Wanted: The Best Oktoberfest Recipes!

Brewed one last year from AHS and it was pretty good. But I'm looking for something a little better. I am AG but I haven't done decoction or step mashes yet. I might have to read up on them if they are indeed necessary for making a great marzen.

Really looking forward to getting this brew going for the early fall, if I can wait that long!

Cheers!

This is my favorite Oktoberfest/Marzen Lager all grain recipe so far, I've brewed it several times and in fact I plan on brewing it again this weekend. It's straightforward and uses a simple mashing process of 155F for 60 minutes. The grains include German Munich and Pilsner malts with the additions of CaraMunich and Melanoidin for body and color.

I brew 2 1/4 gallon Mr. Beer sized batches so if you're doing a bigger batch just increase the ingredient wieghts accordingly. The 3 hop additions work extremely well with the grain bill and the beer produced is crisp, clean and very drinkable.

Size 2.13 gallons: Estimated IBU=26, SRM=13, OG=1.058, FG=1.015, ABV=5.6%

1/4 pound CaraMunich

1/4 pound Melanoidin
2.0 pounds Munich (German)
2.0 pounds Pilsener (German)

3/4 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 60 minutes
1/4 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 20 minutes
1/8 tab WhirlFloc boiled for 9 minutes
1/4 ounce Hallertauer (Germany) pellet hops boiled for 7 minutes

11.5 grams Saflager W-34/70 (rehydrate using package directions before pitching)
Aerated and pitched at 65F and fermented at 54F for 25 days
Raised to 60F over days 26 to 28 then racked to secondary fermenter
Cold lager secondary fermenter for 4-6 weeks at 34F
Keg at 12psi for 5-7 days and serve at 34F

Directions:
** Infusion mash at 155F for 60 minutes **

Heat 7 quarts of filtered water to 170F
Soak mash tun in 8 quarts of 180F water for 20 minutes to pre heat it
Pour 3.5 quarts of 170F water into mash tun
Mix in 4.5 pounds of crushed grain mix at 60F
Pour 3.5 quarts the remainder of the 170F water into mash tun
Stir water and grain mixture and adjust to 155F and mash for 60 minutes
Sparge with 7 quarts 173F strike water to set mash bed to 168F
Lauter for 20 minutes adding 10.5 quarts of sweet wort to the boil pot


Boil for 60 minutes (8.5 quarts remaining for fermenter)
Add 3/4 ounce bittering hops at 60 minutes to flameout
Add 1/4 ounce flavoring hops at 20 minutes to flameout
Add 1/8 tab WhirlFloc at 9 minutes to flameout
Add 1/4 ounce aroma hops at 7 minutes to flameout


Remove from heat and remove hop sacks
Use a wort cooler until the wort temperature cools to 65F
Pitched at 65F and fermented at 54F for 25 days
Raise to 60F over days 26 to 28 then rack to secondary fermenter
Cold lager for 4-6 weeks at 34F
Keg at 12psi for 5-7 days and serve at 34F

Pilsner 7.5 lb
Munich Type II 3 lb
Cara Munich III 0.5 lb
Dark Munich 0.5 lb

Hallertau 90min (roughly 20ibu)

WLP833


IMO, its all about the mash schedule, Decoction only way to go for malty lagers.

Here is my quest...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/oktoberfestbier-lager-brouwerij-boerderij-kabouter-122076/

Looking pretty good guys. Kabouter I think it sounds like you liked yours and if I can absorb some of Kai's decoc tricks I'll be taking a closer look at your brew.

I also saw Yooper's marzen and KingBrian's looked pretty good too. Lots of options, and they're all making me thirsty!

Any more guys?

And also I'm still wondering about the debate between decoction vs no decoction? I'm sure it's been asked before but I thought I'd ask one more time

Mine is very simple:
10# German Munich Type I (Weyermann, 6L)
1.5# German Dark Munich (Global, 12L)
.5# Carafoam (Weyermann, optional)

You can use any noble hop to ~22-24 IBUs, I used Hallertau this last time.
The style doesn't need any flavor/aroma hops (especially aroma) but you can use a little flavor hops (noble) if you like.

WLP833 German Bock Lager yeast (huge starter), aerate the cold wort extremely well.

Mash at 155* F or so

OG - 1.058
FG - 1.014

If you just stick with flavorful, malty, continental base malts like Vienna and Light Munich and then use a little specialty malts like Dark Munich/Aromatic/Melanoidin you should be good. Don't use much, if any, caramel malt and if you do; use caramunich. Keep the bitterness low and the aroma/flavor hops either non-existent or very subtle. I like using the lesser attenuating Bock lager yeast but I've made good ones with the more 'crisp' lager yeasts too.

