 6%ABV - 6.3 is the style max. Nobody’s going to gig you for a 6.5 expression.
Festbier is the easier drinking beer of the season, so I’d have the festbier & Vienna in the same ABV range and the Märzen a bit more sturdy.

It’s easy to go too far on the roast/toasty flavor, but Blackprinz in small quantity, Carafa sp2 or 3 again in small quantity should get you color and minimal roast for a subtle touch. Or you could just up the dark munich? I’m way higher on the Munich 2, but that may not scale well cost wise.

I also agree about the hops. Go Noble.

I think next year, I go for an Imperial Märzen >:-}>

 

[Bigbre04]

Yup! Mine was gigged for being sweet, literally 10 seconds from winning the BotM. So it was a great, malty German lager but not ‘bready’ enough. I tinkered with the recipe and think I hit the mark.

what was your recipe?

I agree, I like the first recipe more.

View attachment 32535

my first recipe? with the crystal???

Your Vienna is perilously close to this one though. I try to target about 6%ABV - 6.3 is the style max. Nobody’s going to gig you for a 6.5 expression.
Festbier is the easier drinking beer of the season, so I’d have the festbier & Vienna in the same ABV range and the Märzen a bit more sturdy.

Lol i 100% didnt do that intentionally. style wise, i thought the Marzen was supposed to top out at like 5.7% I sort of like the 5.5% range since i currently have a bunch of 6% beers on right now.

It’s easy to go too far on the roast/toasty flavor, but Blackprinz in small quantity, Carafa sp2 or 3 again in small quantity should get you color and minimal roast for a subtle touch. Or you could just up the dark munich? I’m way higher on the Munich 2, but that may not scale well cost wise.

cost isnt really a big deal this will produce 4 kegs worth of beer. The first 30 pours more then cover the cost of materials.

I also agree about the hops. Go Noble.

ordered them. i will update the order when i get them added to the software. Sticking with the 22ibus range???

I think next year, I go for an Imperial Märzen >:-}>

Now i like that, the only thing that i have found is that imperials struggle with becoming overly sweet. I made a double lager that was great, but it ended up being a little sweet, even with a heavier hop load.
double lager
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1554840

 

[Dave Y]

this one; the first link
Marzen
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1576950

this is one of my recipe revisions:

I brewed 2x 6.5 gallon batches this year as the last 5 or so years and this is pretty close to last year’s recipe. It was a dogfight to get the attenuation, I got 1.013 on both batches this year and I was getting concerned at the end, as they both took a while to get there. This one in particular because the yeast was old, old, old. I pitched it with a starter anyway and after 50+ hours it was doing nothing. I got another batch from a place in Austin, did a starter and pitched that showing about 1.054 on the tilt - this was 5 or so days in. The 2nd batch, I harvested & re-pitched, and it finished 1.011.

Usually I kick off the Märzen brews with a starter and pitch, and then re-use for any German / Bavarian type lagers in the pipeline, but I think next year I’ll do a Vienna with it first, harvest and use the stronger yeast pitch in the Märzens. I’ll probably take a page out of your book and sub in some peasant 2 row.

 

[Bigbre04]

this one; the first link
Marzen
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1576950

this is one of my recipe revisions:
View attachment 32536

I brewed 2x 6.5 gallon batches this year as the last 5 or so years and this is pretty close to last year’s recipe. It was a dogfight to get the attenuation, I got 1.013 on both batches this year and I was getting concerned at the end, as they both took a while to get there. This one in particular because the yeast was old, old, old. I pitched it with a starter anyway and after 50+ hours it was doing nothing. I got another batch from a place in Austin, did a starter and pitched that showing about 1.054 on the tilt - this was 5 or so days in. The 2nd batch, I harvested & re-pitched, and it finished 1.011.

Usually I kick off the Märzen brews with a starter and pitch, and then re-use for any German / Bavarian type lagers in the pipeline, but I think next year I’ll do a Vienna with it first, harvest and use the stronger yeast pitch in the Märzens. I’ll probably take a page out of your book and sub in some peasant 2 row.

Ill dig into this when im at my computer tomorrow.

Sounds like bad yeasties. I pitch fresh dried yeast each time to avoid this type of headache. Apex only costs like $25/pitch so it doesnt make sense to reuse it.

 

[Sandy Feet]

If you want to put something lighter in color on, I did a 74% Pils, 18 Vienna, and 8 Munich that I remember liking a lot. I used Hallertauer Mittelfrueh and 34/70. And, it wouldn't be a good day unless I gave you shit about the Pils. LMAO.

 

[Bigbre04]

If you want to put something lighter in color on, I did a 74% Pils, 18 Vienna, and 8 Munich that I remember liking a lot. I used Hallertauer Mittelfrueh and 34/70. And, it wouldn't be a good day unless I gave you shit about the Pils. LMAO.

Thanks to your relentless pestering i actually purchased 10 bags of pils and 18 bags of 2R. also ordered 7 total boxes of hops! I WILL IMPROVE MY LAGER!(unless the chiller shuts off mid ferm... :,()

 

[Bigbre04]

So after my glycol troubles yesturday, the Dunkle seems to be done at 3.55p(74% atten). Fingers crossed that it was far enough along before the chiller cooked it to not have too many off flavors. its sitting at 16c for 24hrs doing a D rest. i will start crashing it down over the next day or so. Ill take a grav tomorrow morning and likely will crash it down as far as i can get it.

mexican lager is still a toss up. its still actively fermenting, but its very hard to get a grasp on the flavors at this point. it is at 14C right now, but i will turn it up to 16 before i leave so that it can hopefully work on cleaning itself up. at this point, the corn flavor is pretty strong but who knows where that ends up.

