Missed March, looking for a true Marzen Ale for October

I've noticed Octoberfest beers are all over the map. Looking for a tried and true , traditional Marzen to be brewed 4th of July week that will be perfect for consumption in October. Any links/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

This style is a lager...can you lager? (store close to freezing for a few months)

This is a fantastic recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ok...derij-kabouter-122076/index4.html#post2626538

Basically 1/3 Pilsner, 1/3 Vienna, 1/3 Munich with a touch of CaraMunich & Melanoidin malts. You can skip the decoction and do a single infusion.
It's malty, dry and delicious.

Not able to lager yet...

Then look for Cream Ale recipes, or use a really clean yeast, like Kölsch yeast. Either way, you'll need a way to keep temps down, like low 60's tops. Any higher than that and you'll get more yeast character.

If you want a tried and true marzen, you need to lager. I've used Yooper's oktoberfest recipe and loved it. Otherwise, I've heard there are some good ale versions.

TyTanium said:

This style is a lager...can you lager? (store close to freezing for a few months)

This is a fantastic recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ok...derij-kabouter-122076/index4.html#post2626538

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this, gonna try this with a single infusion mash.

Does anyone know of an Ale recipe that's good? I'm having a hard time finding one...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/ looks pretty popular
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/bee-cave-brewery-oktoberfest-ale-38880/ This one looks really good too

the bee cave looks great. Especially since I have a Koelsch that will be ready to bottle when I am ready to brew. I think I will just pour it onto the yeast bed

Yeah, kolsch yeast will work well I think, and I've reused yeast cakes before. If you can keep the temps on the lower side, it will help it have that nice lager-like clean flavor. Also, you should take half the cake out. There is a growth phase that yeast has that it will not experience and I read somewhere on here that it could lead to off flavors because of that developmental phase, they eat and act a certain way and reduce certain off-flavors when they are spending a certain amount of energy multiplying.

This may sound stupid but, how would I take out half of the yeast cake?

lol, well any way you can think. You can sterilize a mason jar or two and scoop it out (and then wash and freeze those for future use!)