Festbier Bee Cave Brewery Oktoberfest Ale

I normally follow the Mr. Malty calculator when determining my starter size. I know this is still technically an ale, but I'm wondering if I can go with what Mr. Malty recommends for a starter size, or if I should increase it at all for this recipe? I plan on using the Wyeast Kolsch yeast. Thanks for the help!

Duncan83865 said:

I normally follow the Mr. Malty calculator when determining my starter size. I know this is still technically an ale, but I'm wondering if I can go with what Mr. Malty recommends for a starter size, or if I should increase it at all for this recipe? I plan on using the Wyeast Kolsch yeast. Thanks for the help!

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Yep, simply follow what Mr Malty recommends for your starter size since you are using an ale yeast.

Using the Brewers Friend Efficiency Calculator and Ed Worts grain bill, the efficiency seems to come in at about 65 % calculated off an an OG of 1.062.

Seems a little low and when I first brewed it I ended up with an OG of 1.082 which was way over the recipe OG.

I'm getting about ± 75 - 83 % efficiency from my system and want to brew this again but this time to style so ........

1) Should I just add some water at the end to bring the OG down to 1,062 or ....

2) Adjust my grain bill to around (i'm guessing here) ± 12% less malts.
advice/suggestions appreciated.

You can do either one of those options and be just fine. Just depends if you want a standard size batch or a larger than normal batch by topping off with water to reach 1.062 down from 1.082.

brewed this on sunday, and had a f.g. of 1.067. same grain bill but only used the Halterreau hops but kept the ibu's the same.

EdWort said:

I wanted to do an Oktoberfest beer for a neighborhood party, but am not ready to invest the time for lagering, so I whipped this up with a Kölsch yeast. I am VERY happy with the results at my first taste at 2 months since brew day. The neighborhood Oktoberfest is October 13th, so almost another month of aging will bring this to a very nice brew.



Ferment at 65 degrees for 1 week, drop to 60 for 2 weeks, then crash cool for a few days at 39 before kegging. Age 2 months in keg on gas before serving.

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Wouldn't the 2 months for aging be the same as 2 months for lagering??

Brewed an 11g of this last weekend and hit slightly over OG at 1.068. Fermenting at 50 with the Wyeast Oktoberfest lager yeast.

Brewed this a couple of months ago. Drinking it now. Its pretty good, but I like it better when it had some residual sweetness from the priming sugar still in it whilst it was carbing up, about week 2 was great!! I was a little low on my mash but only a couple degrees, maybe that was it...!

edit - sorry, wrong thread!

ayupbrewing said:

Brewed this a couple of months ago. Drinking it now. Its pretty good, but I like it better when it had some residual sweetness from the priming sugar still in it whilst it was carbing up, about week 2 was great!! I was a little low on my mash but only a couple degrees, maybe that was it...!

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Here is a pic of my Oktoberfest-ish beer. Turned out pretty good. Slight haze to it but this pic was straight out of the fridge (~35 i guess) and I dont normally drink my beers until they are around 50°F by which point it had gone anyway. Like I said before it need more sweetness to it, I did mash a bit low (still getting used to my system) although my FG was 1.015 which is higher than original post says it should be...

I used the Wyeast 2565 at 59* and it is at 3 weeks. I opened it up to check the gravity and noticed the krausen is at least an 1" thick, yeasty smelling and very thick almost doughy. Is this normal for this yeast? It has not disappeared like normally an ale yeast would after this amount of time. I had planned on racking it to a smaller bucket with less head space and place it in my frig for a month at 40*. So, can I still rack it or should I leave it at 59* for awhile longer? Gravity is right at 1.012 and it tastes really good.

Brewed my first batch of this last night to break in the new system - 25g pot, chugger pump, plate chiller and all stainless QDs. Hit gravity numbers spot on (1.050 preboil and 1.062 post). Did wind up mashing a bit low as it was a bit chilly outside and I should have bumped my water up about another 10 deg. Also wound up with 5 gals into the fermenter instead of 5.5, so I will wind up with a little less into the keg, but I think I've got good data to finish calibrating beersmith and everything should be golden next time around. Looking forward to this one.