EDIT: that was for 5.5 gal at the end of the boil.
EDIT2: originally wrote 11# light and .5 dark munich but it's actually 10 light and 1.5 dark.

Heres my planned recipe for next weeks brew.

16# vienna
4# pilsner
2# munich
60 min 1oz perle
30 min .5 oz Saaz

Mash 66C 1hr. Im going pull 10% of the mash out for a single decoction, boiled and added at mash out.

I only have wyeast california lager so that will have to do.

Edit: Decoction v no.....Well i did a decoction once on a pale ale by accident, dont ask, but it turned out rediculously good, to much work to do every time but it does give good results.

Alright, time to educate myself on decoctions. And I'm still compiling these recipes into one combination that sounds like it hits a home run with the flavors I'm looking for.

I think I want it to be sweet and malty per style, but I still want to retain the utmost "drinkability" down to the last gulp.

Getting thirsty!

Just racked mine to corny kegs yesterday for lagering, and it's not much different from the other recipes, though it is on the light-colored end of the spectrum.

10 gallons

11# pilsner
10# munich

2oz Saphir - 60 min
.5oz Magnum - 60 min.......22.4 ibu

i'm using saflager "weihenstephan lager" (don't remember what the numbers for it are) and so far it tastes awesome.

As far as decoction mashing goes, I recommend using beersmith to calculate your volumes, I've always hit my temperatures perfectly using their math.

markg, that's probably the W34/70 strain. Allegedly the same as WY2124/WLP830. When I don't use the Bock lager yeast, that's the one I usually use. It is a higher attenuating yeast.

duffman,
O-fest should have an initial malty 'sweetness' but it should not be sweet in the typical sense. I almost don't like using the word 'sweet' to describe that initial maltiness because it can be misunderstood to mean sweet in the typical sense (and it definitely should not be that). In any case, it should not really taste sweet per se, just really malty.

If you want to wait and not lager for months, here's a recipe from BierMuncher:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

sjjn said:

If you want to wait and not lager for months, here's a recipe from BierMuncher:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

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I'm gonna have to give that one a try........next time. This one I want to be top notch and true to style in it's beautiful malty goodness. I am very curious about that octoberfast ale however.

This beer took the gold medal for oktoberfest last year at the Schooner(http://www.theschooner.org/2010 Top scores.pdf) Homebrew competition. The Rye really added a nice creamy mouthfeel to the beer without contributing any rye flavor to make it out of style.




BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Rye-Fest
Brewer: Machine Shop Brewing Co.
Asst Brewer:
Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 11.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
1.00 lb Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
42.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 20.6 IBU
28.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
2 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [StYeast-Lager


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 20.00 qt of water at 166.0 F 150.0 F

Ok, here's what I have gathered (keeping in mind that my only attempt so far has been out of a kit)

I will be using a majority of base malts with some combination of:

- vienna
- munich
- pilsener

And I want to include just a little bit maybe of the following:

- dark munich
- caramunich
- rye malt (i like the idea of this for mouth feel!)
- melanoidin malt (probably not since it appears the decoc is the way to go)


My question now is, has anybody adjusted the base malts one way or the other and can vouch for the results? I know that brewing, like cooking, is all a matter of taste but with vienna, munich, and pilsener I have seen many recipes that had mostly vienna with small amounts of munich, some with almost equal amounts of munich, vienna, and pilsener and still some with no pilsener malt. So which is the better way to go to get the "best" flavor and smoothness?

I'm looking for that certain "drinkability" that Budweiser claims to have in that it should be smooth, and easy to drink one or two or eight of them. And I know simplicity is key but I also know that this style can have a nice combination of several malts.

I have WL820 washed so I'll try that out (unless you guys really recommend that I go 833, or something else)

And I still haven't watched the kai videos, but I'm hoping to be ready to brew by early next week so thanks for all the help!

Cheers

Here was my thought process when crafting my recipe. I was basing mine loosely off of Surly's Surlyfest beer mixed with traditional o-fest. I love the drinkability of the Surly beer and wanted to replicate it.

