SkiNuke

Recipes 

So I made an Oktoberfest Ale a month or so back that turned out really good, everyone who has had it has loved it. My goal is to turn it into a Bock so I can do my first lager and not feel guilty about brewing an Oktoberfest that won't be ready for October. My Oktoberfest was the same recipe as below, but using Ale yeast, 1 lb less Munich, 1.5 lb less Vienna, and a quarter ounce less tettnang.
My questions are:
1) What would be the flavor differences if I were to switch the amounts of Munich and Vienna?
2) How does one do a diacetyl rest correctly?
3) What tips would you give for lager brewing?
4) I have never done a starter, how big do I need to make the starter?

SkiNuke

Recipes 

Any advice for a first timer lagerer?

PT Ray

Recipes 

The recipe looks fine. I take the Spaten Optimator approach and use 100% dark Munich and use a double or triple decoction. But I see more recipes like yours for single infusion mashes.

You'll need a pretty big starter. If you under pitch and attempt to ferment at 45-50 it will be slow goings. Even with a proper pitch I would probably let it ferment for 3 weeks before lagering. 6 weeks would probably be more of a respectable lagering period.

SkiNuke

Recipes 

Well i just racked it to my secondary and its FG is 1.012 (brewtarget said it would be around 1.017). Any ideas what happened?

944play

Recipes 

That's a pretty attenuative strain. Your FG does not seem unusual.

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OD: SMaSH Gambrinus Organic Pils/Spalt Select (2308), SMaSH CMC Pils/Spalt Select (2308)
Pri -
Keg: SMaSH Mystery Malt/Spalt Select (2308), SMaSH Munich/Northern Brewer (2308), SMaSH Briess Pils/Spalt Select (2308), Kronik (WL002)

SkiNuke

Recipes 

ok cool. I figured I might have mashed a bit low or something, but i figured even with mashing low it would only affect it by a point or two not 5.

hatfieldenator

Recipes 

You could add some light munich in there as well to add some complexity to the malt profile. Either way, it looks like it will be pretty good