Served this at a charity beer fest....first keg to kick!! Using the Kolsch yeast works great..not quite lager smooth but much smoother/cleaner than a typical ale yeast. This is going to be my "go to" Oktoberfest beer. Personally I prefer it over OktoberFAST.

We kegged this yesterday and even uncarb'd it tastes great. We used Oktoberfest lager yeast though and fermented at 50 then layered for 5 weeks at 34. Should be drinking it in the next 2 weeks and can't wait.

Following the original recipe and fermented in the low 60's, this beer won first place in the Light & Amber Hybrid in HAZARD Homebrewing's HAZtoberfest BJCP competition entered as a Dusseldorf Alt. It's score was 40.5 and would have been higher if entered as a Northern German Alt according to the judges.

I've been looking for an Oktoberfest for my first lager. The grist bill for this recipe looked great so I gave it a shot this past weekend. The grist and hops were scaled for 10 gallons without other changes.

Mash schedule:
* Sac reset @ 148 F for 20 min
* Pulled 16 qts, thick mash, for a single decoction. Rested decoction for 20 min @ 158 F before ramping to a boil for 20 min.
* Replaced decoction for Sac rest @ 156 F fo r 60 min
* No mash out
* Fly sparge with ~8 gal @ 170 F

I collected 13 gallons to boil with the original boil schedule.

Lots of firsts for me with this one.
* First Lager
* First decoction
* First use of my new DIY Sanke mash/lauter tun
* First use of my new DIY 3-tier brew stand
* First use of my new DIY mash paddle. (This was indispensable during the decoction BTW).

The wort looked fantastic going into the fermenter, a brilliant copper-gold color. I overshot my gravity numbers (1.074) but attribute that to increased effeciency in the mash tun and decoction. I pitched a 6 liter starter of Wyeast 2633 (Oktoberfest Lager blend) and plan on fermenting for 3 weeks @ 50 F, check for a diacytle rest, then lager at 34 F for as long as I can stand it. This will be tough. I have high expectations for this beer!

Brewed this about 6 weeks ago. Fermented at 58 F for about 4 weeks with Wyeast Kolsch yeast, then cold crashed for 2 weeks at 36. Just forced carbed a few days ago. This turned out delicious! Malty but very well balanced and very smooth, very drinkable lager-like profile. A highly recommended recipe for this time of year! Thanks!

Yup, used wyeast here too. Keg is disappearing quickly.

Enjoying one of these right now. Malt forward, with a sweet and very light floral finish.
Thanks for the recipe!

I finally got to brew this up. My timing is a bit off, may have to call mine an "Januaryfest". I figure better late then never. I am hoping it will be good to go on tap for the Christmas holidays. Whenever it is ready I am looking forward to trying this recipe.

I've got 2 kegs of this in the keezer and it is tasty.

Just made a 30L batch of this and split it.

Pitched half with us-05 and the other with dry lager yeast. Just to compare.

The ale went from 1.062-1.012 in a week at 65f (I was pretty happy to hit Edwort's number right on)
The lager has been going along at 50f and is down to 1.020.

No surprise in the tastes from the hydrometer samples, the ale tastes fruitier and the lager still sulphury.

Now that you can get Munich LME, what would be a good amount for an extract version of this recipe?
I ready all 27 pages and didnt see a mention of this yet. Thanks

Don't worry, have a homebrew!

I brewed a slight variation of this last year for an Oktoberfest block party. I had only 5 lbs of Pils and 5 lbs of Vienna, so I added a lb of Victory to make up the difference. Additionally, I had no Hallertau so I substituted Willamette. This was also he first truly public exposure of my beer, other than periodic samplings by guests at my house. My keg was empty long before the the Triple C, one of he local Charlotte micro-brewery. Lots of great comments from the crowd.

