Special Oktoberfest Competition

Post by **BigWally** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:58 am

Last year, at the club's Oktoberfest meeting we purchased a keg of commercial Oktoberfest. While it was delicious, we thought it was strange for a homebrew club to buy a keg of beer for a party. So this year we are holding a special Oktoberfest competition to coincide with the club Oktoberfest party. We are still working out the formal details, but the general idea is to have as many homebrewed Oktoberfes beers at the party as possible. We will have a category for all grain, one for extract and a best of <b><font color="orange">Oktoberfest</font id="orange"></b>.

Watch this topic for more details and get busy brewing.

donniestyle · Post by **donniestyle** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:57 pm

Strange?? Hmmmmmmmm. Big Wally, it's been going on since I've been in the club. In times past, there usually was not as much home brew. I must admin, I was one of those that was pushing for the commercial fest keg. The reason is that there are only a few times per year that having the right beer means everything. If we had a May Fest, I'd push for MaiBock. Not many home brewers brew these types of beer, and if they do, they are probably hesitant to bring it along to be schlugged down like an average beer. I understand the wish to promote home brew, but if there was only once per year that we could splurge, I'd vote for Octoberfest!

Bill Lawrence · Post by **Bill Lawrence** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:32 pm

I think it was appropriate to buy commerical Octoberfest for the parties past as you are correct Donnie, not too many folks brew that style. I think the point of the whole deal however is to get the members to "up the level of play a little" and try to brew a style that, at least for me, is difficult to brew correctly (I have screwed up at least half a dozen attempts in years past). I also agree with you that should somebody really nail it, they may not want to let the usual suspects suck down all their hard work. Hopefully, they will at least bring a growler full for sampling though.

I brewed another attempt the week before the Bluebonnet. If it comes out well, I will pull off three bottles for the Dixie Cup then jump three gallons into one of my baby kegs which I will bring to the party (although I admit, it will hurt a little). I suspect the remaining beer will get consumed in the spirit of product testing and quality assurance. Of course, if the beer does not come out as well as I hope, I will then bring the entire keg to the party and aggressively encourage the members to partake.

Besides getting a small contest going at the Octoberfest party, at the next brewday, our fearless leader will be showing us how it is done (so be sure to go over to Fred's for pointers in April). I think it should be fun to see how the members who choose to participate do in responding to the challenge. Anyway, that should at least give us something new to talk about at the party. I think Donnie also has a point that to ensure we get at least some decent examples of the style, we might consider purchasing some "store bought". That way, we won't be relying on my feeble attempt and will also have an example of the "good stuff" to compare our efforts against.

By the way, is "schlugged" really a word?

Post by **Mike Grover** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:18 pm

At a minimum, I will bring a growler of the stuff and try to re-enact my feat of blowing the entire swing-top mechanism across Walter's porch!

Post by **BigWally** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:43 am

You still have some time to brew an Oktoberfest beer for the club Oktoberfest party. There will be a people's choice award for the best all-grain and best extract Oktoberfest. The winners will each receive a $20 gift certificate to Homebrew HQ.

PROST!

Post by **BigWally** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:08 am

Keep those Oktoberfest beers lagering. You have an extra month to get them ready for the club Oktoberfest party. Don't forget the best all-grain and best extract Oktoberfest beers each receive a $20 gift certificate to Homebrew HQ.

bdubas · Post by **bdubas** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:44 pm

I had to laugh when I read this thread. The club that I'm a member of now has an Oktoberfest party each year. Since I finally got back to brewing this past month, I was really excited to bring a keg of my first beer, as saison, to this party. After all, I'd been suckin' down their homebrew for a year now while living in an apartment and not brewing.

So the officers are asking what people are volunteering to bring to the party, and I say "a keg of beer" . . . thinking what else would I bring, right? Well, they pretty much told me not to. They said that they have already prearranged for certain club members to brew German beers for the party, and they do not want anyone else to bring homebrew. Commercial bottles of German beer is OK though.

I said "WTF?, why?" They pulled me aside and privately said that they do not want members that do not brew well to bring their crappy beer for others to drink. They do not want to have to taste 5 or 10 bad beers before they find one that is good. Can you believe that?

Post by **Mike Grover** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:33 am

Geez, how will those folks ever figure out how to improve their beer if other brewers don't taste it? Maybe it is a fear of rejection thing - like "outcome-based education" where they don't give out grades. They don't want anyone to feel let down when they take home a nearly full keg after the party. LOL.

mathboy · Post by **mathboy** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:58 pm

It ain't the same here in PA either. My experience, though, is different from Bill's.

I went to a beer-club party this weekend and only brought 2 of my kegs. I was tempted to bring more, but I thought I should *try* to be polite. This would be my first intro to many of club members who don't make it to the meetings (those that do number between four and ten). I walk in with my two kegs, and I'm the life of the party. There was only one other keg of homebrew there, one commercial keg, and a bunch of bottles. Odd, I thought... After chatting with the crowd for a while, I learned that this was the old guard of the club, homebrewers who were very active from say 1985-1995, and then kinda got burned out. Some brew occasionally, whereas others have not brewed for years. Sigh.... You know life is bad when I'm the hit of the party....

I brought a strong Scotch Ale (at 10%) and an ESB. It turns out that the party was supposed to be a summer weizen party that was held late. Since the temp had dropped down to 55F or so that evening, none of us went swimming...

Bruce

Haney · Post by **Haney** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:26 pm

Bill, Once they taste your brews you will be on that short list! Heck, they will be busting your door down forcing you to brew.....

I'll miss you and Mathboy now that I get to move back to civilization.
Good luck!

captbill · Post by **captbill** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:03 am

Well, I actually brewed a Oktoberfest, it was the last beer of the old rig. I guess I should keg it and at least try it out. I will be surprised if it is any good. I had all sorts of problems brewing it and it was the big reason I went to the new system.

Bill

Post by **BigWally** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:09 pm

Congratulations to Bill Lawrence and Bill James on winning the 1st ever Oktoberfest Taste Off. There were no extract brews, so we awarded the top two all-grain Oktoberfests. I will have gift certificates to Homebrew HQ for the Bills at the November Club meeting.

Post by **BigWally** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:13 pm

BTW, we had six Oktoberfest on tap and they were all tasty beers. We even had a couple of other kegs show up and Charlie brought some of his Belgian beers (yum).

Thanks to everyone who participated. We'll have to work on getting some extract beers in the mix next year.