"Oktoberfest Ale" Advice

[mcmillb1]

I don't have a lagering setup, but, Oktoberfest is my all time favorite style, so, I wanted to take a stab at an Ale version.

I've fear I've hit analysis-paralysis with Google (and the wizards here, of course!), so, wanted to just throw this up for some general "this looks good" or "this looks terrible" advice!

5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)
5.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
2.00 lb Munich Malt 20 EBC (9.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramunich II (46.0 SRM)

1.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)

1.0 pkg European Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1338)

Mash - 156.0 F for 90 min

I won't lie - this is mostly an amalgamation of about four recipes I found online, especially two from HBT:

Bee Cave Brewery

BierMuncher's

I've done about half a dozen all grain brews, but I'm still new to formulating my own recipes - so any help is appreciated!

 

[Yooper]

Too much crystal malt- with the amber extract (which has crystal malt in it), and two pounds of it in the grainbill, that's way overboard.

A nice "toasty" malty flavor is great in an Oktoberfest, but not much caramel/crystal flavor. A pound, max, is ok.

Vienna malt is a nice base malt for that beer. The Munich malt is also a great touch. Adding some aromatic malt for malty flavor and aroma, and taking out the DME and much of the crystal would really make it shine. I'd probably use Vienna as the base, instead of using pilsner malt but the pilsner malt is ok as well.

An OG of 1.050 or so, and IBUs of 20-25 would be about right. I get that OG with about 10 pounds of grain, but if your efficiency is low your grain amount might be right.

I generally mash mine at 154, as I like it to finish well and not be "thick" or cloying.

 

[zeptrey]

Why do you have a pound if extract if your setup for all grain? Also the longer mash may increase the attenuation which may dry out the beer a bit. Unless your decoction mashing I'd bring down the mash to an hour. All in all looks good grain wise. Hops I'd probably add just a bit more maybe another ounce, half at 45-30 and the other half at 20-15. I love this style too. One more suggestion would be maybe to find a really low attenuating yeast, I was thinking of trying this with Wyeasts northwest ale strain I think it's 1332. Or maybe an Altbier or Kolsch ale strain.


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[JonM]

Oddly enough, I have an Oktoberfest ale in a keg right now too. I made it with 1007 German Ale yeast, which is very lager-like and very good in an Oktoberfest ale.

And I'll second all the comments about reducing the crystal and getting your color from Vienna and Munich malts.

Check Yooper's recipe section too. She has a good Oktoberfest recipe in there. Cheers!


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[SpeedYellow]

Definitely cut out the crystal and the malt extract. The Caramunich 1.0 lb is maybe ok, but you may cut it down a bit. Mash temp should be closer to 150F, give or take. You seem to really be targeting a sweet beer, but that's not really appropriate. Plus sweet and malty and low hops wouldn't be very balanced.

 

[mcmillb1]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'm over thinking things with my initial ratios...

SO, what if I super simplified and went with something like this?

8.00 lb Vienna Malt
2.00 lb Munich Malt
.5 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt
.5 lb Caramunich II

And maybe added another hop (Tettnang?) at 30 min?

Mash 152 for 60 min.

I just looked - Yooper's recipe is very close to this, actually...nice!

I was adding the DME to amp up the ABV % a bit. Any suggestions to increase that a bit? Increase the base malts?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'm over thinking things with my initial ratios...

SO, what if I super simplified and went with something like this?

8.00 lb Vienna Malt
2.00 lb Munich Malt
.5 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt
.5 lb Caramunich II

And maybe added another hop (Tettnang?) at 30 min?

Mash 152 for 60 min.

I just looked - Yooper's recipe is very close to this, actually...nice!

I was adding the DME to amp up the ABV % a bit. Any suggestions to increase that a bit? Increase the base malts?

Yes! I like it. I like the idea of more hops as well, as long as you keep the IBUs in the range of 25ish with an OG of 1.050ish.

You can increase the ABV a bit by increasing the base malts, and the hops of course to maintain the balance.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Realize that you've just shifted the recipe to a much maltier profile. I actually really liked your first recipe since it was a bit subtler on the malt, but of course it depends what you're after. Pure Vienna plus Munich is a bit over the top for me today.

 

[mcmillb1]

Realize that you've just shifted the recipe to a much maltier profile. I actually really liked your first recipe since it was a bit subtler on the malt, but of course it depends what you're after. Pure Vienna plus Munich is a bit over the top for me today.

Ah, yes, I probably should've specified that I'm a bit of a malt fiend. I could always split the difference and add some pilsner malt to balance things out a bit, too. But I do like me some malt.


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[Rook85]

I've got something close rocking right now.

8lbs Munich 10L
3lbs Vienna
0.5lbs Munich 20L
0.5lbs CaraMunich
0.25lbs CaraVienne

1 Oz Tettanager 4.7AA @ 60min
1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 25min

I'm Using US-05 @ 64F

I do BIAB and mashes at 152-154 for 70 min and then used a gallon of hold back water for a rinse/sparge through the bag.

I keep the mash temp down in order to help the beer finish a cleaner even with using an ale yest. The grain bill is verry malt heavy so it still retains plenty of that toasty malt character. Honestly 0.75 lbs of crystal type (caramunich and caravienne) may be too much, did a batch very similar to this last year and I really enjoyed it and that one was done with notty @ 60F in primary for 3 weeks then kegged for 3 weeks before tasting

 

[RonPopeil]

I just did an Ofest using lager yeast and my grist was

8# pils
4# munich 10
2# biscuit.

if you're decocting then skip the caramalt. if you're not decocting then add a little melanoiden malt.

you won't need any cara malt. sweetness is in the lagering process. maturity lets the hop bitterness fade. as long as you don't bitter the crap out of it your ofest should come out sweeter. mine is four months old now and it's developing a cinnamon sort of spice to it.

as for the yeast issue, try using wyeast's bohemian lager strain. word on the street is that stuff will stay lager-like up to around 64F.