Oktoberfest Help

In two weeks I'm gonna brew an oktoberfest and give it a nice 6mo lager.

I've never made an oktoberfest before, and so far i've seen two different camps.

Pilsner base malt with ~20% vienna/munich

Vienna/munich as the base malt

What are your suggestions for a good, basic, crisp marzen? Right now my recipe looks like this:

5lb Vienna
4lb Pilsner
3lb Munich

mash at 154 for 60

24IBU's of hersbrucker at 60

Just my opinion but the Pils+20% and your recipe don't look quite malty enough. You could use something like ~90% light munich plus ~10% dark munich and be closer I think. I like that you don't have any crystal/caramunich, lots of winning recipes have it but it's technically not appropriate if noticable.

it might be more like Pils + 30 or 40%.

so you think this recipe is fine?

I think it's still not malty enough. 60% Pils + 40% Munich isn't nearly as malty as 90% Munich + 10% Dark Munich. I guess I'm just firmly in the "Vienna/Munich as the base malt" camp...adding even more maltiness with the remainder (via dark munich or even aromatic). IMO, Pils/Vienna/Munich in any proportion make tasty beers but I don't think you need any Pils in an Ofest. I've made a recipe very similar to yours (it had an even bigger proportion of Munich) and it wasn't malty enough, but still very good.

And I would use quality continental malts. Beware of some domestic Munich malts that are 6-row (like Briess 'regular' Munich).

I will have to check my brew notes at home, but I think mine was 80% Vienna and 20% dark Munich, I may have used pils though, I will have to check because I was debating between the two, it was brewed back in March and is lagering for Oktoberfest enjoyment!

ok, that's what I was looking for.

i can cut out the pils and do 80% Vienna and 20% Munich 20L

I would mash much lower than 154F to get an appropriately dry finish. One of the keys to this beer IMO is to combine a rich, malty body with a clean dry finish. Try mashing at 148/149F.

good tip, thanks for that.