Festbier BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale (AG)

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Brewed this today. Ended up mashing low, around 152 and got OG of 1.056.
I'm guessing I can expect less body and a less malty character. Hope some of the complexity from the great malt bill comes through.
 
Was able to squeeze this brew in to serve along with Gavin's Alt for Thanksgiving :rockin:

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OG was a little high, 1.056 (my hydrometer is out of calibration by .002)

Brew Review (my impressions, at least):

Aroma - Sweet spices and dark fruits, grainy and light caramel and cereal
Appearance - As you can see, the beer is brilliantly clear and a bright, polished copper
Flavor - Again, sweet and dark fruits (I think it's the 04 or Aromatic malt giving it that vibe). Biscuit-like malt from the munich mmmmm. Hop flavor is minimal, but I can sense a tea-like astringency a little bit on the back end that I sometimes contribute to the hops.
Overall - Really a great beer. If it is the 04 giving it the dark fruit tones, I wouldn't compare it to a lager. But it is very quaffable, and perfect for the style and season!
 
Blew through 10 gallons of this at our Oktoberfest party this weekend. Everyone loved it.

Awesome recipe!!
 
Two weeks in the fermentation bucket and the SG has been steady at 1.018 since last Sunday. Going to bottle it this weekend and then let it condition until the 24th when we're going to have a Harvest party here at our place.
The hyrdo sample looked beautiful, an iced tea brown, and a light but malty flavor. I can't wait until this is carbed up and properly aged.
Should be a hit! :mug:
 
Cracked my first bottle of this last night after two weeks conditioning...Beer was already carbed up perfectly, and had a delicious malty-sweet flavor, with enough body to keep things interesting, but light enough to knock back a few of these in one session. Not sure if anyone has compared this to Sam Adam's Oktoberfest (sounds like this was the taste BierMuncher was going for in this recipe) but I would be interested in buying a six-pack and doing a taste comparison!

This recipe is going to be in my regular rotation for sure!
 
Question about DMS:
So I Brewed something similar to this, and I lost my measuring stick so I didn't know how much preboil volume I had. So I eyeballed it, and took some "3rd runnings" to boil separately and add later if necessary, if my volume was low and my OG high...
Turned out I was 1/2 gal short and 6 points high on my OG. So I added 1/2 gal of the lower gravity 3rd runnings to my 5 gallons of boiled original beer.

Well, I forgot to boil it for long enough. I think I boiled it on my stove (mild boil) for ~20 ish minutes...
My yeast is Cream Ale blend WL080.
I boiled the main batch for 75 min, Pils malt was 25% of grist.

Is my batch screwed? Will it taste like canned corn?
 
I brewed a 5 gallon partial mash, partial boil version of this recipe a month ago. Mine turned out so-so, but not because of the recipe. I had two main problems:

My beer was far too bitter compared to SA Octoberfest. I messed up an equipment setting in Beersmith and added 2 ounces of hops at 60 minutes instead of 1.

My beer has an "off" flavor. It reminds me of my first brew, which was fermented at room temp with no temperature control. I'm not sure how this happened. Bad packet of yeast? Too much top off water?

Either way, I'm brewing this again. I'll see what a 2.5 gallon all grain BIAB gets me.

Thanks for posting this recipe. It inspired me to take the baby step from extract to partial mash, and now the jump to all grain.
 
I'm looking at brewing this up maybe this weekend. Wondering if the original recipe has changed much?

Thank you

John
 
Kegged to secondary today. 3 weeks in primary. 1.052 OG--1.011 FG; 5.38% abv. Used 04 yeast. Cold crashed 3 days.
Flask sample was good; light malt, slightly sweet. Was hoping to keep FG around 1.014-1.017.

**update**
5 days carbing in keg, and....Diacetyl!?
The dreaded Diacetyl. Pilsner malt? 90 minute boil; 3 weeks in primary; maxed out at 68 degrees... Maybe should've done a Diacetyl rest at 70?? I don't know, but I don't like Diacetyl. Maybe another week or month will clear it up??
Damn. Disappointed.
 
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Decided that I needed to do a little quality control last night and put one of these in the fridge. It's only been in the bottle for about 11 days and it's already tasting awesome. By Halloween this is going to be great!
I'll update with pics next week on its official release.
 
Thank you for the recipe!
Brewed 8 gallons for an Oktoberfest party - OG 1.060 FG 1.015 at 6.2% a little stronger then the recipe, but great clean tasting malt forward beer.

Generated rave reviews, I'll definitely brew this again.
 
Sunward33 said:
Decided that I needed to do a little quality control last night and put one of these in the fridge. It's only been in the bottle for about 11 days and it's already tasting awesome. By Halloween this is going to be great!
I'll update with pics next week on its official release.
Click to expand...

How was the beer? I used saaz as well...
 
Question on malts. How much different is German Pilsner 2 row from U.S. 2 row domestic like Great Western? I ask since I want to do this recipe, and I have plenty of domestic 2 row, German Vienna, and Munich Malt, but no German 2 row Pilsner. How will using domestic 2 row effect this recipe?

Thanks.
 
Surfanarchist said:
Question on malts. How much different is German Pilsner 2 row from U.S. 2 row domestic like Great Western? I ask since I want to do this recipe, and I have plenty of domestic 2 row, German Vienna, and Munich Malt, but no German 2 row Pilsner. How will using domestic 2 row effect this recipe?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I made this recipe 2 times over the past few months. The first time, I used (US briess) 2-row in place of the pilsner malt and the beer was pretty good. The second time, I made it with Munich malt and I wasn't as happy with it. I had them both on tap at the same time and was able to compare side by side. I'm not really sure why I prefer the one with the 2 row, but I do.

