Festbier Bee Cave Brewery Oktoberfest Ale

If I wanted to gain a taste of biscuit in this beer, how much biscuit malt might I add?

Has anyone used notty yeast to make this. i really dont have the room to cold crash and have quite a bitt of notty to use

Can anyone post a picture of the finished product? I for some reason really enjoy looking at pictures of beer! That helps me decide on my next brew.

id also like some comments from anyone that used notti. I cant keep my buckets at 60, but should be able to do 65. I would like to keep from getting the fruity flavors. Hopefully by this time next year ill have a fermentation chamber

Bump to see if anybody has tried with Nottingham. If not, I'm going to brew this in a few weeks and will most likely use it and can report back.

nootay said:

id also like some comments from anyone that used notti. I cant keep my buckets at 60, but should be able to do 65. I would like to keep from getting the fruity flavors. Hopefully by this time next year ill have a fermentation chamber

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It would be a totally different beer with Nottingham. If you must use a dry yeast, try Safale-05 which ferments much cleaner than Notty.

Just brewed this up today using the Safale-05. Also, my EdWort's Haus Pale Ale is now one week into fermentation.

OK, took the plunge and brewed a 12 gal batch today. My mash tun cooler was filled to the brim! Hit a OG of 1.066. If all goes well, should have quite the party in a few months

Brewed this on Saturday and everything went great. Funny thing though...when I was heating my sparge water, I looked away and when I looked back, there was a bee floating in the water. Good sign ( Bee Cave Oktoberfest )? I think so. I didn't leave him in there for the sparge but I did let him steep a bit.

I'm thinking of brewing this up for a party on October 3rd. When bottle conditioning, how far in advance do you feel would be appropriate to start it (to give it time to hit a nice peak around then)?

I brewed a version of this on Sept 26, kept it at 65 since then; just checked the gravity today and its only down to 1.020......doesn't taste sweet at all just very malty.....any thoughts ideas of anything I should do other than wait....recipe I used here:

http://brew-beer.com/recipes/Octoberfest.html

Just kegged this on Saturday. Now comes the hard part...waiting 2 months.

I brewed this Saturday 8/14/10 used Notty as the temps here in east Chula vista (San Diego) are a little on the warm side. Had 1.060 into the fermenter, Beersmith gave me 67% eff.
Looks to be a great beer. Like they say, "the waiting is the hardest part"!
Danke Ed!!

I'm brewing this today with Wyeast Kolsch II 2575. I plan on fermenting relatively cool...55-60F. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

Trying this as a mini mash this week.

Instead of:
5.5# Pils
5.5# Vienna
2# Munich
0.5# Caramunich
0.5# Caravienne

Doing:
6 lbs Extra Pale LME
2# Vienna
2# Munich
0.5# Caramunich
0.5# Caravienne

It's about that time of year, so I just wanted to endorse this recipe! Last year, I made this exactly, with the Kolsch yeast, and it was awesome.... Really enjoyable, easy drinking, and just a real good Ofest.

This year, I'm doing the same recipe, but I am lagering it with WLP820 Oktoberfest Lager, due to actually having a fridge to do it in. It'll be a relatively quick lagering, only 5 weeks, but here's hoping it's as good (or better) than last year's!

brewed the mini mash today and hit OG of 1.065

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Transfer to the keg about an hour ago. Right at the FG... Tasted awesome, can't wait for this to carb and be ready to drink!

I sampled my first opening of EdWort's Oktoberfest Ale this weekend. WOW, WOW, WOW. I did a taste comparison with several other commercial Octoberfests and found that EdWort's recipe stood up nicely with all of them. It was my favorite of what I compared it to. (Sam Adams Octoberfest, Spaten Octoberfest, Bells Fest Bier, Flying Dog, and Gordon Biersch Fest Bier.)

Way to go EdWort!!!!

I have made your ApfelWein, Haus Pale Ale, and now the Oktoberfest Ale. They have all been spectacular.

Do you sell a recipe book? I think I might just start brewing everything you publish!

Cheers to EdWort and his wonderful quaffs!

I am forcing myself not to try it until 9/11/10, which is exactly 4 weeks in the keg. Man is that hard!

stevo155 said:

I am forcing myself not to try it until 9/11/10, which is exactly 4 weeks in the keg. Man is that hard!

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Seriously! I'm trying to save this for our oktoberfest party... not going to be easy.

Brewed in March and has been "lagering" (with the kolsch yeast)in the keg since april..... First pull.....awesome. Thanks ED

Not to seem like too much of a neophyte here, but was your boil 90 min., Ed?

Was the boil 90 min. on your Oktoberfest Ale?

