Festbier BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale (AG)

[sikkingj]

This is a great beer, I used a Klosch yeast (2565) - tasted great. I've been thinking of brewing a batch to prepare for Oktoberfest...

 

[jmcquesten]

Just kegged 10 gallons of this for a month of lagering. Used 833 this year.

 

[storytyme]

Going to try this recipe, but what yeast can I use with a fermentation in the upper 50's and still be ready to drink in 5-6 weeks? My chamber is set there because of some other lagers I got fermenting so I am committed to the temp for a while.

 

[myndflyte]

Just kegged 5 gallons of this last week. I used Denny's Favorite 50 yeast and it ended up at about 1.02 putting it just below 5% ABV. But it turned out great. Nice and malty and when I do it again next year, I'll probably mash just a bit lower than in the OP.

 

[Batteman87]

Going to try this recipe, but what yeast can I use with a fermentation in the upper 50's and still be ready to drink in 5-6 weeks? My chamber is set there because of some other lagers I got fermenting so I am committed to the temp for a while.

Nottingham (57*-70*) would be my choice in your given scenario. Would do rehydration or a starter. Happy Brewing!

 

[z-bob]

If you replace the caramel malts in the original recipe with more pilsner malt, do you think the result would be something like Festbier?

 

[storytyme]

@BierMuncher and friends,

Love all your posts and recipes. I am making your Oktoberfast tomorrow and I am short some grain. I bought ingredients for about 4 batches and must of mis calculated what I needed. With that said I do not have any Pilsner malt, but I have a lot of Munich and Vienna left over. Here was my version recipe from all I have read about your recipe:

36% PILSNER
21% VIENNA
17% MUNICH
10% CRYSTAL 20L
8% MELANOIDEN
5% CRYSTAL 40L
4% CARA-PILS

So how can I use my Vienna and Munich surplus to make up for not having Pilsner. Not too worried about brewing to style. Thoughts by anybody? Thanks in advance.

 

[z-bob]

@BierMuncher and friends,

Love all your posts and recipes. I am making your Oktoberfast tomorrow and I am short some grain. I bought ingredients for about 4 batches and must of mis calculated what I needed. With that said I do not have any Pilsner malt, but I have a lot of Munich and Vienna left over. Here was my version recipe from all I have read about your recipe:

36% PILSNER
21% VIENNA
17% MUNICH
10% CRYSTAL 20L
8% MELANOIDEN
5% CRYSTAL 40L
4% CARA-PILS

So how can I use my Vienna and Munich surplus to make up for not having Pilsner. Not too worried about brewing to style. Thoughts by anybody? Thanks in advance.

Do you have any plain ol' 2-row malt? You can substitute that for the pils and it will be close. Otherwise, leave the Munich alone and make up the difference with Vienna. That's my thought anyway, but I haven't brewed this recipe yet so take it for what it's worth

 

[myndflyte]

Just wanted to say that this is a total hit. My parents went on a beer/wine drinking vacation and preferred this Oktoberfest to all the ones they tried. So I expect this to be a yearly brew going forward.

 

[oldwhiskers]

I remade a simplified version of this one about 8 weeks ago and tapped it for a neighborhood party this past (Halloween) weekend.

I put it on tap upstairs next to my Wit.

49% 2-Row
23% Vienna
18% Munich
10% Crystal #40

It was a huge hit. Cleared up nicely and very quickly. Smooth flavor.

If you can't get aromatic or aren't a big fan...this simpler recipe gets 6 thumbs up from my neighbors.

I made 5 gallons of this version and it was pretty good, just a few bottles left. My next batch of this will be 10 gallons.

 

[Immocles]

I made 5 gallons of this version and it was pretty good, just a few bottles left. My next batch of this will be 10 gallons.

Thanks for resurrecting this recipe! I’ll have to add this to my list for my next ingredient purchase.

 

[dcn]

Just had a sample of mine today after a week in the keg and it’s fantastic. Thanks BierMuncher, this and your blonde have both been hits in my relatively recent (2 Centennial Blondes/2 Jamils Pilsner and a Cerveza gong show before this) all grain career. I messed my water volumes up and wound up with a 1.046->1.011 gravity run but it’s still amazing.

