Festbier BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale (AG)

[kjones]

bm, what do you think about this for a 5 gallon batch, i halfed all the grain and hops except for the pilsner malt and vienna malt so i am using 4 lbs. of pilsner malt and 3 lbs of vienna. the due to the fact that austin homebrew won't let me buy a half pound of the pils and i dont have scale. Also their pilsner malt is called Bohemian Pilsner Malt (Moravian)is this ok?

 

[mmb]

Kegged my batch on 9/23 direct from primary. Brewed 8/23

OG 1.061 FG 1.015

Hydrometer sample was pretty tasty at 66 degrees. First time I drank the whole sample.

Thanks BierMuncher!

 

[ScoutMan]

Put 20 gallons into kegs tonight. Stuff tastes great, can't wait till next week when it's carbed up and ready to drink. I will be serving this along with a Dunkel from earlier this summer at our Octoberfest party next weekend. (First go at a triple decoction mash). Thanks BM for the great recipe!!!!

 

[jfrizzell]

Kegged this up tonight. Looks like it finished at 1.018. It's definitely tasting good so I can't wait to taste it again when it's cold and carbed!

 

[eulipion2]

I bottled mine up three weeks ago, left them to condition at room temp, and just put some in the fridge two days ago. Alas, chill haze. Probably from transferring a lot of trub (my transfer issues have since been resolved), and leaving it in primary for four weeks. Still tastes okay though.

 

[brewjunky]

Octoberfest is not suppose to be a sweet beer there for crystal malts should be used sparingly. Also it shouldn't be a heavy beer it should ferment down low so that it can be drank in abundance without getting full. Octoberfest beers are a very Malty Balanced beer that is not overly hoppy.

 

[ChrisS]

I brewed this up about 6 weeks ago and I have had it on gas now for a few days and it is coming out nicely. I ended up mashing this very high and it is very creamy and probably actually out of style, but I don't care because it is a very good beer. definately brewing this again next year.

 

[Chriso]

As soon as my 10der and Mild is done carbing, I'll put my OktoberFAST with Kolsch yeast (fermented at high temp due to hot spell...) onto the gas pretty soon here. Results to come, stay tuned. The first batch was a bit hot, and a little estery, with the Dusseldorf Alt Yeast (same 79*F pitch/ferment temp as the Kolsch yeast had, it was 85 in the house with the a/c on full blast at the time, so I took what I could get), but we still killed the keg within a few weeks of gassing it up. I suspect we'll do the same on this next keg.

 

[waterse]

Getting closer. Racked my partial mash batch to secondary last night. The hydro samle was rich and malty, tastes like this is gonna be a winner. I'll have to call mine Novemberfest though, don't think it's gonna be ready before October is over.

 

[waterse]

Just bottled this one. Getting anxious. Tastes great for a green beer.

 

[BierMuncher]

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.

 

[Chriso]

Well, crap. I tapped the other keg last night, and it is bubble gum up the wazoo. Word of advice, Kolsch yeast doesn't like upper 70's.

This will be a punishment beer... I must drink it, as my punishment, before I can put another keg on tap. (Not like I have any other kegs waiting. Need to get my tuches back in gear, and brew some!)

I'm glad the Dusseldorf Alt yeast was more forgiving, too bad that keg is already gone.

 

[mmb]

Swamp cooler Chriso. I ferment all my beers around 65 just to keep the esters down. Turn out very nice.

Of course, winter-ish weather is here and 65 is about as warm as the basement floor gets.

 

[Chriso]

I know, I know. I did both halves of the Oktoberfest in Ale Pails, each in a giant green tub full of ice water. Even with the ice, the batch didn't cool below 78˚F until well after the ferment was complete. The Dusseldorf Alt was a 1L starter, the Kolsch was a yeast cake from the previous batch.

It was in the middle of the hottest week in July, my house was 84˚F with the A/C on full blast.

But it meant that SWMBO approved a walk-in cooler in the basement. Now I just need to ... well, start building it. I already have the A/C and the Ranco, as well as a bunch of small muffin fans to modify the A/C with to prevent icing over. I just need insulation and plywood.

 

[springer]

11 gallons in primary happily bubbling @67* I ended up a little over @ 1.056 with a little over 11 gallons going into the carboys. I should have partgyled this as my last running was 1.025ish when I stopped with some left in the tun but it was a long day had some chores to finish up in the morning and at 7 pm I was just ready to clean up and be done as it is I didnt pitch till 9 pm

The only thing I have a little concern about was the hops the Tettnang hops I had were over 4% can't recall exactly I will have to dumpster dive to get the foil pack .

 

[Bulls Beers]

Can anybody break it down for a 5 gallon batch. Thank you...

 

[JLW1974]

For the extract recipe posted earlier, what are thoughts on replacing either the amber LME or the pale LME with munich LME? I have some munich from AHS that lists it as 20% munich malt, 80% 2-row. Is this a possible substitution for one of these, or should I stick with the pale/amber? BeerSmith doesnt have munich extract as an ingredient (atleast that I can find) so it wouldnt put it in the recipe by itself on the conversion. Im hoping the munich LME will provide some more maltiness that the extract recipe is going to lose from missing out on the grains.

