Oktoberfest Style Ale Recipe

Oktoberfest Style Ale

I wanted an Oktoberfest, but lack lagering facilities, so here it goes.

Brewer: Justin Sieglaff Email: -
Beer: Oktoberfest Style Ale Style: Märzen/Oktoberfest
Type: Partial mash Size: 5.25 gallons
Color: 22 HCU (~13 SRM)
Bitterness: 29 IBU
OG: 1.057 FG: 1.014
Alcohol: 5.6% v/v (4.4% w/w)

Water: Tap

Grain: 1 lb. American 2-row
1 lb. German Vienna
3 lb. German Munich
1 lb. CaraMunich
Mash: 55% efficiency

Partial mash:
1)Brought 6 quarts of water to 168F and placed 6lbs of grains into very large grain bag and placed into 3 gallon stainless pot. Stirred grain very well until completely wetted.
2)Temp was ~156F, added 2 cups cool tap water, temp now 153F
3)Placed lid on pot, put pot into 175F oven that was turned off
4)Removed after 1 hour, temp 150F.
5)Put grain bag with grain in 7 qt colander on top of 4 gallon brew pot and slowly laddled wort into grain and let strain into brew pot.
6)Repeated with 6/7 qts of 168F sparge water.
7)Brough boil volume up to 3.5 gallons

Boil: 60 minutes SG 1.086 3.5 gallons
3 lb. Light dry malt extract
1 lb. Amber dry malt extract
Began 60 min boil, added bittering hops.
Added extract with 30 mins remanining in boil.
Added 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 mins remaining.

Hops: 1 oz. Hallertauer (4.6% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Tettnanger (4.7% AA, 60 min.)
.5 oz. Hallertauer (4.6% AA, 25 min.)
.5 oz. Hallertauer (aroma)

Yeast: Wyeast 1338 European Ale Smack Pack

Log: Primary: 11 days (took a while for krausen to fall)
Secondary: 13 days

Carbonation: 3/4 cup corn sugar

Tasting: Tasted the beer at bottling, it was amazing. The best beer by far I've ever had at this point. I really think this will be amazing when carbed and ready to drink. The beer is brilliantly clear, a beautiful copper color with good malt taste and aroma. Hops seem to balance well.

Let me know if anyone decides to try it out!

Mmmm, tasty! You live close to me (Burlington here), but to far away for a swap w/ my O'fest Ale. Mine is still in secondary and fermenting away STILL. Boil day was July 14th.

I've got an Oktoberfest cold fermenting at the moment. Can't wait to sample it. I went for the Hallertau&Tett combo like yourself.

Why would this be called an Oktoberfest Ale (technically no such thing) when it's much closer to being an Altbier?

Mikey said:

Why would this be called an Oktoberfest Ale (technically no such thing) when it's much closer to being an Altbier?

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Uh...

I wanted an Oktoberfest, but lack lagering facilities, so here it goes.

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Question answered, right?

Looking at his grainbill (lots of munich, caramunich) and hopping schedule, it looks like an Oktoberfest to me in every way excpet the yeast strain and fermentation. I don't know the specifics of a typical alt well enough to do a detailed comparison, though. Aren't alts typically a little less rich and malty than Marzens?

Mikey said:

Why would this be called an Oktoberfest Ale (technically no such thing) when it's much closer to being an Altbier?

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Thanks cweston....you pretty much summed it up.

My only other response would be, that is why we homebrew, we can make any style with any wrinkle we want or make even make one up. If I had lagering facilities I would have done the recipe the same, only used a lager yeast and had a lager yeast fermentation schedule.

I'm scratching my head. If I'm brewing a lager O'fest recipe but use ale yeast it's no longer an O'fest but an Alt?

Exo said:

I'm scratching my head. If I'm brewing a lager O'fest recipe but use ale yeast it's no longer an O'fest but an Alt?

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I would argue no, an alt is different than an Oktoberfest. Yes a true Oktoberfest is a lager, brewed with lager yeast and lagered for an extended period. But taking an Oktoberfest recipe and using an appropiate (malty) ale yeast doesn't make it an alt. If anything we've created a new style, an Oktoberfest Style Ale or something of that effect.

I don't have Designing Great Beers with me at work, but I know they are listed in seperate categories in that book, and I feel that is a good source. While I'm sure there are similarities between the two, I think there is nothing wrong with an 'Oktoberfest Ale' or 'Oktoberfest Style Ale' since the grain bill and hopping schedule are closer to 'true Oktoberfests' than an alt.

