Festbier BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale (AG)

[Sheldon]

I have mine lagering for another 8 days and then bottling (no room in the kegorator), but sharing the batch with a fellow home brewer. Looking forward to sampling.

 

[JunkTruck]

Hi Everyone, what do you think would be the outcome if I pitched on top of a cider slurry brewed with S04?

I'm planning to brew this tomorrow morning and I was toying with pouring this onto the slurry from my raspberry apple cider. I brewed the cider with S04 and its been in primary about 3 weeks. I figured I'd rack into secondary tomorrow and re use the yest for the October fast.

Would there be any detriment to flavors by doing this?

I do have a packet of dry yeast on hand so i don't "have too" but the point of October Fast is to pour on a viable yeast cake to speed things up a touch. Would there be a lag from the yeast adjusting to the wort sugars? would this defeat the purpose and introduce sour cider or off flavors?

What do you all think?

 

[jmcquesten]

Hi Everyone, what do you think would be the outcome if I pitched on top of a cider slurry brewed with S04?

I'm planning to brew this tomorrow morning and I was toying with pouring this onto the slurry from my raspberry apple cider. I brewed the cider with S04 and its been in primary about 3 weeks. I figured I'd rack into secondary tomorrow and re use the yest for the October fast.

Would there be any detriment to flavors by doing this?

I do have a packet of dry yeast on hand so i don't "have too" but the point of October Fast is to pour on a viable yeast cake to speed things up a touch. Would there be a lag from the yeast adjusting to the wort sugars? would this defeat the purpose and introduce sour cider or off flavors?

What do you all think?

I want to say it might be a little too "fruity" for my particular taste. I've made this beer with fresh s04, and now make it as a lager (with wlp830 or 833).
I have it on tap right now (833), and it's so clean and malty that I don't think I ever want to go back(to an ale yeast). I personally would imagine a sour fruity taste every time I drank it, even if it was perfectly clean. I wouldn't risk it, unless you are looking for a sour raspberry oktoberfest.

Pitch new yeast.

 

[JunkTruck]

Thanks for the input, I kind of thought the same, real or imagined I'd be detecting a cidery fruity taste.

I ended up just pitching a nicely rehydrated fresh pack of S-04

 

[Beardo21]

Kegged my 2nd try at this recipe after fermenting for 5 weeks. This time around I used WLP029 german ale/kolsch yeast and it turned out great. Much dryer (OG: 1.058 FG 1.009)and slightly less "fruity" flavor compared to last time with S-04. I think I'll stick with WLP029 for future batches. Cheers.

 

[HawleyFarms]

Kegged my 2nd try at this recipe after fermenting for 5 weeks. This time around I used WLP029 german ale/kolsch yeast and it turned out great. Much dryer (OG: 1.058 FG 1.009)and slightly less "fruity" flavor compared to last time with S-04. I think I'll stick with WLP029 for future batches. Cheers.

That's interesting to me. I found Wyeast kolsch to leave a horribly fruity flavor while s04 left a great malty backbone with no fruity esters. What temps are you fermenting this at?

 

[Beardo21]

That's interesting to me. I found Wyeast kolsch to leave a horribly fruity flavor while s04 left a great malty backbone with no fruity esters. What temps are you fermenting this at?

Where I keep it in my basement stays steady around 68-69 F.

 

[HawleyFarms]

Where I keep it in my basement stays steady around 68-69 F.

Yeah, I haven't been a fan of the crazy fruity esters that come with wyeast' kolsch in this beer over 60°, the WL version must be a different strain. I keep my s04 at 65° (fermentation temp not ambient) for this brew and have never gotten anything fruity. If your ambient temperature is 68-69 my bet is your fermentation is in the low 70's which would explain why you are getting that with s04

 

[seilenos]

What flavor would expect when this beer is green? I like to keep tabs on how flavors change with time.

I brewed on Sept 14, pitched S-04, fermented high 60s, cold-crashed for two days, and kegged on Sept 29.