A little late on the reply. I would NOT substitute the Amber or Pale LME with a Munich LME. IMO, the 80% 2-row addition will throw the flavor off.

 

[JLW1974]

Well, crap. I tapped the other keg last night, and it is bubble gum up the wazoo. Word of advice, Kolsch yeast doesn't like upper 70's.

This will be a punishment beer... I must drink it, as my punishment, before I can put another keg on tap. (Not like I have any other kegs waiting. Need to get my tuches back in gear, and brew some!)

I'm glad the Dusseldorf Alt yeast was more forgiving, too bad that keg is already gone.

I don't think there is much yeast that likes it above 70F other than Hefeweizen style yeast. Most of the ales I have made, like it best between 65-68F.

 

[Chriso]

I don't think there is much yeast that likes it above 70F other than Hefeweizen style yeast. Most of the ales I have made, like it best between 65-68F.

Oh yeah - I'm aware, I was just trying to make the best of a particularly warm month, and it didn't work out. Part of the problem is that ice baths don't work well on plastic Ale Pail fermenters, and so short of a good fridge/walk-in, there's no way to truly control my ferment temps. (That part is in progress)

 

[Boodlemania]

I brewed a variation of the PM version (via DeathBrewer's stovetop PM technique) listed on page 2 of this thread and had something odd happen.

This is my first "real" attempt at a PM where I used more than a pound or two of grain to mash.

PM'd a total of 5 lbs of grain in two grain bags (don't have the big nylon grain bag DeathBrewer shows in his technique thread) in 2.5 gallons of water at ~ 157F then sparged with 1 gallon of 170F water:

3 lbs Munich
1.5 lbs Crystal 10L
0.5 lbs Carapils

I topped up to 3.5 gallons for the boil then added 2lbs DME at the start of my boil and 2lbs at flame-out.


According to BeerSmith, my OG should have been 1.060, but I measured 1.050. This is the first time I've been so far off on OG measurement, but it's by far the most grain I've used.

The way I see it, I either royally hosed my PM technique or didn't have a good mix in the fermenter (as I had to add ~ 2 gallons of top-off water: 1 gallon before racking then enough afterwards to top off to 5 gallons.)

Pitched a 1L+ starter of WLP029, krausen started to form in ~ 8 hrs at 63F, was blowing off in 16 hours. Crossing fingers on how this turns out.

Not really looking for an answer here as I realize there's too many variables to know for sure. Just venting, more or less.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Is the consensus that S-04 is the proper yeast for this beer? I'll be brewing it up this year.

 

[BierMuncher]

Is the consensus that S-04 is the proper yeast for this beer? I'll be brewing it up this year.

Depends on your taste. I've had variations of O-fests...some were malty sweet, others you'd have thought they were nothing more than an amber.

I lean towards the malty sweet when an O-fest is in season. Leaves turning. Air getting crisp. Still smell the fresh cut grass of Autumn.

If you're brewing this for a warmer weather event, and -05 might get this a bit dryer.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Depends on your taste. I've had variations of O-fests...some were malty sweet, others you'd have thought they were nothing more than an amber.

I lean towards the malty sweet when an O-fest is in season. Leaves turning. Air getting crisp. Still smell the fresh cut grass of Autumn.

If you're brewing this for a warmer weather event, and -05 might get this a bit dryer.

I like my beers a little on the more malty side & not too dry. When I think of this beer slightly sweet comes to mind.

 

[Clayton]

i am going to brew this friday,
i have a quart of San Francisco Lager yeast from a batch of steam beer i made that i plan to use. i think that should work really nicely
what do you guys think?

 

[BierMuncher]

i am going to brew this friday,
i have a quart of San Francisco Lager yeast from a batch of steam beer i made that i plan to use. i think that should work really nicely
what do you guys think?

Well I'd guess a QUART of lager yeast will work very well.

We'll be over in October.

 

[Clayton]

yeah thats the plan is for the fall

 

[mew]

Is the consensus that S-04 is the proper yeast for this beer? I'll be brewing it up this year.

I just don't see how S-04 fermented in the high 60s (F) could taste remotely like a lager. Nottingham can ferment at pretty low temps. If I did it. I'd go with a slight overpitch (10%) of Nottingham and ferment at 58 degrees F. Perhaps Biermuncher can weigh in on this one.

 

[RandalG]

Can anybody break it down for a 5 gallon batch. Thank you...

I'd like to know this as well. Do you just cut the recipe in half?

 

[BierMuncher]

I'd like to know this as well. Do you just cut the recipe in half?

Essentially, yes.

If you don't have Beersmith or another brewing software program, cutting everything in half will get you there. However, you might want to get a calculator out and figure out what you'll need to get a 5.5 gallon batch out. Don't forget to allow for loss due to trub.

 

[RandalG]

Thanks. I do have Beersmith but I need to play around with it more when I have time as I don't feel I'm using it to it's full potential. When you say getting a 5.5 gallon batch out do you mean tweaking the grain amounts to get to the proper og?