Festbier BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale (AG)

Never tried it but sounds good to me.....thanks

I'm going to do this one but I wanted to sub 5.5% Vanguard, a Hallertau clone, as I have a pound of it just kicking back in the freezer that I've not broken into.

I'm thinking that would make a good sub, except that it is supposed to have a strong aroma. If I go with the 60 and 30 minute additions of .75 oz each for 21 IBUs most of the aroma should be boiled off, right?

mmb said:

I'm going to do this one but I wanted to sub 5.5% Vanguard, a Hallertau clone, as I have a pound of it just kicking back in the freezer that I've not broken into.

I'm thinking that would make a good sub, except that it is supposed to have a strong aroma. If I go with the 60 and 30 minute additions of .75 oz each for 21 IBUs most of the aroma should be boiled off, right?

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That would be my guess. Though you'll get the specific flavoring profile of those hops...but that could be a good thing.

The high malt flavor of this beer will mask some of the hop nuances.

Anyone have suggestions for a good Wyeast for this recipe??

BierMuncher said:

That would be my guess. Though you'll get the specific flavoring profile of those hops...but that could be a good thing.

The high malt flavor of this beer will mask some of the hop nuances.

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It's either that or some 13% Galena at 60 minutes. Bulk buying is nice, but kinda limiting I'm finding.

I'm going to have to do some SMaSH batches to see what I'm going to like.

Disclaimer: Mine is still in primary, so I don't "know" this beer yet. Soon, OHHHH soon. But I would think, judging from the style, that 20IBUs of Galena at 60" could be "safer" than the Vanguard. Or you could also just use Vanguard at 60" bittering, and skip the flavor addition. Like BM said, the malty backbone is the real star.

As for Grinder, sorry I use White Labs for everything. Glancing at their webpage, I'd say 2565 Kolsch yeast would be good, or 1007 German Ale or 1338 European Ale.

we used the 1007 German Ale for ours this year, should be fine

I just brewed this one today. Here are my results:

a.) I either mis-ordered or they mis-shipped Safale S-05 instead of S-04, so this might get a bit dry. Oh well. At least it's still a clean-fermenting yeast that won't give me too much ester.

b.) I did a 5.5-gallon batch (5 after losses and shrinkage). I chopped everything in half, except I used 5 lb. of Pilsner malt instead of 4.25 because I didn't know the next time I'd need the extra .75 lb. of crushed pils malt.

c.) The person who suggested using a corny keg as a pre-chiller is a genius!!! Filled the keg with a 22 lb. "Big Bag" of ice, hooked the "in" connect to my hose spigot, and the "out" to my immersion chiller. Cooled my wort to under 90˚ in about 20 minutes.

d.) I may have contaminated my wort. The "Two dollar auto-siphon replacement" or whatever it is (use the search tool) just doesn't work for me. At all. Three brews with the damn thing, and the siphon fails every time. I lost a lot of wort and got a lot of trub this way, plus a possible contamination. I'm investing in an Auto-Siphon.

e.) Five gallon batch, O.G. 1.060, batch sparge efficiency 74% niiiiiiiice

For the extract recipe posted earlier, what are thoughts on replacing either the amber LME or the pale LME with munich LME?

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Im not surre how it would turn out honestly. BierMuncher mentioned he used Potassium sorbate to stop fermentaion. Im not sure if this is an option when bottling or not. Might take a look and find a lower attenuating yeast with the same charachteristics. I think im going to try and brew this recipe tomorrow or monday except I will try and replace most of my LME with DME.

You could probably add some 2row to your steep as well to end up with a half assed PM.

I plan on brewing this tomorrow. I'm making half of Muncher's original recipe (5.75 gallons) I purchased my specialty grains at the LHBS and when I got home I realized the store owner gave me an extra 0.5 lb of Carapils. Unfortunately, all the grains are mixed together so I'll have to use it as is. I plan on using Safale US-05 yeast for this, and I know this yeast will have a tendency to really dry out the beer. I'm wondering how the extra Carapils will affect the attenuation. The additional grain should only up my SG about 2 points. I was thinking about lowering the mash temp a bit to negate the effect of the additional carapils on the wort fermentability. Should I keep the mash temp high (156-158*F) to try to keep my FG in the 1.014 range, despite the extra Carapils?

