oktoberfest

..is it a good starter brew. i went to the closest brew store today (which was about an hr drive and bought this, didnt have any info from the guy helping me as well). bought the "starter kit" and hoping to start tomorrow morning as soon as possible...also who has the best price for bottles online...any recs.?? thanks

Nope. Not a good starter brew. It's a lager and requires a low temp(50s) fermentation and a lower temp(30s) long term lagering period(6 to 8 weeks).
What you need is a nice simple ale kit. maybe an American or English Pale Ale.
As for bottles, I'd just buy whatever micro-brew you like with pry-off caps, and reuse those. If you need to buy them, I guess More Beer or Austin Homebrew supply would be ok.

The kit you got is probably not a true Octoberfest....probably the same ingredients but an ale yeast. If this is the case, then it should be fine for a beginner, most kits are. Post with the specific kit, ingredients, and yeast and others can help. I know there are people here that have reported very good results with Octoberfest kits.

As fas as the bottles go, I would not reccomend buying them new, you will pay almost as much for the new bottles as you will for them filled with good micro/craft beer from the store. You have 3 or more weeks to collect what you need, tell your friends, and start drinking!

kit includes...1 can amber malt extract, light dried malt extract, melanoidin grain, hops, and yes-ale yeast. since i had it, i did it up today. All is well so far...we have bubbles through the air lock and everything is looking like it should...whats a recommended temp to store this at?! thanks for the help guys

I'm thinking of picking up Brewers Best Oktoberfest kit. Is this the one you're using? Has anyone tried this kit from Brewers Best??

I just bottled my second Brewers Best kit - English Pale Ale (first was an English Brown Ale, which is very tastey) so I'm in need of getting the primary going again.

I'm using http://www.homebrewit.com for the kits and I even bought 2 cases of 22 oz bottles. So far very pleased with them - really good customer service.

-HopSing

I like an oktoberfest-style ale myself. I have one keg conditioning at the moment that I plan to get into later in the month. If you can get your fermenter down to 65F you'll be in great shape, but anything below 70F should be fine too. Good luck with your first brew!

Rico6115 said:

kit includes...1 can amber malt extract, light dried malt extract, melanoidin grain, hops, and yes-ale yeast. since i had it, i did it up today. All is well so far...we have bubbles through the air lock and everything is looking like it should...whats a recommended temp to store this at?! thanks for the help guys

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Depends on the yeast really. Did the instructions or yeast give a range? If it didn't post the brand/name of the yeast and someone can recommend. Mid 60s should be safe unless you discovery you can go lower.

Kit sounds good, I think you can look forward to a good beer.

I've done the Brewer's Best Octoberfest kit with an ale yeast and it was very good! I would recommend it to anyone who wanted a lager-style ale with the malty goodness of an Octoberfest.

I like the brewer best kits also, I think I might try the octoberfest one as well. Is there any way to boost the ABV content without changing the flavor. It seems like all the brewer best ones I am getting 4% or lower ABV.

ok, so now this yeast is haulin ass right now, foam is coming out of the air lock. i think i made the mistake of putting it in a 5 gallon glass carboy...i have limited amount of stuff to use as in tubing to rig up a spill tube?? what do u guys recomend...is this ok. Ive heard air lock could possibly blow off rihgt? what should i worry about and do in this situation...and yes i know theres nothing to worry about with a beer in hand is it too early to transfer it back into my 7.5 plastic bin, if it will even help me.

If the kraeusen (the foam on the top of the fermenting brew) gets up to the airlock then yes, it will probably clog and blow off due to the pressure (big mess). It's best to rig a blow off tube that leads into a half full jug of clean water or sanitizer.

I wouldn't transfer the beer now, you'll only interrupt the process and possibly introduce oxygen, which you don't want at this point.
If you still have time, make a run to the hardware store and get a length(3' or so) of tubing that will fit snugly inside the mouth of the carboy (I think 1.25 in. outer diameter is what you need, but you'd better measure to make sure). Otherwise, you could try using thinner tubing that fits into the stopper on the carboy, but that may still become clogged.