And on the plus side that volume misqueue means I got 4 Grolsch and 4 341ml bottles as a reward for my mistake

 

[bubbles]

Just brewed this yesterday. My efficiency turned out better than I expected and I wound up with an OG of 1.066. However, I also found that the thermometer I had been using was reading 9(!!) degrees low. It read 152F at the end of the mash, so maybe it worked out with a 161F mash. I suppose I'll find out in a couple weeks. In the meantime, I'll RDWHA(also mashed-too-high blond)HB.

 

[BierMuncher]

Just brewed this yesterday. My efficiency turned out better than I expected and I wound up with an OG of 1.066. However, I also found that the thermometer I had been using was reading 9(!!) degrees low. It read 152F at the end of the mash, so maybe it worked out with a 161F mash. I suppose I'll find out in a couple weeks. In the meantime, I'll RDWHA(also mashed-too-high blond)HB.

If you're going to mash high, this is the recipe to do it with. Kick up that malt profile a little.

 

[bubbles]

It turned out great BierMuncher. Pretty malty and sweet, but I like malty beers. Thanks for the great recipe!

 

[Jeff...]

Looking forward to brewing up a 6 gallon batch of BM's OktoberFAST.

 

[Immocles]

I doubt you’ll regret it. I made a few tweaks to use what I had on hand, but left the grist percentages as closely as possible. Loved it.

 

[Waldner]

Oktoberfest Recipe
Octoberfest Recipe
Let’s face it. Anyone who knows my brewing habits know that patience is not one of my stronger qualities. Brew something in March and wait until October to drink it? Not likely. I just finally got around to tasting a commercial (Sam Adams) Oktoberfest last week. Unfortunately I shared with some friends and family and they loved it. Now I’m on the hook to produce something in time for Halloween. That gives me a little over 6 weeks to come up with a fast…tastes like…Oktoberfest beer using an ale yeast.

Lots of malt. Lots of sweet. Little to no hops aroma. Right at 5% ABV.

If I can mash this at around 156-158 and use a lower attenuating ale yeast, I can probably get this beer to finish around 1.017-18 from a 1.051 starting point. After one full week in the primary, I’ll still have 4 weeks to secondary and then a week to chill/carb in the keg.

Wish me luck.

View attachment 2646


Batch Size: 11.25 gal
Boil Size: 13.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 12.7 SRM
View attachment 2645
Estimated IBU: 20.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
8.50 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM
5.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
4.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
2.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Tettnang [3.20%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.20%] (45 min)
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.20%] (30 min)

Will likely use a dry Safale-04 since it won't ferment as dry and I'm tryin to preserve some malt profile.

How long does it take Safale S-04 for it to ferment?

 

[Jeff...]

Cooled wort 1.052. looks like liquid Carmel. Followed BM's recipe in the first post.

Pitched S-04 Saturday evening, it's in full krosen currently, about 48 hours later. A sniff of the airlock, smells absolutely delicious.

 

[Jeff...]

How long does it take Safale S-04 for it to ferment?

Recipe is in the first post along with the fermention schedule.

 

[Jeff...]

After one week of primary fermention the gravity is 1.018, or about 4.5% ABV. Sampling tastes great, a little malty sweet like a festbier should be. I also like the color and it's cleared up nice for just 1 week.

 

[Jeff...]

Kegged after 3 weeks secondary. Pretty doggone good at room temperature and flat.

 

[wepeeler]

Brewing this up with Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest blend. Hoping for a fairly quick turnaround. I was able to go from grain to glass with my last lager (Helles) fermented at 50 in 3 weeks, although it's absolutely going to improve with lagering. Fingers crossed!

 

[rkhanso]

I'll be kegging my 10 gallons this weekend, after 3 weeks and 5 days fermenting. It'll be my first time kegging, so I hope I have everything I need and there are no issues. Looking forward to tasting this in another couple weeks.

