Marzen Fail. Recipe Assessment

jmaringo99 · 2025-09-25T19:04:57-0400

Hello all.

I wanted to do an exercise with you all based on a recent Marzen flop I had. I'm going to list my recipe and readings and would like for you to tell me how you think the beer turned out (flavors/off-flavors,etc..). See below:

Mashed at 150F for ~1hr. Boiled for 1hr. Fermented at 54F for 14 days, ramped up to 62F for 3 days for diacetyl rest, then cold crashed 10F per day until ~40F to begin a 6 week lagering in a keg. Based on the recipe below, and the measurements I entered into BeerSmith, what flavors/off-flavors would you expect from this beer? What would you change to prevent the off-flavors? Obviously let me know if you need more details and thanks in advance for the help/participation!!

fluketamer · 2025-09-25T19:24:53-0400

IMO for off flavors to be a problem based on recipe you would have to really mess up the recipe. 80 percent adjunct or something.

your recipe is fine and theres no reason that i see that it would produce any off flavors.

its due to your process.

that being said its impossible to predict from the recipe what off flavors you might have.

your process seems sound so its not obvious from what you posted,

i think you are better off telling us what off flavors you got and then work from there rather than working backwards.
there doesnt seem to be anything glaringly obvious from what you posted.

my 2 cents.

Willy · 2025-09-25T20:30:44-0400

Caramel w/ 80 L is approaching potential problems "off tasting". Personally, I use some melanoidin (31L) and some biscuit (30L) for getting the color. Some Munich (11L) The caramel at 80L potentially can be harsher. YMMV.

jmaringo99 · 2025-09-25T21:47:19-0400

I appreciate the input. The issue with this beer to me is the undesired punch of caramel, lack of biscuity malt flavor, and alcoholic aftertaste.

Pennine · 2025-09-25T22:05:47-0400

You may be noticing a lack of balance in the bitterness. 19ibus is pretty low in a 6.6% beer.

Bobby_M · 2025-09-26T08:36:59-0400

Recipe wise, caramel malt is questionable in marzen. I would use melanoiden instead, but only 4oz.

The bigger problem would be the yeast pitch if you didn't make a 3 liter starter. Did you pitch a single pack?