voodoocurt

Recipes 

Good news! Brewed and pitched my new starter. It's currently bubbling away in the fridge at a cool 50*.
What I did:

1. Made 1/2 gallon starter day before gravity of 1.050 high?
2. Brewed as usual. Steeped @ 150* for 30 min
3. Boiled and added lme, and 1st hops then 2nd @ 30 min
4. Decanted most of the wort from starter left around a qt
5. Cooled to 60* degrees with cold water and topped to 5 gallons
6. Gravity was 1.050
7. Pitched yeast and aerated well. Yeast was active before decanting.
8. Stuck it in the fridge and waited. Less thn 24 hrs later. Bubbles!!!!!!

Next:
Wait 2weeks and monitor temp
Diactyl rest. Someone tell me more. Is this necessary and what does it do?
Rack to 2nd and lager as cool as possible for two months.
Bottle.
Lager in bottle.
Oktoberfest!!!!!!!!!!mmmmmmmm

greenthumbed

Recipes 

Hey Folks,

I hope I'm not intruding on this thread. I thought I might mention that I put down a Mazen/Oktoberfest a couple of weeks back.

The weights are converted from metric.

5.5 lbs. LDM (light dry malt)
1.2 lbs. LME (amber)
.5 lbs. Caramunich II
.33 lbs. Carapils
.33 lbs. Pale Chocolate malt
1.07 oz. Hallertau 7.3% (60mins)
.2 oz. Hallertau 7.3% (0mins)
.2 oz. Perle 7.% (0mins)
2L starter Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager pitched @ 70* brewed @ 55*
6 gallon preboiled water (temporary hardness removed)

This is based on a 3.7 gallon boil for 60 mins. The grains were steeped @ 155* for 30mins.

OG 1.054 SG 1.015 (april 4)
IBU 23.8 SRM 13.7

The brew has been in the Primary for 12 days. I plan to rack to two 3 gallon carboys. One of these carboys I plan to lager in the fridge @ 36* for the summer months then bottle. The second carboy I plan to let sit for a month or so @ 50* then bottle and drink earlyish. We shall see if the long term lagering is worth the wait.

The one thing I noticed while following this thread is that no one mentioned what kind of water (liquor) was used in thier recipes or suggested recipes. From what I gather this style of beer should be use liquor with low temporay hardness and soft. Any thoughts on this matter?

Another question I ponder is how after so long a lagering time should I prime this brew?

Thanks,
Chad

pwortiz

Recipes 

Hey V,
Sounds like your re-do has come off nicely! Well done Specially with that massive starter!

I ended up bottling on Thursday night. Will take monthly samples to see how this thing goes. The 1 thing I can offer - take it as you will - is that, based on my current tasting notes, I would pull it out of the initial fermentation at 7 days instead of 9 or any longer. I think I am getting some of the diacetyl flavor.

Overall, the taste isn't bad that I had at bottling time. It does seem to me that I'm getting some of that "butterscotch flavor" that indicates diacetyl in the beer.

Regarding your question, you'll find some good info on the forum regarding what diacetyl is. In short terms - if I remember right - it's a byproduct of the yeast eating the sugars at low temps and creates a butter or butterscotch flavor in the beer. The "diacetyl rest" is done before the lagering period because the room temp allows the yeast to kick back into high gear and the yeast actually cleans this byproduct up on its own.

SO, I would suggest not waiting 2 weeks but that's your call. Next time, I'll probably only go for 7.

My final readings were not done in the correct order I think. I got my SG at 1.060 @ 82 (good for you for pitching at 60!). My next reading was 1.016 at 63 but that was AFTER my diacetyl rest if I remember right. So, I should have taken the reading at 5-7 days.

My final reading was 1.016 as well so nothing changed at all during the lagering period. That puts the recipe at 6.3% ABV according to Rooftop Brew's calculator.

Best of luck!

Green, you're welcome to the thread - it's an open forum I will keep your recipe on hand too and may make it next year to do some experimenting on what I like. Regarding your question on the water - I can't answer unfortunately. I did not add any brewing salts and just used my standard tap water and filtered water to top off to the 5 gal mark. The water in this area is....well, balanced I guess. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. But that's an interesting comment. Will have to look into that a tad more.

voodoocurt

Recipes 

Green,
Interesting take on the water idea, and thoughts are always welcomed. I guess to be true to the style you would have to have a "local" Oktoberfest in mind and try and match that water ph, hardness, etc. of the town/city...maybe Munich? Since I have no idea how to do that, or the time/desire to get that specific, I used what I have always used 6 gallons of distilled walmart water.

P,
I'm going to study up on diactyl and see what I come up with. Thanks for the notes, I'll keep them in mind. Thanks again, I think this is going to be a pretty valuable thread in the future.

V

greenthumbed

Recipes 

Hi Pwortiz,

Thanks for the welcome!

I just racked my Marzen to the 2ndarys yesterday and remove it for the cold storage room for the D-rest then into the fridge for the summer! The sample tastes great!

I have a long time to wait and ponder. I am not sure how I should go about priming this one after the lagering. I am thinking the yeast will all but have fallen out of suspension and gone to sleep by then?

I have just recently started tweaking the liquor to try and fit my styles. I resently got my towns water analysis to see just what I was up against. It seems that my water is fairly balanced with the "good brewing" minerals but the water is very hard and the temporary hardness is really high as well as the pH. I've been boiling off the temp. hardness and also blending this with RO bottled water for the last few brews. None of these brews are of age to quaff yet but the SG samples have been promising.

voodoocurt

Recipes 

UPDATE:
I am currently(Saturday) racking to 2ndary and put it into D-Rest on Thursday and Friday by raising my fridge to hover around 55-60* it started bubbling and I took a FG and it was 1.011 @ 70* I figure the temp had a little to do with being off my target. Will put back in fridge and lager until June 15th and bottle then lager in bottle until Sept.

Any input guys?

BTW---Tasted sample NO BUTTER TASTE----clean/crisp and with a dry finish---very drinkable.....not as malty as I thought----hops seemed spot on---

V

pwortiz

Recipes 

Good on ya, V! Sounds like it's going to work out really well! I haven't done any further sampling yet. I won't until it's been about 4 weeks and then I'll start sampling 1 x per month or so. I'll be curious to hear what the ending gravity is post lagering and just before bottling.

voodoocurt

Recipes 

P,
When you bottled, did you put them right back in the fridge or let them warm up for a couple days then put them back in the fridge? What temp did you bottle at? I'm curious if I should let the brew stand for awhile then bottle or bottle straight from fridge. Any thoughts?

"I'll pull out to get it back to room temp for bottling sometime around April 4th and prime/bottle on the 6th or 7th."

Just saw that, my bad......did you let it set in the bottle a day or two or go back in the fridge?

V

greenthumbed

Recipes 

Hey Guys,

Will there be enough yeast in suspension after a long lager time? Might I have to add a little more yeast at bottling time? Thoughts?

pwortiz

Recipes 

Hey V, Green,

I believe you have to let the bottles carb first at room temp (which is what I've done and have done since the 5th). I'm going to crack one open tomorrow night actually for a taste test/verification of carb level. If carbed, I'm going to put in my cellaring closet which is cool but definitely not at lager temps. I'm pretty much done with the "lager" period overall due to my available resources/equipment.

I can let you both know carb levels tomorrow. That'd be 3 weeks in the bottle at room temp.

Since this is only my 2nd lager ever, I'm not sure about significant longer lagering periods. I basically mirrored the AHS Vienna lager timing. My SWMBO really likes that one so I'm hoping for similar results on this Since it appeared to work, I didn't try to change anything else.

Will report back tomorrow!