Ferm temps (I have to reboot my RaspPI occasionally because it locks up, thus the chart isn't the entire 3 weeks)
That spike at the beginning was just after a needed reboot of the Pi. Temp got up to 70 for a very short time.
You can see the last couple days have been much cooler here in MN, affecting how fast the beer warms up.

 

[z-bob]

I've been drinking a lot of German O'fest beers lately. Very malty, but not nearly as sweet as American versions. I really like the German ones (Hofbrau is my favorite, and it's the driest of the lot and also the highest ABV.) I'm drinking a Paulaner right now.

So, take the original recipe, mash it lower (149 or 150 degrees), and use something like K-97 for the yeast?

 

[Iseneye]

If you want it to be closer to german style rather than american drop all of the crystal malts and get the FG below 1.010. The german ones are easy drinking.

 

[Immocles]

I've been drinking a lot of German O'fest beers lately. Very malty, but not nearly as sweet as American versions. I really like the German ones (Hofbrau is my favorite, and it's the driest of the lot and also the highest ABV.) I'm drinking a Paulaner right now.

So, take the original recipe, mash it lower (149 or 150 degrees), and use something like K-97 for the yeast?

I loved the variation of this recipe I used with 1007 yeast. I *believe* K-97 is the dry version of that yeast strain. I had dropped the crystal completely and used a dash of carahell and dark Munich in its place. Agree on the mash lower, mine finished a tad high for my tasting, but my process and personal tastes are a lot more dialed in nowadays.

 

[z-bob]

I have all the ingredients in the recipe at the top of the thread except the crystal 20, which I don't want to use anyway to help dry out the beer. Thought I might swap that with some pale ale malt or just more Vienna. Keep the little bit of crystal 40. Mash low, and ferment with Kolsch yeast. Oh, and German Tradition hops instead of Tettnang because I have almost a pound of it.
OTOH, I have 3 cases of German beer, so that should be enough for this year. I may give this a try next year.

 

[rkhanso]

I followed the original recipe. Made 10 gallons.
My OktoberFAST is very hazy, opaque and bready smelling.
Poured next to a bottle of Sam Adams Oktoberfest, they look like different beers due to the haziness, but the color is close to the same.
They taste similar, but mine is definitely more bready.
Good thing, my brother said he preferred mine over the Sam Adams.
I've only tapped the one keg, since I'm not yet set up to carbonate 2 kegs at the same time. So, I'm not sure what the other keg looks like.
Is this just a naturally hazy beer? Or did I do something wrong?
Sorry, no picture at this time.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

Brewed this up today. I have been messing around with crush and I got some enzymes so my efficiency went through the roof compared to what I'm used to.. Ended up at 1.065. Looking forward to reporting back in a few weeks to give a review.

 

[SouthBounds]

Thanks for the recipe @BierMuncher! 10 gallons in the fermenter. Already smelling great.

 

[myndflyte]

2nd year in a row brewing this and it turned out great again.

 

[Ariel]

I scaled this down to a 1 gallon batch. I made two batches of it today. After bottling I realized that I didn't weigh my hops correctly and added half or less than what was called for. Should I leave it or fix it somehow?

 

[Jeff...]

I got this on tap, it's doggone good too.

 

[Spundit]

I scaled this down to a 1 gallon batch. I made two batches of it today. After bottling I realized that I didn't weigh my hops correctly and added half or less than what was called for. Should I leave it or fix it somehow?

Hops are not the showcase of this brew so it will probably be OK.. you may percieve it as just a bit sweeter.

So it is in the fermentor right now and actively fermenting? If so you I might prepare a concentrated hop tea by boiling the bittering hops you left out. This could be safely added to the fermentor. It seems like that might help add some IBUs but it would be an experiment (for me, perhaps someone else has experience with this). If you have two batches fermenting you could hedge your bets and add the hop tea to one and leave other alone.

 

[Ariel]

Hops are not the showcase of this brew so it will probably be OK.. you may percieve it as just a bit sweeter.

So it is in the fermentor right now and actively fermenting? If so you I might prepare a concentrated hop tea by boiling the bittering hops you left out. This could be safely added to the fermentor. It seems like that might help add some IBUs but it would be an experiment (for me, perhaps someone else has experience with this). If you have two batches fermenting you could hedge your bets and add the hop tea to one and leave other alone.