Surlyfest
A traditional Oktoberfest bier from Surly? Nein! If you want one of those, grab your passport and head over to Munchen (bring us back some pretzels.) Our Fest inspired beer is brewed with imported malted barley, rye, and a German lager yeast strain. We hop this beer with a single variety... and then we dry hop it. A single hop, dry hopped, rye lager bier? Ja!
STYLE: NOT a German Style Oktoberfest Bier
MALT: Vienna, Rye
HOPS: Sterling
YEAST: German Lager

OG: 14.5º Plato
ABV: 6.0% v/v
COLOR: 14 ºSRM
IBU: 34
AVAILABILITY: Septemberish



I also liked the idea of Vienna malt because I love the flavor and I don't need to worry about DMS with it like Pilsener. I was brewing a lot when I crafted this one and was trying to cut some time off my brewdays by not needing a 90 minute boil. I also didn't want mine super bready from high amounts of Munich malt. I wanted it to be a little lighter flavor with a nice balance of drinkability and breadiness. I think it turned out really great. I sent some bottles down to Dave at Schell's brewing who took the gold at GABF last year for o-fest and he said it was a great oktoberfest.


As far as yeast, if you are comfortable with 820 than use it, but I have heard that many people have trouble with that yeast. I have used the 830, 833, and 838. I like the 833 the best for drinkability, flavor, fermentation, and it had no sulfur like the 830 does.

I wouldn't necessarily worry about doing a decoction. I don't feel that it is the only way to make a great beer. Probably more trouble than it is worth, unless you really enjoy the process. I don't have the time personally to brew like that with a wife and kids. A single infusion mash will still get an award winning beer. I have won golds with a few lagers and have never done any decoctions. I would focus more on the fermentation side and get that locked down first. I pitched two vials into 2000ml starter on a stir plate. With lagers, I always prepare the starter ahead of time and decant the spent wort.



If you are looking for a older style traditional o-fest with a super bready character, then I would go with higher amounts of Munich malt similar to the BCS recipe from Jamil. My recipe is more along the lines of what you find commercially available now. Something that you can really drink liter after liter of and not get overwhelmed by the malt. The other thing if you want drinkability is to stay in the 1.053-1.055 range. I see a lot of people making these 1.062+ beers. You can do that if you wish, but you loose some of the ability to drink this in quantity.

Thanks Machine, that's exactly the kind of stuff that I've been trying to nail down. Once again I know that everybody has different tastes and opinions on what they want in a festbier, but I definitely like what you're selling! I like bready munich goodness, but I do want this to be very smooth and quaffable.

One thing I've been curious about - I always imagine a certain toastiness in one but I've never seen anyone use victory or even a little biscuit. Do you get a measure of that with the munich if you use it? Maybe I should roast the rye??Just curious.

Looking at my notes, my 820 took my beer from 1.060 to 1.019 and I believe it was very slow to begin with. I still have like 6 washed 1/2 pint jars leftover from last year so I'm still not sure about it.

And what was your water:grain ratio you used to nail the maltyness down?

Thanks again and as always, Cheers!

You should get plenty of toastiness from the vienna and munich malt. At least enough to be appropriate. I wouldn't roast the rye at all.


You might want to scrap the 820 and go with the 833. Fermentation is key to this beer being good and drinkable. You want to get the FG down in the 1.012-1.015 range. Much more and it will be too heavy and cloying. Washed jars from last year is sketchy at best. I would start over with a nice clean pitch of the 833.

I always strike with 5 gallons of R/O with salts added back, unless I have 20+ lbs of grain. Then I strike with 6 gallons. I brewed this beer before I got my pH meter, so I don't have the mineral profile anymore. I am brewing it again in July and will do the AJDelange method and just add back 1 tsp of CaCl per 5 gallons of water.

I can assure you that this beer was quaffable. We were passing around the 3 liter boot last year at my oktoberfest party and killed a full keg among 5 guys in a couple hours.

MachineShopBrewing said:

I can assure you that this beer was quaffable. We were passing around the 3 liter boot last year at my oktoberfest party and killed a full keg among 5 guys in a couple hours.

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That's some pretty good adverting!

I believe in double decoction brewing. The maltiest flavor I get in my brews is using this method. It is a lot of work and time though. Oktoberfest is all about the malt flavor. I have never tasted an American Oktoberfest that compares to the best German ones. Drink an Ayinger and set that as your template for an Oktoberfest. I also like the 833 yeast for this style. My efficiency(84%) numbers are off the chart when DD brewing so may want to lower your total grain amounts. Good luck, an excellent style to brew.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 72.73 %
3.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 27.27 %
0.50 oz Magnum [10.50 %] (60 min) Hops 17.2 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer [3.80 %] (15 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [Cultured] Yeast-Lager

Does anybody like the WL820 marzen yeast for these fest beers? I know it's slow, but it seems to do the job. Kind of. Mine only dropped to 1.019 from 1.060 last year.