From the first page:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP029
Yeast Starter: Yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 25
Boiling Time (Minutes): 70
Color: 10 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 3.5 weeks at 65 degrees

Hammy, I assume that is your method. Fermentation time and temp is different for EdWort as well.

For Nephilim, yes, EdWort's boil time on his original recipe was 90 minutes. That is what I used as well.

webnmar said:

Hammy, I assume that is your method. Fermentation time and temp is different for EdWort as well.

For Nephilim, yes, EdWort's boil time on his original recipe was 90 minutes. That is what I used as well.

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Actually, his boil was 70m and his mash was 90m @ 154.

I sheepishly stand corrected. After posting, I looked back in my notes and found that the boil was supposed to be 70. Turns out, I did 90 minutes for mash and boil. The good news is I had my first one last weekend and it is fantastic, so my mistakes didn't create a poor result.

Great Recipe EdWort!!!

Ed

I have until Halloween to make this for a work party... Would 6 weeks be enough to make this, carb this, and have it drinkable?

Cheers

Lucas

lucasszy said:

Ed

I have until Halloween to make this for a work party... Would 6 weeks be enough to make this, carb this, and have it drinkable?

Cheers

Lucas

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Bottled or kegged?

Kegged! Thanks

I would say you are cutting it close but it will still be excellent.

My batch was brewed on 8/8 and the sample going into the keg recently was very good. I'm just sitting on it until 10/23 for a party we are having, but I'm sure it will be very drinkable as soon as it's carbed.

This was my very first all-grain batch, and the sample I just tasted after force carbing seems like it's one of the best I've made. Ran into the following minor problems:

1) Huge grain bill, and I wasn't fully prepared for the volume of grain+liquid that resulted during mashing, sparging, and boiling. There may have been some minor overflow... Just something to look out for if you're a noob like me.

2) No yeast activity after 48 hours... I think the yeast vial might have been frozen prior to pitching. I then pitched a singled packet of S-04 and it took off vigorously. (oxygenated w/ pure O2 and an aeration stone).

I'm extremely pleased with this, and it looks like it'll make a great complement to a well-aged keg of apfelwein for an upcoming party!

Edit: I just got a comment: "This is the best beer I've ever had." Thanks for the great recipe, Edwort!

I just had my first carbonated taste of this. It was in the fermenter for a month and has been on gas for 5 days or so. It's malty with a heavy amount of fruit flavor. I used a Wyeast kolsch smack pack and fermented at 68 (internal temp). The yeast got pretty hot when it was shipped to me. I'm hoping that the heavy fruit flavors aren't from the yeast being stressed out during shipping.

I know this beer is still young. It hasn't been on gas long--the beer isn't even close to clearing up yet. Should I expect the flavor profile to clean up a bit over the next month? I can taste the promise in this beer, but it's kinda "in yo' face" at the moment.

Fingers crossed!

It spent 3 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks at 38 degs in the keg. I carbed it the last 5 days. Took it to the homebrew club and got 2nd place. It is 7 weeks old now and just getting better.

I followed the recipe, except I used all Hallertau and mashed at 153 and used a pack of S-05.


OG was 1.058
FG was 1.013
ABV is 5.87%

Love it.

Mine turned out great. Probably the best I've made. Unfortunately 5 gallons wasn't close to enough and it didn't last long. I'm going to have to make at least 10 gallons if not more next time.

OK folks, I need some help on this one.

After 3.5 weeks in primary and then a few days in the fridge prior to kegging, the taste had what I think is an estery/fussil aftertaste (I'm not really sure how to describe the flavor). It was not a clean finish as I'd expected from a Kolsh yeast.

Is it messed up? Or, does the lagering for month or two clean this up?

It finished at about a 1.019 -- a skosh higher than what Ed reported.

Possible ways I F'd it up:
1) I didn't do a starter. I pitched 3 vials of WLP029 onto a 10 gallon batch.
2) I held the temps around 64 +/- a degree or two through active fermentation . At about the 3 wk mark, the temp went upto ~69˚F for several days (active fermentation had mostly finished). Darned late fall heat wave!
3) ???

I guess I should take some into a homebrew store and let someone taste it to see what the off flavor is. In the dozen batches I have under my belt, this is the first that has had any sort of issue. Maybe I'm just panicking...

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

I got that taste when I pitched 1 vial into a 5 gal batch. Did you check the % viability? I have noticed on my system if I under pitch even at optimal temp I get kind of an estery yeasty taste.

I'm in the middle of brewing this now. Grains are 70 minutes into their 90 soak.
Using WL029 and everything as originally recommended.

Did a large starter of the yeast..hope i don't get the esters people are talking about too much

anyone scaled back on the grain bill alittle on this one? thinking dropping a pound off a lbs of the pils and vienna my efficincy is pretty good and im making this for a party and dont want it to be to strong will that mess with the balance of this beer