Oktoberfest

[Monkeybrew]

I'm brewing an Oktoberfest beer for AG#12, which may turn out to be a bit ambitious, but nothing ventured and all that.....

I've got a recipe from a fairly well known book, but just wondered if any experienced Oktoberfest brewers out there have any thoughts on it?

I am also in the process of getting my tap water analysed, so will hopefully should be able to aim for a suitable profile with some more hand holding.

Here is the recipe -

AG#12 - Oktoberfest - 23L

Grain

4000g Weyermann Vienna Malt - 7 EBC (70.8%)
800g Weyermann Munich Malt 1 - 15 EBC (14.1%)
750g Weyermann Carapils Malt - 4 EBC (13.3%)
100g Pale Crystal Malt - 60 EBC (1.8%)

Hops

42g Northern Brewer Whole 6.0%AA @60mins
15g Hallertauer Hersbrucker Pellets 2.0 %AA @30mins

Misc

3g Irish Moss @10mins

Mash - 65C for 90mins
Boil - 60mins

IBU - 25
EBC - 16

Estimated OG - 1.055

Yeast

WLP833 @12C (3L starter)

Two things that get my attention is the 750g of Carapils and the fact that the recipe calls for Crystal Malt. It doesn't say what colour crystal though, so I've picked 60 EBC pale, but do have 30 EBC Caramalt in stock too.

Cheers

MB

[Barley Water]

Your formulation will work just fine. You can use whatever crystal malt you wish, the lighter stuff will be more candy sweet while the darker stuff will have a caramel aspect plus a touch of toast. I add a bit of bisquet malt and do a double decotion because I want a bit of toast but that's just me (it did however win at a very large contest for whatever that is worth so at least you are not just relying on my judgement which is iffy at best). My suggestion would be to find a few examples of quality German stuff and do a bit of research to see what you like then design your grist accordingly. As mentioned I like a bit of toast flavor plus I want to beer pretty dry but malty. Many examples over here are pretty heavy which I really don't care for, this should be a quaffing beer (although I wouldn't call it a session beer with an O.G. of 1.055). Of course the usual caveats apply when making lagers, enjoy.

[AJC]

This sounds fantastic! I'm definitely going to have a go at something like this for my next lager!

One question though - is a 60 minute boil long enough? I thought 90m was required for lagers, or is that just anything involving pilsner malt?

[Barley Water]

Pils malt has alot of the precursor for DMS (which you can flash off by boiling). The theory is you can reduce DMS by doing a 90 minute boil and beer with alot of pils malt theoretically benefit. As an aside, it also helps to cool the wort really fast because DMS is still forming after shutdown until the wort gets cooled. The other thing to consider with an Oktoberfest (or any malty beer for that matter) is that the longer you boil, the more melonodin reactions will occur which at least to some extend benefit the flavor of the beer. For a light colored beer you risk darkening it up by doing this but I have personally never really worried about that too much.

[Monkeybrew]

Cheers for the feedback, all interesting stuff.

I'm also planning to brew a Vienna Lager too and am starting to think that I might brew that first

I have brewed quite a few kit based lagers in my brewfridge, and they have all been fairly good, so I happy with that side of things.

My only slight concern is that some elements in my water are higher than ideal for light or Amber lagers with the exception of a Dortmund Export that is relatively high in sodium and chloride by the looks of things.

My water is closer to a Vienna than an Oktoberfest so I may go for the Vienna first and see how it pans out.

Cheers

MB