Oktoberfest/Marzen Show Notes

This is a summary of an episode of The Jamil Show.

Oktoberfest

Brewers

• Dr. Scott
• Jon Plise

Notes

Segment 1

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• 0:00 Jamil Zainasheff is out of the country and not on the show. Dr. Scott is in for Jamil.
• 1:00 Dr. Scott says that he has had many versions of the beer over the years. He's had a version of this that has made it in the second round of NHC.
• 2:00 Dr. Scott gives a history of the beer.
• 3:30 Dr. Scott talks about how it is very similar to a Vienna Lager.
• 5:00 Dr. Scott gives the BJCP description of the beer.
• 8:00 Dr. Scott says that Samuel Adam's Oktoberfest is a little weird with the late hopping for an Oktoberfest.
• 8:45 Jon Plise asks Dr. Scott if he would consider this to be a session beer.
• 9:30 Dr. Scott talks about his the malt bill and hop additions
• 11:00 Dr. Scott gives Dan Gordon's malt bill
  • 50% Pilsner malt
  • 40% Munich malt
  • 10% Caramunich
• 12:50 Justin Crossley asks Dr. Scott what he thinks about the color. Lighter or Darker?
• 13:30 Justin Crossley asks Dr. Scott what malts to play with to darken the color.
• 13:50 Dr. Scott talks about darkening the beer with chocolate malt and his method of grinding to a powder and sprinkling on top at the end of the mash.
• 15:40 Dr. Scott talks about why he would use aeromatic malt in a beer.
• 17:40 Dr. Scott talks about how everyone loves this beer.
• 18:00 Dr. Scott gives advise for doing this as an extract brew. He also discuss a mini-mash.
• 19:40 Justin Crossley asks Dr. Scott if you should always choose a light extract malt for making a beer and add color via specialty malts.
• 20:10 Justin Crossley asks Dr. Scott about the use of cynamar extract for coloring a beer.
• 22:35 Break

Segment 2

• 23:00 Dr. Scott talks about hops in the beer. Use Noble Hops like Hallertauer, ect. It is also possible to use some American decendents. Dr. Scott advises that you want this to be bitter, but you don't want to over do it.
• 26:30 Dr. Scott says that if you are not very accurate at measuring hops, it is better to go with a lower alpha acid hop. A little extra or less wouldn't matter as much.
• 27:30 Justin Crossley asks if an IBU is an IBU, not matter the alpha acid of hop it came from.
• 28:50 Justin Crossley talks about how he likes to play with the settings in brewing software to see how boil times and hop addition times affect the IBU of a beer.
• 30:20 Dr. Scott talks about the website [Brew Monkey]. The website will talk about all the hops and what you use them for. It also has hop substitutions.
• 31:20 Dr. Scott talks about yeasts. Oktoberfest Lager WLP820, German Lager WLP830, German Bock Lager WLP833, Southern German Lager WLP838. Dr. Scott perfers the German Bock Lager and the Southern German Lager.
• 32:45 Dr. Scott said he tried this with Bohemian lager yeast, but didn't like it as much because it seemed to strip out the malt flavor.
• 34:00 Dr. Scott tries to ferment around 48F
• 35:00 Jon Plise says that WLP833 can ferment at warmer temperatures without having a lot of esters.
• 35:45 Jon Plise asks if you can use the Sanfrancisco lager yeast and ferment this beer at a warmer temperature.
• 36:30 Dr. Scott talks about water. Moderate carbonate. Around 300 ppm, 150 would be better. Keep sulphates low. Calcium 50 - 100 ppm.
• 37:50 Dr. Scott recommends that you brew like you always do if you don't know about water additions.
• 39:20 Dr. Scott says you need a big yeast starter. You might want to start it four days to a week ahead of time.
• 39:48 Justin Crossley says that this style sucks. No hops. To much prep. To much waiting.
• 40:54 Jon Plise talks about how he likes to pitch warm and then cool down to get yeast growth.
• 41:30 Dr. Scott talks about making the starter over multiple steps.
• 42:40 Dr. Scott talks about mashing at 152F or 154F for dextrines.
• 43:30 Dr. Scott talks about boiling 90 minutes or 120 minutes.
• 44:00 Jon Plise asks Dr. Scott about doing a protien rest? Dr. Scott says that a decoction would be the most traditional. A single infusion will make a good beer.
• 44:30 Justin Crossley asks if you should step mash this beer.
• 45:50 Justin Crossley says a listner wants to know if Dr. Scott has his pajamas on today.
• 46:35 Dr. Scott recaps the recipe for five gallons
  • Hop .50 oz 60 minutes
  • Hop another at 3/4?
  • 48F ferment
  • Diacetyl rest if you want. Raise up to 60F.
  • 3 to 4 weeks in primary with no diacetyl rest
  • Lagering is the yeast cleaning things up. You can lager at 40F or 42F but it won't taste as nice if you lager at 32F.
• 50:00 Justin Crossley asks how clear do you want your wort when you are recirculating the mash.
• 52:00 Dr. Scott talks warns against hot side aeration during recirculation.
• 53:15 Justin Crossley asks if anyone has used Saflager dry yeast.
• 54:00 Justin Crossley wraps up the show.

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