Homebrew for the Oktoberfest Party

[TheMacheteMasher]

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For those who missed the club meeting last night.

Bill Lawrence challenged all to bring homebrew to the Oktoberfest party.

The style should likely be an Oktoberfest or a special beer brewed for celebration. Not to isolate Bill the challenge has been long standing or maybe circa 2007 when NTHBA knocked out the style in the Dixie Cup. However it is safe to say the club has retired from competition this year.

Lets return Bill's challenge with homebrew!

Bill, I am putting myself in the game. Victory or defeat, I am certain to learn along the way. I am preparing a pseudo European amber lager which might be considered category 3B by BJCP styles.

When is the Oktoberfest Party?

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[TheMacheteMasher]

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Assuming this ferments well the brew is a 1.055 OG pseudo Oktoberfest*. The one step decoction mash went well ending around 2am. I dropped the carboy in the freezer to chill then pitched this morning.

*I'll post the recipe in the next NTHBA newsletter.

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[Jimmy Orkin]

The wort looks good.

[Bill Lawrence]

Since the club brain trust has not yet announced the date, I'll assume it will be roughly in the middle of October, a bit late but close enough. Although I'll be at Hotter than Hell this weekend, I guess I'll try to brew Sunday 'cause unlike some people I know, I'll do mine with a lager yeast. Incidentally there MacheteMasher, doing an Octoberfest with German ale yeast sounds alot like a Northern German Alt bier to me, I would say that is appropriate to the occasion. By the way, I'm not sure which yeast you used but when I used Alt yeast in the spring it took forever to get that stuff to drop out of the beer (I did both an Alt and a Blonde ale with the same strain). Anyway, be prepared to crash cool the stuff to get it clear, just a suggestion.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Bill I decided to go with WY2206 Bavarian Lager yeast. Thinking it would lend more to the body of the beer. I had developed a recipe (below) that was thinner (heavy Pilsner malt) than most Oktoberfest. The thought was to use a lager yeast that was German rich and full bodied. I have seen some people rave over bock yeast WLP833 for this style.

For speed and high flocculation I thought hard on fermenting with California Lager yeast WY2112. Given my grist I thought I'd better go with a German. WY2633 Oktoberfest lager blend would have been my first choice given with more Vienna malt and more aging.

I am prepared to crash. Hope your brewday goes without fault.

This was my first Oktoberfest beer so feel free to critique. Considering the 6 weeks time frame this is what I came up with.

Bowie Blade Oktoberfest
SRM 14 | IBU 26 | OG 1.055 | 65% EFF
Fermented with Bavarian Lager yeast

21% Two-Row Pale Malt
43% German Pilsner Malt
21% German Vienna
7% German Caramunich II
7% Belgian Cara 45

Mashing: 90 Minutes | Grist Ratio: 1.55 Gal/Lb
Two Step with one Decoction
Hold at 150°F for 40 minutes (60 total)
Pull out 33% of the grist
Heat to 180°F (20 minutes)
Add back to the mash
Hold at 162°F 30 minutes

Boiling: 90 Minutes
Bittering -15 IBUs at 90 Minutes
Flavor -11 IBUs at 15 Minutes

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[TheMacheteMasher]

. Okay .

The October party will be September 22nd at 7 PM
Hosted by theonlydavidlee
Location Allen TX

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Bill, that is 33 days. I would be very curious to know your plan (grist, mash, boil, ferment, and finish). By all means we are in the trenches with this fight.

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[Bill Lawrence]

Well, you are using 14% crystal type malts in the beer which is going to cause a couple of things to happen. First of all, your terminal gravity is going to be high since those sugars are not going to ferment and it will also cause the beer to be sweet (relatively). Go out and buy a German version and determine how dry the beer is (and I bet you will come to the conclusion that it is indeed dryer than you thought it would be). Remember, those crazy Germans drink this stuff by the liter so you want attenuation and a drier beer is easier to drink in volume. I need to look at my formulation notes but I bet I don't have more than 6 ounces or so of crystal type malts in a 5 gallon batch (if indeed I have any at all). I will try to dry the hell out of my version however, I want it pretty malty. I think I had some Special Roast in the last version I did and I may add a touch of Melonodin malt, I had good luck doing that with my Munich Dunkel. You want some toast but you don't want anything that tastes like caramel or toffee, that is what British beer is for. Also, if you check out the style guidelines you'll notice that you just want a touch of hop flavor, I would move most of the hop additions forward personally. If you go with alot of crystal, aim for the high end of the bittering scale, you'll want to counteract the sweetness. The trick with this stuff is to get the beer dry but at the same time you want what they call a "rounded" impression, not sharp like a pilsner for example. I personally think this style is exteremly difficult to do well, I have screwed up many more batches than I have had sucess so I say good luck to both of us. Remember, pitch a ton of healthy yeast otherwise it will end up way too sweet.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Bill, I image things will come out about right. Assuming the 21% two-row converted itself it’s younger brother. My ales have been too dry lately and this lager should fall in line.

14% of crystal malt may tip the scale to toffee/caramel. Good tip there. The style is complicated I did smile that the color was right. The sample wort was very well balanced not overly sweet. If all things ferment this brew will be lacking in the toast. The pils does have a cracker flavor which may be overshadowed. I see this being a rebrew. The decotion mash worked out just fine this time. I'm wanting to see how Vienna malt responds to decoction mashing with 65% of the grist. I would like to this to ultimately land on the smooth side of balanced. I had Ayinger Oktoberfest that was malt forward/easy drinking.

