AM I CRAZY?!! First recipe creation. Oktoberfest Ale (Kind of)

[JMacx]

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 11 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.054
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 6.54%
IBU (tinseth): 30.84
SRM (morey): 22.55
Mash pH: 5.59

FERMENTABLES:
12 lb - Finest Maris Otter (55.8%)
3 lb - Munich Dark (14%)
0.5 lb - De-Bittered Black (2.3%)
2 lb - CaraMunich III (9.3%)
2 lb - Pilsner (9.3%)
10 oz - Munich Light (2.9%)
8 oz - Aromatic (2.3%)
6 oz - Biscuit (1.7%)
8 oz - CaraRed (2.3%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - El Dorado, Type: Pellet, AA: 15.7, Use: First Wort, IBU: 15.78
0.5 oz - El Dorado, Type: Pellet, AA: 15.7, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 8.69
1 oz - Tettnanger, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 4.98
0.5 oz - Hallertau Mittelfruh, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.75, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at °F, IBU: 1.4

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Temp: 122 F, Time: 30 min, Amount: 5 gal
2) Temperature, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min
3) Temperature, Temp: 175 F, Time: 5 min, mash out
4) Sparge, Temp: 180 F, Amount: 4 gal
5) Sparge, Temp: 70 F, Amount: 2.5 gal

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Saflager - German Lager Yeast S-23
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 82%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 48 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)

 

[GoeHaarden]

If that grain bill shows any insight into your mental status then yes...you're crazy!! Haha!

Not sure how you came up with Oktoberfest, but I mainly shoot from the hip these days with recipes so give it a whirl. I just tend to stick with more simple grain bills...

Cheers!

 

[TheMadKing]

Agreed ^

I'm brewing a Marzen on Saturday and my grain bill is

Munich II
Pilsen
Caramunich
Melanoidin

I lose the Maris otter, black malt,Munich light, biscuit, and cara red

If you need a little more color, add 2 oz of that debittered black back in

El Dorado flavor is also really inappropriate for an oktoberfest, but it should be fine as a purely bittering addition

Your sparge temp is pretty high and you're risking tannin extraction unless you're acidifying your sparge water

If you're using a lager yeast fermented at 65 you're probably going to get fruity esters which are also out of place.

If you need to ferment at 65, I'd consider lallemand Nottingham yeast, or Voss Kveik

 

[Qhrumphf]

It's certainly not an Oktoberfest, but not reason it won't be good.

At that fermentation temp either use 34/70, a Cali lager strain (not sure if a dry version is available these days) or a clean ale yeast. That strain that warm will probably be a bit fruity. 34/70 (another lager strain, available dry) allegedly does well in the 60s (highest I've gone is 60F using a liquid variant of the strain and it was indeed clean but I usually do low to mid 50s).

Beyond that, if you want Oktoberfest-like you'll need an overhaul. That's gonna be dark, roasty, and hoppy in the wrong way for a German lager. Again, no reason it can't be tasty (albeit rather complicated). But won't be an Oktoberfest.

And unless you know what you're doing with a step mash, and doing it for a reason, you'll do better sticking to single infusion.

 

[mongoose33]

I think you still have room for 6 or 7 more types of fermentables. As long as there's going to be so much in there they'll cancel each other out, I think you should REALLY go for it.

Back up a second and ask yourself what you're trying to do here, what each addition to the fermentables is bringing to the table.