Marzen/Oktoberfest

[BigEd]

Time to get a lager recipe in here. I truly enjoy hoppy beers but this malty lager is one of my favorite brews. Watch the fermentation temps and give this one plenty of lagering time.

23 Litres transposed from 10 US Gallons

2.5Kg German Light Munich malt
1.85Kg German Vienna malt
925g German Pils malt
300g CaraFoam malt

35g Spalt hops @ 60 minutes
17g Spalt hops @ 20 minutes

Double decoction mash: 15-20 minutes @ 55C, 60 minutes @ 67C, mashout 10 minutes @ 76C

Whitelab WLP820 yeast or other Munich type

[mysterio]

Good luck with this one. I tried making first Oktoberfest Marzen a few months ago and it turned into my best beer. It turned out more like a bock, though, with the attenuation a little on the low side and under-hopped a bit.

Do you do anything special with the aeration or starter for your lagers?

[BigEd]

Do you do anything special with the aeration or starter for your lagers?

A big starter is really needed for a lager IMO. I like to pitch a saved slurry from a previous batch when possible but when starting with a new yeast I'll bump it up twice before brewing the beer.

[mysterio]

I did a gallon starter from a WL tube for mine however I should have really stepped it up I think. It took off in about an hour, though, and I pitched it warm before cooling it down. Do you pitch your lagers cold?

[BigEd]

I did a gallon starter from a WL tube for mine however I should have really stepped it up I think. It took off in about an hour, though, and I pitched it warm before cooling it down. Do you pitch your lagers cold?

I end up pitching them at the temp that comes out of my heat exchanger. That usually works out to about 77F/25C and then I cool the beer down to fermentation temp. There is a large faction, at least in the US, that is adament about pitching at lager fermentation temps but I don't have that capability. I use the ambient temp of my basement during the cold months to ferment my lagers. I have not encountered any off flavors or problems but if I ever aquire a refridgerated lager fermenter i will try the cold pitching method.

[BitterTed]

I did a gallon starter from a WL tube for mine however I should have really stepped it up I think. It took off in about an hour, though, and I pitched it warm before cooling it down. Do you pitch your lagers cold?

I end up pitching them at the temp that comes out of my heat exchanger. That usually works out to about 77F/25C and then I cool the beer down to fermentation temp. There is a large faction, at least in the US, that is adament about pitching at lager fermentation temps but I don't have that capability. I use the ambient temp of my basement during the cold months to ferment my lagers. I have not encountered any off flavors or problems but if I ever aquire a refridgerated lager fermenter i will try the cold pitching method.

I have the capabilities to pitch at fermentation temp and frankly I don't notice any difference pitching cold or warm. As long as you ferment cold, that's all that really matters, IMO.