BTW, thanks in large part to this forum I am completely addicted to brewing

ISUBrew79 said:

I plan on brewing this tomorrow. I'm making half of Muncher's original recipe (5.75 gallons) I purchased my specialty grains at the LHBS and when I got home I realized the store owner gave me an extra 0.5 lb of Carapils. Unfortunately, all the grains are mixed together so I'll have to use it as is. I plan on using Safale US-05 yeast for this, and I know this yeast will have a tendency to really dry out the beer. I'm wondering how the extra Carapils will affect the attenuation. The additional grain should only up my SG about 2 points. I was thinking about lowering the mash temp a bit to negate the effect of the additional carapils on the wort fermentability. Should I keep the mash temp high (156-158*F) to try to keep my FG in the 1.014 range, despite the extra Carapils?

BTW, thanks in large part to this forum I am completely addicted to brewing

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With a full pound of Cara in a five gallon batch, I'd mash at around 152-153 for a full 60 minutes. There's enough specialty grain in that recipe that the 05 will do just fine.

Brewed 8/23/08 with Vanguard 5.5% substitution with 1/2 oz additions at 60 minute, 45, and 30 minutes for 23 IBUs.

Ended up getting 79% Brewhouse efficiency into the carboy at 1.061 when I planned for 70% @ 1.054. I have been getting 74% but this brew I swapped out the toilet braid for a false bottom and tightened up the BC for a better crush. Figured I'd take a hit until I got used to lautering the false bottom. Guess not.

Smelled wonderful in the boiler and it was a good night for brewing.

BM,
My batch just went to keg about 5 days ago, and this is some fabulous tasting
stuff !
I boiled too hard and lost about half a gallon, so the alc. content is a little higher,
but nontheless, I'm very gracious for your recipe.

Thanks again.
Karb

Anyone tried that partial mash recipe? How did it turn out?

I have this in secondary now. The SG has been 1.023 for 2 weeks now. Should I try to get the fermentation restarted or is that close enough to the predicted FG?

I'm about 20 minutes into the boil on this as we speak. I'm getting a late start for my Octoberfest, but hey, that's why this is OctoberFAST.

Pushed the limits on my 5 gallon MLT with this one. It was pretty full with 1.25q/lb and 14.5 qts of strike water. First runnings came out fine, but my second running were pretty slow and I thought I was getting a stuck sparge. I wasn't having any of that so I blew back through the hose, stired and vorlaufed again and things started flowing much better.

I'm still trying to get a handle on my volumes since it seems like the grain absorption calcs from BeerSmith are a bit off - I didn't quite get the amount of runnings I was expecting. I'm also still trying to get a handle on boiloff so this will be a good exercise. This is my 3rd all grain so I'm still trying to get my system figured out.

Looking forward to getting this one in the keg!

Since there are two extract recipes on here...has anyone tried either of them...? Which would be more true to the original recipe? I'm going to pick up the ingredients for this, extract unfortunately, haven't gotten all the equip for the AG yet, and i'd also like to know if there's a Wyeast (LHBS doesn't sell Safale)

I've ordered the ingredients to do a modified version of southwoods recipe. Modified because I want to mash that aromatic malt, not steep it. Since I can only mash 4 lbs with my PM setup I cut down a pound of the munich and ordered munich LME from AHB (it has 20% munich 80% 2-row). Looking foreard to brewing this one next week. Will be a little late in the season when this is ready to drink but I'm hoping to have it ready in time for a Halloween party.

I finally got around to brewing this last Tuesday. As I stated in a previous post to this thread, my LHBS put an extra 0.5 lb of CaraPils into the grist. I'm still dialing in my efficiency, which has greatly improved since I started using the Barley Crusher. My OG came out to be 1.056. I used White Labs WLP-001 yeast. The gravity today was down to 1.013, and I'm hoping it will finish around 1.012 or so. This was the first brew I used Whirlfloc in, and this was by far the clearest wort I've gotten post-boil. I can't wait to get this brew in the keg and on tap for autumn festivities!