I likely wont be brewing until the end of this week since we are still waiting on glycol and service. fingers crossed that the chiller stays on!

@Dave Y I could shift some of the Vienna into M1, but having tasted the dunkel https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1571016 at 74% attenuation, i prefer drier beers over the sweetness. I would probably be more happy at 78%. With that recipe im also finding that the chocolate is carrying through more then i would prefer it to. I will redo the recipe for the next round and reduce the chocolate in favor of midnight wheat. Maybe removing it completely for the midnight and letting the Spec X carry the show.
Changed the dunkel for the next time i brew it. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1577148

That being said, there is a chance that these are on at the same time so maybe i ditch the chocolate in this recipe as well...many things to think on.

 

[Dave Y]

So after my glycol troubles yesturday, the Dunkle seems to be done at 3.55p(74% atten). Fingers crossed that it was far enough along before the chiller cooked it to not have too many off flavors. its sitting at 16c for 24hrs doing a D rest. i will start crashing it down over the next day or so. Ill take a grav tomorrow morning and likely will crash it down as far as i can get it.

mexican lager is still a toss up. its still actively fermenting, but its very hard to get a grasp on the flavors at this point. it is at 14C right now, but i will turn it up to 16 before i leave so that it can hopefully work on cleaning itself up. at this point, the corn flavor is pretty strong but who knows where that ends up.

I likely wont be brewing until the end of this week since we are still waiting on glycol and service. fingers crossed that the chiller stays on!

@Dave Y I could shift some of the Vienna into M1, but having tasted the dunkel https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1571016 at 74% attenuation, i prefer drier beers over the sweetness. I would probably be more happy at 78%. With that recipe im also finding that the chocolate is carrying through more then i would prefer it to. I will redo the recipe for the next round and reduce the chocolate in favor of midnight wheat. Maybe removing it completely for the midnight and letting the Spec X carry the show.
Changed the dunkel for the next time i brew it. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1577148

That being said, there is a chance that these are on at the same time so maybe i ditch the chocolate in this recipe as well...many things to think on.

Yeah, the drier beer w/ more attenuation is going to be more crushable by your drinkers

For a dunker I'm leaning more away from my current- well former, I finished it off - Dunkel, pulling some of the MII in favor of Munich 1 and some Carafa sp. 2 for color.

The Märzens I have will be drunk without issue, I’m sure.

Good luck on that chiller!

 

[Bigbre04]

so looking at the recipes, i think what i really need to brew is a fest beer since a marzen is very close recipe, color, abv, etc to the dunkel that i have in the tank.

ill get a fest beer worked up.

How does this look. it is stronger then then dunkel and lighter. it should attenuate further while still being nice and malty(atleast in theory???
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1577184

 

[Dave Y]

Ruh Roh Shaggy.

Don’t blame me for this, but Festbier is a more crushable beer for the party, so 6.0 or over is pushing the limits of Festbier. I’d shoot for 5.5-5.75 in a Festbier. Dunkel is fine for the ‘fest, and was around in the early days.

Also... Those hops.
;-)

 

[Sandy Feet]

...Or, even a tick lower than that.

 

[Bigbre04]

I could def go lower on the abv on the fest beer. the dunkel is at 5.7% maybe i do 5.4 with the festbeer???

So i updated the recipe. shuffled some things around based on the expected flavor. abv is 5.4% color is just over 6srm. thinking IBU i will shoot for 23-24?

Ruh Roh Shaggy.

Don’t blame me for this, but Festbier is a more crushable beer for the party, so 6.0 or over is pushing the limits of Festbier. I’d shoot for 5.5-5.75 in a Festbier. Dunkel is fine for the ‘fest, and was around in the early days.

Also... Those hops.
;-)

Patience! im waiting the shipment, and then i have to reference the lot numbers and add them to my inventory! i got 55lbs of hops coming!

 

[Craigerrr]

55 lbs of hops, love it!
Sorry, I don't have any useful information to add for a festbier.
Maybe one day I brew one though, so I'm learning what I can from this thread

 

[Bigbre04]

55 lbs of hops, love it!
Sorry, I don't have any useful information to add for a festbier.
Maybe one day I brew one though, so I'm learning what I can from this thread

used to get full pallets of 44lb boxes...scale is crazy.

 

[Dave Y]

A few years ago, I’d just upgraded some equipment and decided instead of doing 10 gallons of Märzen, I’d do 5 and 5 gallons festbier. Solid plan right?
So I did the Märzen while reading up on the festbier, put my recipe together and took a shot.

Good news: it was a great beer. It wasn’t a festbier, but it was good.
bad news: If you can call it that, my efficiency skyrocketed from the Märzen, so instead of about 5.75 I had about 6.5 ABV!

Now I’m a bit more familiar with the equipment and efficiency at a given mash volume. But, it was basically a malty Vienna-like lager so I’ve stuck to Märzens since I like them more and I don’t hear my target audience clamoring for the festbier from about ’22.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I could def go lower on the abv on the fest beer. the dunkel is at 5.7% maybe i do 5.4 with the festbeer???

So i updated the recipe. shuffled some things around based on the expected flavor. abv is 5.4% color is just over 6srm. thinking IBU i will shoot for 23-24?


Patience! im waiting the shipment, and then i have to reference the lot numbers and add them to my inventory! i got 55lbs of hops coming!

I like 5.5%
Festbiers can also go light in color. I might get rid of the chocolate. I like the Pils (umm 2row LOL), Vienna, Munich ratios. I hope you get some Hallertau in the hop shipment for that beer. That recipe looks like it might be tasty.