Oktoberfest!

So im anextract brewer but want to work into all-grain. Does nyone know a good oktoberfest brew with a partial mash? oktoberfest is really why I got into brewing so I really want to nail a good oktoberfest. And how long do most of you keep your oktoberfest in the bottle? Thanks all.

Do you have the equipment to lager?

Actually, I was looking for a Marzen recipe too. It's March, I can lager, and I want to throw an Oktoberfest party!

I brewed something very close to this last week, bubbling away in my fermenter right now. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21259

Just turn the 2-row down to 2lb and add about 4 pound dme.

I think I can lager... I was just going to use a primary, transfer to secondary. The temp in my garage room is 45-60 F. If I need to I can always throw an Ice block in that room (actuall a storage space thats about 3ftx3ft x6ft.). Or did I miss something?

SpecialEd said:

I think I can lager... I was just going to use a primary, transfer to secondary. The temp in my garage room is 45-60 F. If I need to I can always throw an Ice block in that room (actuall a storage space thats about 3ftx3ft x6ft.). Or did I miss something?

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I lager a couple of batches in my garage every year. I live where the garage remains ~35-45oF every winter. This year it was especially cold for two weeks and it got down into the 20s! Yikes! But it can be done!

If it gets too warm, place the carboy in a tub of ice water, wrap an old towel around it and let the bottom of the towel drop into the ice water. That will wick the water upwards and keep the carboy cool.

I was very pleased with the one in my signature. It's a partial mash recipe. Click the link below. :rockin:

EDIT: One note, I have changed my partial mash technique as that was my first partial mash. Instead of sparging by simply slowly pouring the sparge water through the grain in a collander, I do a batch sparge. My efficiency shot up 20%.

I should also note this was made using ale yeast, since I didn't have lager capability, if you do, you could just swap the yeast.

Here's mine:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=205428#post205428


It's all grain but if you took it to Recipator you could prolly reformulate it to Partial mash......

I have a question about John Palmer's recipe for oktoberfest. It contains caramunich, crystal & munich malt. Doesn't munich have to be mashed? Do I need a mini-mash or just steep them?

My second ever batch was an Oktoberfest style ale. I think I brewed it in about August and it was ready in October. I'm sure it could have benefited from a bit of aging, though. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I bought some German Oktoberfest from the store and SWMBO and I blind taste tested it against my brew. We were both surprised at how much the homebrewed version tasted like the "real" thing. Mine tasted "fresher," though, as I recall.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

1.0 lb. Breiss medium caramel malt (maybe 60L?)
0.5 lb. Aromatic malt
6.0 lb. Light LME
1.5 lb. Amber LME

1.5 oz. Hallertauer hops at 50 minutes remaining
0.5 oz. Hallertauer hops at 5 minutes remaining

Wyeast 1007 German ale yeast

OK so how ong do most people lager an octoberfest for?

SpecialEd said:

OK so how ong do most people lager an octoberfest for?

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Well, traditionally it's made in March to be ready by fall. There's usually lots of talk here at this time of year about making them, so I suppose many people lager it for 6 months or so.

Does it really take that long? I suppose you could get away with a shorter time.