Transfered mine to the secondary tonight. The sample was fantastic! I'm at 1.020 right now so hopefully it will drop another 2-3 points in the secondary and finish up about right. The color is beautiful and the maltiness is perfect. I think I'm going to do 2 weeks in the secondary and then keg this, so I should be drinking it in 3 weeks or so.

Thanks BM!

bm, what do you think about this for a 5 gallon batch, i halfed all the grain and hops except for the pilsner malt and vienna malt so i am using 4 lbs. of pilsner malt and 3 lbs of vienna. the due to the fact that austin homebrew won't let me buy a half pound of the pils and i dont have scale. Also their pilsner malt is called Bohemian Pilsner Malt (Moravian)is this ok?

Kegged my batch on 9/23 direct from primary. Brewed 8/23

OG 1.061 FG 1.015

Hydrometer sample was pretty tasty at 66 degrees. First time I drank the whole sample.

Thanks BierMuncher!

Put 20 gallons into kegs tonight. Stuff tastes great, can't wait till next week when it's carbed up and ready to drink. I will be serving this along with a Dunkel from earlier this summer at our Octoberfest party next weekend. (First go at a triple decoction mash). Thanks BM for the great recipe!!!!

Kegged this up tonight. Looks like it finished at 1.018. It's definitely tasting good so I can't wait to taste it again when it's cold and carbed!

I bottled mine up three weeks ago, left them to condition at room temp, and just put some in the fridge two days ago. Alas, chill haze. Probably from transferring a lot of trub (my transfer issues have since been resolved), and leaving it in primary for four weeks. Still tastes okay though.

Octoberfest is not suppose to be a sweet beer there for crystal malts should be used sparingly. Also it shouldn't be a heavy beer it should ferment down low so that it can be drank in abundance without getting full. Octoberfest beers are a very Malty Balanced beer that is not overly hoppy.

I brewed this up about 6 weeks ago and I have had it on gas now for a few days and it is coming out nicely. I ended up mashing this very high and it is very creamy and probably actually out of style, but I don't care because it is a very good beer. definately brewing this again next year.

As soon as my 10der and Mild is done carbing, I'll put my OktoberFAST with Kolsch yeast (fermented at high temp due to hot spell...) onto the gas pretty soon here. Results to come, stay tuned. The first batch was a bit hot, and a little estery, with the Dusseldorf Alt Yeast (same 79*F pitch/ferment temp as the Kolsch yeast had, it was 85 in the house with the a/c on full blast at the time, so I took what I could get), but we still killed the keg within a few weeks of gassing it up. I suspect we'll do the same on this next keg.

Getting closer. Racked my partial mash batch to secondary last night. The hydro samle was rich and malty, tastes like this is gonna be a winner. I'll have to call mine Novemberfest though, don't think it's gonna be ready before October is over.

Just bottled this one. Getting anxious. Tastes great for a green beer.

I remade a simplified version of this one about 8 weeks ago and tapped it for a neighborhood party this past (Halloween) weekend.

I put it on tap upstairs next to my Wit.

49% 2-Row
23% Vienna
18% Munich
10% Crystal #40

It was a huge hit. Cleared up nicely and very quickly. Smooth flavor.

If you can't get aromatic or aren't a big fan...this simpler recipe gets 6 thumbs up from my neighbors.

Well, crap. I tapped the other keg last night, and it is bubble gum up the wazoo. Word of advice, Kolsch yeast doesn't like upper 70's.

This will be a punishment beer... I must drink it, as my punishment, before I can put another keg on tap. (Not like I have any other kegs waiting. Need to get my tuches back in gear, and brew some!)

I'm glad the Dusseldorf Alt yeast was more forgiving, too bad that keg is already gone.

Swamp cooler Chriso. I ferment all my beers around 65 just to keep the esters down. Turn out very nice.

Of course, winter-ish weather is here and 65 is about as warm as the basement floor gets.