So I guess I plan on getting the 833 for this oktoberfest and then I'll use my oktoberfest 820 yeast on something else?

+1 on the double decoction
The extra time and effort surely pays off, my buddy brews a Marzen that is out of this world and thats what he does I wish I could post the recipe but the pr!ck won't give it to me, "friends like these huh, dude?"

I know he uses vienna and pils for his base grain not a whole lot of adjuncts but some. Hallertauer hops and a oktoberfest lager yeast, wish I knew more but it is truly a remarkable beer the rich complex maltiness from the decoction process can not be faked with shortcuts. and oh yeah don't hop the piss out of it, this beers all about the malt:rockin:

Alright machine, i'm back from the beer store and i am modeling my recipe mostly after yours. Did you get 60% efficiency? Just wondering because I'm scaling mine accordingly.

The only thing that they were out of was munich. They had dark munich and light munich (Canadian only) but were out of the regular stuff. So I got a pound of light munich but I might have the Swmbo see if she can run by the other location downtown this week.

And I went ahead and bought the WL833 bock yeast. I just got done brewing a hefeweizen with year old washed yeast and I'm still not sure of the results.

Still not sure about the decoction because it seems to be an opinion divided. Half the people swear by it and insist that it's the only way to get great malty flavor, and the other half seems to think it's not really going to do anything much. I am going to go ahead and plan on still trying it out unless I start to run into a time crunch and then I might just mash it old school.

But all of the recipes look great and this is a starting point for me to find out which way I want to go. And I am super pumped for this beer. Can't wait till September

Cheers!

Not the victory but the action, not the goal but the game. In the deed the glory!

Did you get 60% efficiency? Just wondering because I'm scaling mine accordingly.

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I did get 60%. YMMV though depending on your system. I never have really cared all that much about efficiency, so I don't spend a lot of time losing sleep over how I am going to squeeze 80% out of the grain. I just buy more grain. I would go with whatever efficiency that you get out of your system.

So I got a pound of light munich

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You should be fine with that. I used this http://www.midwestsupplies.com/munich-10l-briess.html

Still not sure about the decoction because it seems to be an opinion divided. Half the people swear by it and insist that it's the only way to get great malty flavor, and the other half seems to think it's not really going to do anything much. I am going to go ahead and plan on still trying it out unless I start to run into a time crunch and then I might just mash it old school.

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Do whatever you enjoy doing. Does the decoc add something? Probably, but not enough for me to take all that time to worry about it. I am content with the beer the way that I made it, and have the hardware to back it up. I tend to worry more about proper pH and fermentation than worry about doing a decoction. If those two things aren't nailed down, than the decoction is pretty much pointless.

And I went ahead and bought the WL833 bock yeast. I just got done brewing a hefeweizen with year old washed yeast and I'm still not sure of the results.

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That is a good idea. The thought of using year old yeast is not all that appealing to me. The viability of that yeast is going to be extremely low and is not going to give you ideal fermentation results, especially in a lager. Start with a fresh pitch and build that vial up a couple of times before pitching it into that nice lager that you spent all day brewing. I don't like to spend all day brewing something only to pitch less than ideal yeast into it.

Brewing today. Right now actually

i think I'll be mashing at 154 and I'm gonna do this no chill. I'll be leaving the decoction for the next adventure so that I can compare this one to the one that has been through the decoction.

Wish me luck

That Munich malt is OK for just a pound but don't use it as a base for a German lager. It's made from 6-row malt. Their Bonlander Munich is made from 2-row. All the good continental stuff is 2-row (which is what you want for using a lot of it as a base).

And good luck!

Thanks Castle, I probably should have tried to go to the other store but it's a lot farther away. This will be an experiment for me going more with Vienna, so we'll see how it goes

And I am still torn with my mash temps. I saw most munich based recipes go at 155ish, but this vienna one went lower at 150.

So I was thinking 154 but........

Well, looks like I missed the mark a bit. Was shooting for 6g and ended up with 5. And OG ended up 1.069 instead of 1.053!

I no chilled so I still have the 5 gallons in my cube and I'm still getting my yeast starter ready to pitch.

Guess I'll have to figure out how much water will get me down to my gravity

This one turned out exactly how I wanted it too! Smooth, tasty, and very drinkable with slight caramel background. I am very happy with it after 3 weeks in the bottle and can't wait to see how it tastes next month!

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