I now have a new batch in the fermenter. I hit the original gravity at 1.060 and the wort was bubbling vigorously in less than a day. But after two weeks in primary (ambient temperature at about 65), the gravity is only down to 1.022 - 1.024. I have racked it to secondary, but I guess I'm a little worried I have a stuck fermentation. I'll test it again in another week. Perhaps this is just an exercise in patience.

spokehead said:

I brewed a slight variation of this last year for an Oktoberfest block party. I had only 5 lbs of Pils and 5 lbs of Vienna, so I added a lb of Victory to make up the difference. Additionally, I had no Hallertau so I substituted Willamette. This was also he first truly public exposure of my beer, other than periodic samplings by guests at my house. My keg was empty long before the the Triple C, one of he local Charlotte micro-brewery. Lots of great comments from the crowd.

I now have a new batch in the fermenter. I hit the original gravity at 1.060 and the wort was bubbling vigorously in less than a day. But after two weeks in primary (ambient temperature at about 65), the gravity is only down to 1.022 - 1.024. I have racked it to secondary, but I guess I'm a little worried I have a stuck fermentation. I'll test it again in another week. Perhaps this is just an exercise in patience.

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Just curious what yours ended up finishing at? Did you take another reading yet?

Hi, I am really interested in trying this recipe, and it will be my first all grain experience so forgive what may be some basic questions. I do not have a fermentation chamber (hence the ale variety and not lager), but my house rests at about 72 degrees right now. the only other option I have is to ferment in a keg and use my kegerator (sacrificing a tap). Will the temp have that much of an impact on my beer flavor or will i be ok.
thx

Put the fermentor in a bucket of water and turn on a fan..


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10 gallons of this are in the ferm chamber. I decided to make it a true lager though and pitched 2 packs of Saflager 34/70 in each bucket once it stabilized at 48°. Brewed it yesterday without any issues, so I'm looking forward to trying it in a few months!

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Just kegged it tonight. Finished right at 1.015 for 5.5% ABV. The gravity sample tasted spot on with the Oktoberfest style. I'm really looking forward to enjoying this one after it lagers a few months!

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Brewed this yesterday. Did not adjust efficiency for the new equipment and ended up with a ridiculously high 1.072, which means this may turn out to be a 8% Oktoberfest. May have to try this again when I dial in the new setup.

So I think I am going to make this in a half batch. I am going to bottle this. So do I ferment at 65 for 1 week, drop down to 60 for 2 weeks then bottle and then set at 39 for a few months?

Trying this one a second time to see if I can dial it down with the new equipment. I am thinking of doing a double decoction to really improve that sweet malt profile. Good thing this keg will live in a fridge outside of my house until it is ready.

Wow, the 2 decoctions really made a difference in the color. This is pre and post boil samples.

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Ok so I made this last week. Following the directions I was supposed to hit 65 for the first week. I check temperature last night and it has been at 60 since this past Saturday. I know the second 2 weeks are at 60. Will this have any effect?

Iceman6409 said:

Ok so I made this last week. Following the directions I was supposed to hit 65 for the first week. I check temperature last night and it has been at 60 since this past Saturday. I know the second 2 weeks are at 60. Will this have any effect?

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The kolsch yeast has a pretty wide temp tolerance. I think you'll be fine, especially if you are leaving it for 3 weeks. It might have a slightly different yeast flavor profile than the original recipe, but it shouldn't be a huge difference.

Iceman6409 said:

So I think I am going to make this in a half batch. I am going to bottle this. So do I ferment at 65 for 1 week, drop down to 60 for 2 weeks then bottle and then set at 39 for a few months?

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So, I made a half batch of this, fermented at 65 for a week, then 60 for two, then kegged it. It was ready to go after a couple weeks in the keg, and tastes GREAT!

I'm doing a BIAB version of this on Saturday morning. The grain/hop bill is identical to Edworts the only thing that I changed was the mash (obviously). Here's what BF came up with:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/381134

I'll post some brew day picks tomorrow hopefully.

Update: Brew day went fairly smooth. Ended up .001 higher than predicted at 70% efficiency so I'd guess the BIAB setup I linked above is pretty spot on. It's currently fermenting away at 62F.

Ed, are you using the WLP029 from your Kolsch recipe??

Says in the original post he is.