Bock or Marzen with ale yeast?

[RiseAgainstMe]

Well I really like standard Bocks and most octoberfest beers...So I would love to make one but can't do lagering yet.
I did some searching but didn't find any answers. I also would need it to be an extract recipe since that is all I'm comfortable with so far. So questions are...Anyone know if you can use ale yeast and get something close? Would it just be a different style of beer that I'm not familiar with?

 

[beninan]

I'm actually brewing a dopplebock right now. I'll be using Pacman ale yeast fermented in a swamp cooler in the low 60's.
You can use ale yeast in any recipe, you can use lager yeast in any recipe, same with wine and champagne yeast. Will it be the same? not 100%, but it depends on how "close enough" you care to get.

 

[MalFet]

Lager yeast gets ugly at warmer temperatures, but you can create some reasonably similar beers using a clean and neutral ale yeast. Pilsners and adjunct lagers wouldn't be very easy to recreate, but bocks and marzens do alright. Pacman yeast (mentioned above) is a good choice. If you like Dead Guy Ale, that's something like a maibock brewed at ale temps.

 

[RiseAgainstMe]

Lager yeast gets ugly at warmer temperatures, but you can create some reasonably similar beers using a clean and neutral ale yeast. Pilsners and adjunct lagers wouldn't be very easy to recreate, but bocks and marzens do alright. Pacman yeast (mentioned above) is a good choice. If you like Dead Guy Ale, that's something like a maibock brewed at ale temps.

Ok and actually Dead Guy used to be one of my favs so that's nice to know. I'm starting to find a few recipes now for Oktoberfest Ales. Still hard to find a good extract recipe though. Most call for half Pilsner LME and half Munich LME, but a few had Amber LME instead of the Munich. What is the difference between the two? Cause I would like to get everything from the LHBS but I know I've only seen Amber there and not Munich.

 

[MalFet]

Ok and actually Dead Guy used to be one of my favs so that's nice to know. I'm starting to find a few recipes now for Oktoberfest Ales. Still hard to find a good extract recipe though. Most call for half Pilsner LME and half Munich LME, but a few had Amber LME instead of the Munich. What is the difference between the two? Cause I would like to get everything from the LHBS but I know I've only seen Amber there and not Munich.

Munch malt is pretty central to an Oktoberfest, so I wouldn't substitute it for something else. The exact contents of "Amber LME" varies considerably from maltster to maltster, but it's usually some combination of pale and crystal-60. You have to look up the individual brand to know for sure. I'm sure you could get a nice beer using amber, but it would be missing a lot of the Märzen character.

 

[seyahmit]

I have had very good results with using the California Common yeast to do pseudo lagers. I pitch at 55F and let it rise to basement temps. The resulting beers have been very clean and tasty.