I have to mention that I have not brewed it with the pilsner malt. I decided against it because I get large bags of Belgian pilsner malt and that stuff is a little expensive to be using in this type of beer. Maybe if I had the $50/bag German pilsner malt I would have, but the dingemans (Belgian) pilsner is like $75/bag.

When I brew it again I'll probably use US 2-row.
 
jmcquesten said:
I made this recipe 2 times over the past few months. The first time, I used (US briess) 2-row in place of the pilsner malt and the beer was pretty good. The second time, I made it with Munich malt and I wasn't as happy with it. I had them both on tap at the same time and was able to compare side by side. I'm not really sure why I prefer the one with the 2 row, but I do.

I have to mention that I have not brewed it with the pilsner malt. I decided against it because I get large bags of Belgian pilsner malt and that stuff is a little expensive to be using in this type of beer. Maybe if I had the $50/bag German pilsner malt I would have, but the dingemans (Belgian) pilsner is like $75/bag.

When I brew it again I'll probably use US 2-row.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'm going to brew it this weekend using U.S. 2 row, Vienna and Munich malt in the proportions listed but in a 5 gal batch. We'll see how it goes. It will be beer so we already know it will be good.
 
So I read through a few of the 16 pages but didn't see what I was looking for. Anyone ever tried this with a lager or Kölsch yeast?
 
Brewed this beer up a few times now exact to the original recipe. Going to brew it up again this weekend. I have some Marris otter and some US 2 row I am think of subbing out for the Pilsner. Any thoughts on that? Going to try using 1450 yeast too. I don't like changing more than 1 thing at a time but I'd like to move some of that grain, especially the marris.
 
I've read that the 1007 doesnt clear well, how did this work out for you? Prefer over the S-04? thinking about trying this...

Batteman87 said:
SA-04 is what the majority use I think. I am not a fan of the flavor that or the 05. I used Wyeast Labs German Ale 1007 since I could not get it to colder temps initially. I was at 75-72 degrees consistently. And since it's a mock German beer, I decided on the 1007 yeast strain.

If you like 04, I would stick to the original recipe and tweak as you see fit afterwards. :mug:
Click to expand...
 
wyowolf said:
I've read that the 1007 doesnt clear well, how did this work out for you? Prefer over the S-04? thinking about trying this...
Click to expand...

I throughly enjoyed the 1007. Not sure if I will try it the other way in fact. The keg got emptied in one night lol Will be brewing it again this way. Cleared better than I expected with the gelatin. No issues at all. Folks were trying to place orders for a few cases haha!
 
Batteman87 said:
I throughly enjoyed the 1007. Not sure if I will try it the other way in fact. The keg got emptied in one night lol Will be brewing it again this way. Cleared better than I expected with the gelatin. No issues at all. Folks were trying to place orders for a few cases haha!
Click to expand...

Wound up using 1007, cold crashing now
 
wyowolf said:
Wound up using 1007, cold crashing now
Click to expand...

Awesome. Let me know how yours turns out. I already have the ingredients lined up to purchase again to make another batch in the coming months to ensure it turns out just as good for when the season gets here.

Will you be bottling or kegging?
 
Seemed to ferment fine, held at 63 degrees for two weeks then crashed to 38 for few days. Need to transfer to keg i guess... lazy :)
 
wyowolf said:
turned out great!! Not fully carbed yet in keg... but damn its good!!
Click to expand...
Although I haven't tried the recommended 04, I think the 1007 is where its at! Would be hard to change after tasting. Will have to make a test batch eventually pitching the different strains of yeast and see which I like best.
 
I am currently making this recipe and my grain temp was lower than expected. So I ended up mashing at about 150(No room for boiling water in the mash tun).
What effect should I expect from this? Less malty? Drier finish? I am also using S-05 yeast, as I have run out of 04.
Thanks.
 
Does it really matter to do hop additions at 60, 45, and 30 minutes? My tettnang is 6.4% AA so I could just do 1 oz (for a 5.5 gallon batch) for 50 minutes and that would give me an IBU rating of about 19.4. Thanks
 
All it would give you is bitterness. Mid additions give you flavor and late additions give you aroma. I'm a big fan of single hop beers with lots of staggered hop additions to enjoy the complexity of a single hop variety.
 
Just an update. I haven't tasted the original recipe to compare but mashing @150 and using US-05 produced a fabulous amber beer. The fermentation was kept at room temp(about 69). Very balanced, malty, but with a very clean finish. Lots of toffee, caramel, but like I said, balanced by just the right amount of hops. Probably my best brew yet.
 
Forgot to mention. I made 10 gallons of this. One keg with the 05, which has been on the gas about 2 weeks finished at 1.010. Delicious! The other 5 gallons were brewed using a Muntons dry yeast which Finished in primary at 1.017. It has been sitting in a keg In my fermentation/lagering fridge for about 2 weeks, and will be on tap after the 05 keg kicks. I will record the F.G gravity again then.
 
rrhoads said:
Forgot to mention. I made 10 gallons of this. One keg with the 05, which has been on the gas about 2 weeks finished at 1.010. Delicious! The other 5 gallons were brewed using a Muntons dry yeast which Finished in primary at 1.017. It has been sitting in a keg In my fermentation/lagering fridge for about 2 weeks, and will be on tap after the 05 keg kicks. I will record the F.G gravity again then.
Click to expand...


FG shouldn't change if it's kept below about 40 F, right? That's what I've always thought
 

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