I know, I know. I did both halves of the Oktoberfest in Ale Pails, each in a giant green tub full of ice water. Even with the ice, the batch didn't cool below 78˚F until well after the ferment was complete. The Dusseldorf Alt was a 1L starter, the Kolsch was a yeast cake from the previous batch.

It was in the middle of the hottest week in July, my house was 84˚F with the A/C on full blast.

But it meant that SWMBO approved a walk-in cooler in the basement. Now I just need to ... well, start building it. I already have the A/C and the Ranco, as well as a bunch of small muffin fans to modify the A/C with to prevent icing over. I just need insulation and plywood.

11 gallons in primary happily bubbling @67* I ended up a little over @ 1.056 with a little over 11 gallons going into the carboys. I should have partgyled this as my last running was 1.025ish when I stopped with some left in the tun but it was a long day had some chores to finish up in the morning and at 7 pm I was just ready to clean up and be done as it is I didnt pitch till 9 pm

The only thing I have a little concern about was the hops the Tettnang hops I had were over 4% can't recall exactly I will have to dumpster dive to get the foil pack .

Can anybody break it down for a 5 gallon batch. Thank you...

Festivus said:

For the extract recipe posted earlier, what are thoughts on replacing either the amber LME or the pale LME with munich LME? I have some munich from AHS that lists it as 20% munich malt, 80% 2-row. Is this a possible substitution for one of these, or should I stick with the pale/amber? BeerSmith doesnt have munich extract as an ingredient (atleast that I can find) so it wouldnt put it in the recipe by itself on the conversion. Im hoping the munich LME will provide some more maltiness that the extract recipe is going to lose from missing out on the grains.

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A little late on the reply. I would NOT substitute the Amber or Pale LME with a Munich LME. IMO, the 80% 2-row addition will throw the flavor off.

Chriso said:

Well, crap. I tapped the other keg last night, and it is bubble gum up the wazoo. Word of advice, Kolsch yeast doesn't like upper 70's.

This will be a punishment beer... I must drink it, as my punishment, before I can put another keg on tap. (Not like I have any other kegs waiting. Need to get my tuches back in gear, and brew some!)

I'm glad the Dusseldorf Alt yeast was more forgiving, too bad that keg is already gone.

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I don't think there is much yeast that likes it above 70F other than Hefeweizen style yeast. Most of the ales I have made, like it best between 65-68F.

JLW1974 said:

I don't think there is much yeast that likes it above 70F other than Hefeweizen style yeast. Most of the ales I have made, like it best between 65-68F.

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Oh yeah - I'm aware, I was just trying to make the best of a particularly warm month, and it didn't work out. Part of the problem is that ice baths don't work well on plastic Ale Pail fermenters, and so short of a good fridge/walk-in, there's no way to truly control my ferment temps. (That part is in progress)

I brewed a variation of the PM version (via DeathBrewer's stovetop PM technique) listed on page 2 of this thread and had something odd happen.

This is my first "real" attempt at a PM where I used more than a pound or two of grain to mash.

PM'd a total of 5 lbs of grain in two grain bags (don't have the big nylon grain bag DeathBrewer shows in his technique thread) in 2.5 gallons of water at ~ 157F then sparged with 1 gallon of 170F water:

3 lbs Munich
1.5 lbs Crystal 10L
0.5 lbs Carapils

I topped up to 3.5 gallons for the boil then added 2lbs DME at the start of my boil and 2lbs at flame-out.


According to BeerSmith, my OG should have been 1.060, but I measured 1.050. This is the first time I've been so far off on OG measurement, but it's by far the most grain I've used.

The way I see it, I either royally hosed my PM technique or didn't have a good mix in the fermenter (as I had to add ~ 2 gallons of top-off water: 1 gallon before racking then enough afterwards to top off to 5 gallons.)

Pitched a 1L+ starter of WLP029, krausen started to form in ~ 8 hrs at 63F, was blowing off in 16 hours. Crossing fingers on how this turns out.

Not really looking for an answer here as I realize there's too many variables to know for sure. Just venting, more or less.