Brewday 10/09/09 - Oktoberfest!

[mysterio]

Filling up the HLT for this now, for brewing tomorrow. Brewing it for a party in October. One of my favourite styles to drink, and one you really have to make yourself because the bottled versions are mostly crap... pics to come

Oktoberfest/Marzen

Type: All Grain
Date: 04/09/2009
Batch Size: 12.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.74 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 kg Munich Malt - 10L (19.7 EBC) Grain 52.17 %
5.30 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (3.0 EBC) Grain 46.09 %
0.20 kg Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC) Grain 1.74 %
40.00 gm Magnum [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.8 IBU
40.00 gm Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (20 min) Hops 5.0 IBU

Repitching onto Saflager W 34/70

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.30 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.6 %
Bitterness: 30.8 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 18.5 EBC Color: Color

Mash Profile

My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 31.05 L of water at 72.2 C 66.0 C

[196osh]

Hows this going?

[oblivious]

Very nice I do love a good and proper Oktoberfest What temp are you going to ferment at?

[mysterio]

Pretty good, just getting ready to throw in the first hop charge. Garage stinks of DMS so it's getting the full 90 minutes.

Ferment at 9C probably

Don't think I can be bothered washing the yeast... tempted just to scoop a chunk of the yeast slurry and toss it into the next brew... opinions?

[196osh]

Wouldn't see any real issue with that as long as your sanitisation procedues were good and you don't pick up large amounts of trub I don't see why it would be an issue, with either infections or off flavours.

[oblivious]

Don't think I can be bothered washing the yeast... tempted just to scoop a chunk of the yeast slurry and toss it into the next brew... opinions?

300-400ml of slurry should get you there according to Mr malty, I would head towards 400ml to be sure you have enough yeast

[adm]

That sounds great. I had a a US "Oktoberfest" last night, but it was rubbish.

[mysterio]

Was it full of Cascade or something? Which one was it? Sam Adams?

[Barley Water]

So, did you do a double or a triple decoction?

[adm]

Was it full of Cascade or something? Which one was it? Sam Adams?

It was in a brewpub in Denver - their own recipe. To be honest, just tasted like a slightly underwhelming amber lager with a slight citrus hop profile.

Mind you, I was also drinking Pliny the Elder at the time, so I might have been biased. (or did I just mis-spell "pissed"?)

[mysterio]

So, did you do a double or a triple decoction?

You know me Barley Water, single infusion all the way. Next year, I will decoct this recipe and see if I prefer the results

This was already a hectic brewday as it was. I had to sanitise and keg 10 gallons of beer while the beer was chilling, harvest some yeast, then clean out and sanitise the primary FV.

Looks like theres hardly any trub/hop matter in with the yeast because there was lots of adjunct and not much hops in the last recipe

Mind you, I was also drinking Pliny the Elder at the time

This is one I want to try!

[Barley Water]

Of course I was just messing with you, what I need to do is set up a blind tasting and see if it really does make a difference.

As far as Pliny the Elder goes, once you have just a sip of that stuff, you can't taste anything else for an entire week. There is so much hop stuff going on there that I swear, it puts a coating on your teeth. Now for the disclaimer, I am not a hop head, I will almost always go for malty rather than hoppy (although I did purchase a six pack of Torpedo recently). Of course, it is a good thing that brewers get "out there" otherwise we will never know what "too much" tastes like. I have actually read an article or two lately which implies that tastes are starting to gravitate back towards the more nuanced, lower gravity brews, I guess we will see.