Just my $0.02

OK, I stand partially corrected...

Looking at the BJCP style guidelines, it appears that Alts and Marzens do in fact have similar grainbills. But Alts tend to have higher IBUs and more hops flavor/aroma. And of course the yeast and fermentation are different.

Typical IBUs for Dusseldorf Altbier (40-60) are double those for typical Oktoberfest/Marzen (20-30).

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/slack/bjcp/styleguide08.html

Definately spilting hairs over a name, the bottom line is both are damn tasty beers.

I think the sub-title on my bottles will be:

I wanted be an Oktoberfest, but instead of being brewed in Germany (by a German) during the month of March then cold-stored in some cave only to be drank during fall festivals (by Germans)...some inconsiderate English-German-Norweigan-Swiss-Scottish bloke brewed me in Wisconsin...and with an ale yeast! The nerve!!!

Exo said:

I think the sub-title on my bottles will be:

I wanted be an Oktoberfest, but instead of being brewed in Germany (by a German) during the month of March then cold-stored in some cave only to be drank during fall festivals (by Germans)...some inconsiderate English-German-Norweigan-Swiss-Scottish bloke brewed me in Wisconsin...and with an ale yeast! The nerve!!!

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I love it! Any homebrewing friends would probably get a laugh and everyone else would just be confused, but that's usually what happens when I'm in mixed company (brewers/non-brewers) and I get all excited and start talking about my next batch.

If anyone has looked at the recipe and was thinking of trying it here's a little report. 8 days after bottling, the beer tastes good, but is flat as a board. I think I'll shake them up a bit and let them sit for another 2 weeks before trying them.

My environment where my beer sits to carb is same for all batches, but it is amazing how different the carbonation progresses depending upon the flocculation of the yeast. I've had one done carbing in as little as 7 days (with 1056) and now my Oktoberfest (1338) looks like it will take a good 3 or 4 weeks (about the same amount of time as a beer I did with nottingham dry yeast).

I think I'll post when it's carbed fully on the taste. FWIW, like at bottling time, the beer is tasty.

Banana dance for bubbles:

Bump. How did this turn out? I am thinking about using the 1338 on a similar recipe, any advice?

I'd be curious to know too. I have an true Oktoberfest lagering right now, but last year I did an ale version using Kolsch yeast (WLP029). It is a very clean ale yeast and it turned out great. One of my favorites so far, but I'm looking forward to comparing the last couple bottles with the real thing.

The style police are lurking

I'm looking at brewing an Octoberfast as well but I'm having trouble picking out what dry ale yeast I should use. I'm thinking Windsor or S-04 (because I have oodles of packs around) but is there a better dry choice out there?

I mail order most of my ingredients and UPS/FedEx can be trusted to take a day or three longer than "scheduled" getting my shipments to me. Liquid yeast isn't an option in the summer.

Well, it's a personal taste issue, to be sure... but since an "Oktoberfest"-style Ale hammers the maltiness without a high IBU, I prefer to use a clean-finishing high attenuating yeast, so that the final product will lighten up and won't be as cloyingly sweet. In that vein, I prefer to use the US-05 over the S-04, but you won't go far wrong with the S-04. All in all, I'd rather Notty, but that's neither here nor there.

My first Oktoberfest-Style Ale used a San Francisco Steam Ale yeast, but that was a liquid yeast. I'm currently bubbling up one on top of a US-05 yeast cake from BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde.

I was under the impression that Octoberfest style beers had minimal amounts of crystal malts. A full pound of caramunich seems a tad excessive to me. Any thoughts?

rnrchemnerd said:

I was under the impression that Octoberfest style beers had minimal amounts of crystal malts. A full pound of caramunich seems a tad excessive to me. Any thoughts?

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you are right that is too much if you want to go by the BJCP style guidelines. also it should have NO aroma so id take out the last hop strike as well. I would not call that recipe a octoberfest beer at all. but at the same time i am down with just making things up to see how they taste.

I recently made this recipe, in essence.

The recipe: Hopville : "Homecoming Oktoberfest Ale" Altbier Recipe

Brewed using partial mash steep method with a protein rest. (30 min at 130, 30 min at 158, 30 min at 170).

