Ocktoberfest Questions

Planning on doing an AG Ocktoberfest on Tuesday and am a bit fuzzy on the whole step mash thing. I'll be using my keggle as a mashtun for this one and will transfer the wort back to it for the boil. My bill will be:
6#'s German pils
6#'s Munich
1oz Mt. Hood bittering
.5 Tettanang flavor
.5 Tettanang aroma
White Labs Ocktoberfest Yeast
and cold fermenting 50 for primary and about 32 for secondary for a month of so.

Could someone give me thje low down or direct me to a source

Thanks

Just two malts, you are after my own heart. To me Munich more than any other malt really shines using a decoction mash. It will provide body, color and sweetness that something like crystal malt will never compare to. As a result my crystal has taken a back seat and sees minimal usage. No harm will be done using a single infusion but I still prefer at least a step mash. I will start with 130 degree 1qt water:1lb grain which will give me about a 122 degree mash when combined. Rest for 30 minutes and then add boiling .5qt water:1lb grain, resulting with about a 150 degree mash. Rest there for 45 minutes and then add heat for a 165 degree mash out. Sparge with 165 degree water at 2qt:1lb of grain. Top off kettle if needed with water to achieve desired preboiled volume. Did I mention a decoction mash?

Do I know you from Cyberfret?

PanzerOfDoom said:

I'll be using my keggle as a mashtun for this one and will transfer the wort back to it for the boil.

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Does this mean you are planning on mashing, sparging, collecting the run-off in a second vessel, dumping the spent grains from your keggle, then transfering the wort back to the keggle and boiling? The way that is worded doesn't make sense to me? Sounds like uneeded work if thats the plan

Off topic: everyone here knows what CAGLE exersices are right?
Back to the thread.

I recently (relatively) did an Oktoberfest using a 40-60-70-76 (mashout) schedule. For the 40->60 step I just did a standard boiling water infusion. For 60-70 I did a thick decoction and for 70-76 I did a thin (just runoff) decoction. This was using well modified grains. I'm not sure of the results yet, but it is 'mostly' traditional.

The next lager I try I'm going to use some less modified pils and do something like a 40-50-65-76.

G. Cretin said:

Off topic: everyone here knows what CAGLE exersices are right? Back to the thread.

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Why? Feeling a bit too tight? You need to get back to yours?

homebrewer_99 said:

Why? Feeling a bit too tight? You need to get back to yours?

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Touchy touchy. no need to get butt hurt muffin. just a stupid joke

clayof2day said:

Does this mean you are planning on mashing, sparging, collecting the run-off in a second vessel, dumping the spent grains from your keggle, then transfering the wort back to the keggle and boiling? The way that is worded doesn't make sense to me? Sounds like uneeded work if thats the plan

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Seems like it will be easier to control heat vice using the coolertun and infusing with more water. Just light the fire get the mash up to the next step then let it rest and repeat.

I've never done a step that's why I'm soliciting advice.

G. Cretin said:

Off topic: everyone here knows what CAGLE exersices are right?
Back to the thread.

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CAGLE exercises? no, never heard of that...

maybe you mean kegel exercises?

Lou said:

CAGLE exercises? no, never heard of that...

maybe you mean kegel exercises?

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Why don't you go tell that to the urologist I work for. If he spells it With a "C" so will I. But I suppose your the kind of troll thats just looking to start a flame war with some one.Ass.

G. Cretin said:

Why don't you go tell that to the urologist I work for. If he spells it With a "C" so will I. But I suppose your the kind of troll thats just looking to start a flame war with some one.Ass.

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i'd love to teach your stupid d1ck-doc how to spell, nurse cretin. i'm not sure why you think an exercise named after Dr. Kegel should be spelled "CAGLE" but you should definitely tell your boss about what you learned. maybe he'll give you a promotion to head nurse or something...

BTW, that's twice in one thread that you've called people names for no damn reason at all.
just try to relax a little.

Yeah twice as in I caught it the first time and you didn't need to reiterate the point.
As for dick Dr. (do capitalize Dr. you twitt) and Nurse, you got a problem with people that have finished college. I guess homebrewers have no use for a sense of humor.

