another critique please...Oktoberfest

Just trying to plan ahead some brews in order to have some good beer on tap for the beginning of college football season. I have attempted to formulate an Oktoberfest and continue to have some troubles with hops schedules. Any help would be appreciated.

Oktoberfest

8 pounds of Two Row
1.5 pounds of Munich
1.5 pounds of Vienna
1 pound Carapils
1 pound Crystal (not quite sure of the number, maybe 60?)
.5 Chocolate

.25 Hallertau 60 min
.25 Saaz 15 min
.50 Hallertau 5 min

Are you looking to stay within style, or just make something like an Oktoberfest?

Too much chocolate! That's all you will taste . You add that much and you are more toward a stout.

How much would you suggest of the chocolate?
I guess I would say just trying to do something like a Oktoberfest

I would omit the chocolate altogether. If you must add any caramel malt, add .25 lb of c-40. I would also use more Munich malt, and use Pilsner malt instead of pale malt. Also, typically Maerzen beers don't have hop additions after the 30 minute mark, and some only have a 60 minute addition. If you're not too concerned with sticking to style, then do what you think you'd like most. The Oktoberfest beers in Germany are lighter in color than most Americans think. Pick up a Weihenstephaner Festbier and see for yourself. There also some Amber Maerzen beers that are darker, but I didn't see any of those served at Oktoberfest when I was there.

Again, don't concern yourself too much with style if all you're after is something "sort like a Maerzen".

TB

Tiber got it. ^^^^

Get rid of the chocolate, carapils, and maybe the crystal.

Use Pilsner instead of 2row, and up the Munich, for caramel malts if you want to use Id use Caramunich.

And Id dump the 15min hop addition.

Last for the ulimate Oktober do at least a double decoction.

+1 on ommitting the chocolate unless you really just wanted it. I agree with Tiber completely. I have a Octoberfest type beer that is all munich and Vienna with just a 60 minute hop addition that is wonderful.

bh10 said:

Last for the ulimate Oktober do at least a double decoction.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Makes for a longer brew day, but worth it.

Thanks for the information. I am going to work on it further and post again later. Thanks again.

murph25 said:

Just trying to plan ahead some brews in order to have some good beer on tap for the beginning of college football season. I have attempted to formulate an Oktoberfest and continue to have some troubles with hops schedules. Any help would be appreciated.

Oktoberfest

8 pounds of Two Row
1.5 pounds of Munich
1.5 pounds of Vienna
1 pound Carapils
1 pound Crystal (not quite sure of the number, maybe 60?)
.5 Chocolate

.25 Hallertau 60 min
.25 Saaz 15 min
.50 Hallertau 5 min

Click to expand...

A fest beer IMO should be based on Munich and Vienna malt. At the very least I would switch the quantities of malts in your recipe and go with eight pounds of Munich/Vienna and 3 pounds of the pale malt, although pilsner malt is a much better choice. As has been stated get rid of the chocolate malt. There is no place for it in this style and the larger portion of Munich/Vienna will deepen the color. Ditto on the crystal malt and if you like CaraPils in the recipe keep it's content low, like 3-5%. There do not appear to be enough hops and I would suggest eliminating the 5 minute addition. Keep the Hallertau at 60 minutes but use enough to get 24 IBUs or so. A middle additon at 30/20 minutes is OK for a touch of flavor & aroma and the Saaz is fine there. Just don't get in the way of the malt, this is not a pale ale.