Its fermenting right now in the carboy. It started fermenting after a few hours. Im not a huge fan of bitter beers.

You are saying to boil some water with the left-out hops. Should I try to do similar boil times to the recipe or just boil hops in water for 10 mins? Whats the possible downside to doing this?

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Think its time to brew up 10 gallons now then leave it to naturally carb in the basement until October.

 

[z-bob]

Oktoberfest Recipe
Octoberfest Recipe
Let’s face it. Anyone who knows my brewing habits know that patience is not one of my stronger qualities. Brew something in March and wait until October to drink it? Not likely. I just finally got around to tasting a commercial (Sam Adams) Oktoberfest last week. Unfortunately I shared with some friends and family and they loved it. Now I’m on the hook to produce something in time for Halloween. That gives me a little over 6 weeks to come up with a fast…tastes like…Oktoberfest beer using an ale yeast.

Lots of malt. Lots of sweet. Little to no hops aroma. Right at 5% ABV. [emphasis added]

If I can mash this at around 156-158 and use a lower attenuating ale yeast, I can probably get this beer to finish around 1.017-18 from a 1.051 starting point. After one full week in the primary, I’ll still have 4 weeks to secondary and then a week to chill/carb in the keg.

Wish me luck.

View attachment 2646


[recipe deleted]

Will likely use a dry Safale-04 since it won't ferment as dry and I'm tryin to preserve some malt profile.

I like the drier German-style festbiers but have never tried brewing one. (they intimidate me) I buy cases of it every September when it shows up in Costco. But thinking about trying to brew one this year. Lots of malt, not much sweet, just a little noble hops aroma, and about 6% ABV.

I have a bunch of a local malt that I don't know how to classify (the maltster doesn't even try) but I think it's kind of a dark Munich or a light aromatic malt. It's 17°L and slightly diastataic and can be used up to 50% of the grist. So I might use 60% pilsner malt and 40% this dark-kilned malt, Tradition hops or Sterling+Tradition, with the last hop addition at 20 minutes, and kveik yeast. Not sure yet but I might mash at a high temperature or add just a little crystal malt so it doesn't go too dry. Perhaps I need to not worry about the dryness and just keep the bitterness down.

Even if it's a total failure at recreating an O'festbier, it ought to be a good generic amber ale with lager-like tendencies. Patience is not one of my virtues either; kveik yeast will rip through a wort like this in 3 days and if I overpitch it should not add any character of its own. If it's a success, I will start a new thread about it. Will brew it next month unless a family crisis that's looming on the horizon takes precedence. (I'll brew it eventually, regardless)

 

[jharmon203]

So glad I found this thread. Thank you Biermuncher.

Just like the great lakes Christmas ales thread, I committed to reading the entire thing to get different thoughts on how to brew this beer. I am planning to do a 10 gallon batch to provide for my church oktoberfest. I will be doing the BIAB method.

Here are a few of my findings throughout the thread

Yeast I am considering:
S-04 (original)
K-97
1007
WLP029
WLP036

It seems like plenty of people have had great luck with the SF-04, so why change it? Well, the temps in my basement tend to be around 69-71 so I need a yeast a bit forgiving and I think the K-97 fits the bill. It appears to be a dry version of the 1007. It's also advertised as producing low esters, which has been a slight knock on the SF-04 or 029 depending on who brewed with it.

Mash temp recommended is 156 by OP. (post 131)

Hops:
If you can use the ones in the recipe, wiliamette or hallertau are good alternatives.

Biermuncher recommends a 90 boil to "drive off the DMS"

Mid teens is a good finishing point gravity for this beer.

I plan to cold crash in my keg before carbing. I actually haven't worried about this before because I don't typically care what a beer looks like, only what it tastes like.

If you are going to deviate from the original grain bill, stay around 10% mark with your Crystal malt.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

has anyone tried lutra with this beer?
I brewed a blonde ale with this and people said it tasted more like a lager than a blonde so i'm thinking of giving it a go.