It was in essence an altbier, with beautifully subtle floral aromas and a clean, sweet flavor with no discernible bitterness. Color was a dark amber (should've used a late extract addition but didn't), very clear (used secondary + whirlfloc), with a thick head. Well appreciated by my light beer drinking friends.

Will enter it in a competition soon; not sure if I will enter it under Oktoberfest, Dusseldorf Altbeir or Specialty Beer. Any recommendations?

Just a side note...

I visited the Harpoon brewery in Windsor (VT) a few weeks ago. The tour guide said something about their Oktoberfest being an ale. So when the tour was over I talked to him to clarify. When I said I understood that OF was traditionally a lager, he said "No, I don't think so." Well, being a newbie and all, I didn't feel comfortable enough to straighten him out, I just said "Oh, must be I just assumed that since it was a Bavarian style, where lagers come from, and since it was brewed in March while it was still cold and then cellared over the summer the way a lager would be, that it was a lager." "Nope" said he...

And then I came home and made sure I wasn't going crazy...

And finally, after waiting all summer, I popped my keg of Oktoberfest (lager!) back in the fridge and started carbing it. Even after just two days I think I'm I'm glad I went the "alternate" route and lagered it (fermented at 52° for 3 weeks, then lagered at 35° for two months, then let it rest at 70° for another month while I made room in my kegerator).

Yesterday we brewed this recipe using Cry Havoc! It's around 61 deg. in my basement where it will ferment.

uwmgdman said:

If anyone has looked at the recipe and was thinking of trying it here's a little report. 8 days after bottling, the beer tastes good, but is flat as a board. I think I'll shake them up a bit and let them sit for another 2 weeks before trying them.

My environment where my beer sits to carb is same for all batches, but it is amazing how different the carbonation progresses depending upon the flocculation of the yeast. I've had one done carbing in as little as 7 days (with 1056) and now my Oktoberfest (1338) looks like it will take a good 3 or 4 weeks (about the same amount of time as a beer I did with nottingham dry yeast).

I think I'll post when it's carbed fully on the taste. FWIW, like at bottling time, the beer is tasty.

Banana dance for bubbles:

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Just curious how this ended up tasting? How long til it carbed up?

As soon as my belgian/Chimay clone gets out of primary, I'm giving this one a go. I *love* Oktoberfests, but don't have the means to lager. Thanks for the recipe!

Been eyeing this one for over a month while waiting for a saison to dry out. Hope to brew this weekend.

Yeah, the moment my primary frees up, this is going in. Was reading some articles on ale imitations of Oktoberfest, and this one, the grains, the yeast, the IBUs and color are spot on. The only thing I may tweak is maybe adding 4 oz or so of chocolate malt.

Ooooo, that sounds tasty and I just happen to have a little extra chocolate malt handy.

Here is a pretty good podcast on the style, not as entertaining as most, but very true to form:

http://s125483039.onlinehome.us/archive/Jamil03-27-06.mp3

If you are into brewing up a Marzen check it out.

Brewed tonight, everything went great and added the 1/4 pound of choc malt. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Good luck - I still have a couple weeks to go til my primary's freed up - can't wait to taste this though!

2 weeks in the bottle, tastes great. Excellent aroma, perfect maltiness. Thanks for the recipe.

thomismydad said:

2 weeks in the bottle, tastes great. Excellent aroma, perfect maltiness. Thanks for the recipe.

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Nice to hear! I added 4 oz of chocolate malt to my Belgian - it imparted more of a stoutish flavor and darker color than I thought it would. I'm glad I didn't use any more than that! I just bottled it, freeing up the primary bucket. I left it in the primary the whole time - who needs a stinkin' secondary?

Now I'm debating giving this one a go or going for a Great Lakes Christmas Ale clone. Hrm.

Brewed this recipe today, my first partial mash so I'm pretty excited.

Exo said:

I think the sub-title on my bottles will be:

I wanted be an Oktoberfest, but instead of being brewed in Germany (by a German) during the month of March then cold-stored in some cave only to be drank during fall festivals (by Germans)...some inconsiderate English-German-Norweigan-Swiss-Scottish bloke brewed me in Wisconsin...and with an ale yeast! The nerve!!!

Click to expand...

Ha. I'm doing something similar, but mine would be "inconsiderate Greek-Scotch-Irish bloke." Otherwise, an "Oktoberfest Style Ale" is the first beer I ever brewed several years ago. I liked it quite a lot, so now that I know what I'm doing more than I did then, I'm trying again. Different recipe, but similar enough.