Pulling samples at present has an overwhelming "dough-y" aroma / flavor. It's the "brewing" aroma ... the one you have when you dough-in.

This doesn't immediately worry me because I've had many a brews that aged into a balanced profile.
This keg will age at 33 F until three weeks from this Saturday so it has some time.

 

[Randomnoob]

Kegged my 2nd try at this recipe after fermenting for 5 weeks. This time around I used WLP029 german ale/kolsch yeast and it turned out great. Much dryer (OG: 1.058 FG 1.009)and slightly less "fruity" flavor compared to last time with S-04. I think I'll stick with WLP029 for future batches. Cheers.

I've used Wyeast German Ale 1007 yeast twice and both times it has turned out great. I'm at work and cannot remember what the OG and FG were, but I got beer and that's the important thing.

 

[Kyle]

Great recipe! Always been a fan of Sam Adams Oktoberfest but this one is that plus more. Couldn't get 20l Munich so subbed for more aromatic and it came out great! 3 weeks at 65 and so far 3 weeks in the keezer and seems to be getting better everyday. Used gelatin for the first time and came out really clear.

View attachment 1508013325476.jpg

 

[jmatsche]

This is a great recipe! I am sampling a glass right now that is only 25 days old, used S04 fermented at 64 for 10 days and then kegged and I honestly can't believe how clean this is. Loads of malty goodness with no off flavors. I wanted to turn this one around fast but never thought it would be this good this soon. Thanks BierMuncher for a great recipe!

 

[Mothman]

Brewed as per the OP (scaled for volume) this past Sunday.

My efficiency was a few points low, so OG was a touch on the low side.

Colour into the primary looked awesome, nice coppery wort.

Fermenting in the 63-66F range (though it did drop to 61F for a couple hours at one point), and this morning activity has already settled right down (on Day two, that S04 was going crazy).

Plan on holding it mid 60's for 3 weeks, then into bottles it will go. I'm tempted to only leave it two weeks in primary, but I want to try to hold out for the full 3 weeks to really give it a chance to clean up.

 

[Mothman]

Checking FG on my scaled OktoberFAST ale, sitting right around 1.018 or 1.017, which is right where it should be.
I'll give it another reading in a few days, but hoping I'll be bottling this up next weekend, and have it ready for drinking right around New Years or shortly thereafter.

Hydro sample tasted awesome! Loving the color. Looking forward to this one.

 

[Mothman]

Did another FG check yesterday, and it's dropped another couple points... apparently she aint quite done yet. Sitting at 2.5 weeks primary currently, don't think I've had a batch take this long to finish before. Still hopeful I'll be good to go with bottling this weekend or early next week.

 

[Mothman]

She's pretty much good to go! Could use a few more days to finish carbonating but it's close.

Really tasty brew! Thanks for the recipe, I'll be making this again.

 

[Mothman]

This was one of my best brews to date, but unfortunately the last couple bottles I've opened have not been great... Didn't age well for some reason. Not sure if oxidation issues? Tasting an almost metallic, acrid sort of flavour, and aroma to go with it.

Still drinkable, but lost all that rounded malty flavour.

 

[air9]

Brewed this tonight. Never used S-04 before. Is everyone still going by the original post and fermenting this at 68?

 

[jmcquesten]

Brewed this tonight. Never used S-04 before. Is everyone still going by the original post and fermenting this at 68?

S-04 is ok. If you can lager, this recipe makes a delicious Marzen. After making it with wlp830, i can't go back to an ale yeast. Maybe try 66-67 to try to cut back on any fruitiness.

 

[myndflyte]

Well in the spirit of keeping this thread alive year after year, I'm brewing up 5.5 gallons of this on Saturday. This will be my first time making it but I'm really looking forward to it based on all the positive results. I essentially just cut the recipe in half and will be using Wyeast 1450.

For those that have made this in the past, did you still mash at 157F? It just seems high to me but if people have had good results, I'll give it a go.

 

[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.