Cretin, this forum isn't all that tolerant of the internet pissin' contests that other forums seem to be so fond of (and no doubt where you came to believe that this level of discourse is for some reason socially acceptable). I'd suggest you get a feel for the place before sounding off if you want your stay and contributions to be productive.

Baron von BeeGee said:

Cretin, this forum isn't all that tolerant of the internet pissin' contests that other forums seem to be so fond of (and no doubt where you came to believe that this level of discourse is for some reason socially acceptable). I'd suggest you get a feel for the place before sounding off if you want your stay and contributions to be productive.

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I'm not trying to get in a pissing contest Baron I made a joke it wasn't recived well and thats fine. I don't need any one coming in to try and kick me while I'm down yes I'm a nurse yes it does happen to be a "dick Dr.'s office" but riddle me this if you have testicular cancer or Pros. cancer where you gonna go. I think my degree is valid and I also find my work to be valid I wouldn't chide anyone here because of their occupation it's a low blow. It is and was unneccesary and unprovoked response to a bad joke. Rant done I'm through with this.

All this talk about pissing properly belongs in a thread about BMC, not Oktoberfest.

Back to decoction: Baron, or others: how do you determine how much mash to draw out for a decoction in order to ring the whole mash up to the proper temp for the next step? Is that a trial-and-error sort of thing? (I was going to say "by the seat of your pants," but then, God forbid, we'd be talking about kegels and proctologists.)

I'm interested in taking a shot at some styles where decoction would be the way to go.

homebrewer_99 said:

Do I know you from Cyberfret?

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Who did you direct that comment to? It followed my post so was not sure if it was meant for me, if so the answer is no. I did find it a little ironic being I started playing some 20 odd years ago. Did the club scene in the early 90's but have since retired my attempts at a musical career.

cweston said:

Back to decoction: Baron, or others: how do you determine how much mash to draw out for a decoction in order to ring the whole mash up to the proper temp for the next step? Is that a trial-and-error sort of thing?

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It seems to be trial-and-error in my brewery. I use Promash to guesstimate how much will be required, but it's usually low. I think this is because I have my mashtun thermal coefficient set to zero as I preheat my cooler with the mash water and then add the grains. Therefore, it wouldn't be calculating the extra decoction mash necessary to raise the temperature of the tun, as well.

Basically, I pull out what Promash calls for plus a quart or two, usually ~40-50% of the grist plus enough mash liquid to just fill in the spaces between the grains. I add it back in batches and stop if I hit my rest.

Practically speaking, if we take the 40-50-60-70 schedule as prototypical, then I will use a decoction to go from one rest to the next, but if I am going to skip a rest, i.e., go more than ~10C, then I will use an infusion of boiling water as the mass required through decoction isn't that practical.

PT Ray said:

Who did you direct that comment to? It followed my post so was not sure if it was meant for me, if so the answer is no. I did find it a little ironic being I started playing some 20 odd years ago. Did the club scene in the early 90's but have since retired my attempts at a musical career.

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Sorry, PT Ray. You must have gotten the #2 post while I was still typing. The question was directed to PanzerofDoom.

G. Cretin said:

Touchy touchy. no need to get butt hurt muffin. just a stupid joke

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Unfortunately, you're the one that got bent out of shape over this ...I replied as a joke... ...I didn't think you were going to get any takers.

As for the spelling, Cagel vs Kegel, it's Kegel after the Dr.

homebrewer_99 said:

Unfortunately, you're the one that got bent out of shape over this ...I replied as a joke... ...I didn't think you were going to get any takers.

As for the spelling, Cagel vs Kegel, it's Kegel after the Dr.

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I know please see thread in General chit chat

So who's decocting their next brew?? I think my next lager, a Vienna, will be called Decoction Concoction What's Your Foction.

Baron von BeeGee said:

So who's decocting their next brew?? I think my next lager, a Vienna, will be called Decoction Concoction What's Your Foction.

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I would like to but I brew alone at this point and it's a lot of work.