6oz of crystal is really low how are you reaching the amber/organ color spectrum with so little? I am kind of bias to the orange family of Oktoberfests.

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[tomg]

Hi Barrett!
Sounds like you and Bill have a detailed analysis and I will benefit from your discussion. I was pleased to hear you hit your devotion targets as this has been particularily troublesome for me in the past.

I've experienced some sulfur aromas from Bavarian Lager yeasts so be patient and lager awhile longer if you detect sulfur. I know you're shooting for 22 October, but we would appreciate your sharing with us at the Christmas party as an alternate debut.

BTW: Your liquor to grain ratio in the posted recipe seems high on the water side. Is there something I'm missing about your decotion process?

Thanks for sharing!
Tom

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Tom, good to see you chime in. I am hoping that others come to the rescue with some added tips. Maybe we can all learn something from these efforts.

I am getting sulfur from the yeast. Post crash it will need some time. Time is against us on this September 22 is coming up fast!

Decoction Mash Process: EFF 65% Grist Ratio: 1.55 Gal/Lb
The mash was a batch no-sparge. The grains and all of the water needed go in at the same time. Pulling off for the boil gives great control. Collect until the numbers are reached. Hence the low efficiency (batch sparge if needed). Leaving fermentables behind and the grain bed "damp". The standard issue grist ratio is 1.25 for those who recirculate\sparge for high efficiency.

I have made many mistakes but this works for me.

-- CAUTION --
Things get crazy cause I remove the false bottom. This allows the decoction grist to pull from the bottom. The decoction is heated separately then added back the main mash. I can't get the resulting mash temperature up more than 10°F and so; I keep my steps at this point. The mash is then strained into a lauter tun (standard mash tun). This has saved me from making a real mess. Bill has witnessed this before at Kim's brewday.

I would still like to see what we can come up with for the Oktoberfest party. The challenge is fun. We all know how to make wort. Let's push our limits/gain understanding.

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[Bill Lawrence]

Ok, so I got a yeast starter going last night, I'm going with the Bock strain WLP833. I also took a look at my notes and it looks like the last time I tried this style I used 4 ounces of Caramunich in a 5 gallon batch. In keeping with the "dry is better theme" I think I'll drop it all together this time. I think what I'll do is use roughly 40% pils malt, a tad under 60% Munich malt split between the light Munich and the dark stuff then throw in just a smidge of specialty grains, maybe a touch of Melonodin and a touch of bisquet malt. If I do a double decoction that should also add interest as well as make this whole project somewhat of a pain in the butt. Anyhow with some luck from above hopefully I'll end up with a quaffable brew at about 1.055 O.G. and I'll hop to get roughly 26 IBU (probably Magnum for bittering and maybe a German noble at 20 minutes or so for just a touch of hop flavor).

Actually, it may well be that this stuff won't be ready in time for the Octoberfest party, four weeks is pretty tight and I can't brew until Sunday. If the beer looks like it's not ready in time for the party I do however have a fallback plan as I have roughly 3 gallons of Vienna lager that I believe will do in a pinch. Also, if some of you guys don't feel like messing with lagers at this late date a good Heffe would be nice also and you don't even need to wait for it to clear (I personally like chunks in mine but that's just me).

[BigWally]

Y'all do realize that is the same weekend as Addison Oktoberfest. Just sayin'.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Bill the grist is looking good. I have no idea what srm it will come out as. I am very curious about how the bock yeast will perform.

The burning rubber aroma is clearing from my fermentation chamber. I bumped the temperature up today. It has been a week so the idea is to let it rise then diacetyl rest. While things are clearing I am certain the batch will need more time. I will know more post crashing.

I have no fallout plan. My extra homebrew is on reserve for the Labor of Love Fest of Ales at Deep Ellum. I have a Bravo Hop Pale that is not so promising (pungent). I may try to pull off an Obama inspired Honey Ale in hopes of covering party.

It is not likely I can make a day of Octoberfest Addison. I'd rather spend a portion of the night chatting about what's brewing and sampling homebrew. I have missed the last run of gatherings. I am looking forward to this one.

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[Bill Lawrence]

I have used that strain before and it worked out really well so I'm going into this with some confidence. Yeah, trying to do lagers quickly might be an issue (sort of like dating "sporting women", fun but sometimes problematic). Actually, I never do just one lager, as long as I have a big yeast cake I'll generally make at least two, in this case likely a Bock Bier or perhaps a Maibock, depends on my whim. I really need to do a couple of specialty beers before I get involved with brewing hard core for the Bluebonnet next year. I need to do another batch of Oud Bruin to blend with half the beer in my sour solera and I also want to make a batch of Imperial Vanilla Boubon Porter. Oh yeah, I also want to make some Belgian Dubbel, I have a new technique I want to try with that. The problem with this hobby is that there is only so much cold storage space and time to actually make the stuff plus of course one can only drink so much.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Anyone else bringing homebrew to the party? I am thinking this more like a shoot out and Bill is packing.

I have a small arsenal of beers? Most of the likes of sours and Belgians. I've been trying to work my way up to a solera schedule but these things take time. I have a pretty unique Bier De Garde going. I really would like to have an awesome Burin and Pale sour. Things are coming along in small scale (one gallon).

I spent a year dating a sour mash (Chuck's brewday last year). Lets not talk about that.

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