Oktoberfest.. Who makes the best??

[ralliman]

So summer is coming closer and closer to an end which means it's time for fall brewing. Soon there will be football, fall beers and my favorite Oktoberfest.

So the question... Who makes the best extract kit for Oktoberfest across all the homebrew companies?? What adaptions to you make to make the beer your own.

 

[monsda]

Just an FYI....Oktoberfest beers require lagering. Here's a link to the directions for Northern Brewer's Oktoberfest kit:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Oktoberfest.pdf

They say to lager in secondary for 2 months at 35-40 F.

I was planning on doing an Oktoberfest before I found that out, so now I'm looking into pumpkin ales and/or ciders.

 

[mmb]

If you don't have the ability to lager a beer or the time to do so, check out Biermuncher's OctoberFAST ale. There is an extract conversion recipe in this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

 

[BrewHound71]

Just an FYI....Oktoberfest beers require lagering. Here's a link to the directions for Northern Brewer's Oktoberfest kit:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Oktoberfest.pdf

They say to lager in secondary for 2 months at 35-40 F.

I was planning on doing an Oktoberfest before I found that out, so now I'm looking into pumpkin ales and/or ciders.

I was also planning to do an Oktoberfest beer until I saw the instructions. Going with pumpkin ale instead. Will attempt an Oktoberfest next year.

 

[nuber]

I personally love the Kaiser from Avery. It's an imperial oktoberfest so it's a bit higher in ABV than a typical one but it tastes amazing.

Avery actually provides 5 gallon recipes for homebrewers on their site

http://averybrewing.com/brewery/recipes-for-homebrewers

This includes the Kaiser. I'm looking to brew this in early September.

 

[number40fan]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SSFG7I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This is the kit that I just bottled. Smelled good going in and is an Ale.

 

[bknifefight]

If you don't have the ability to lager a beer or the time to do so, check out Biermuncher's OctoberFAST ale. There is an extract conversion recipe in this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

That's a good recipe. The only suggestion of a change would be to do it with a Kolsch yeast. If treated properly, it will be super clean and lager-like.

 

[estricklin]

Just an FYI....Oktoberfest beers require lagering. Here's a link to the directions for Northern Brewer's Oktoberfest kit:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Oktoberfest.pdf

They say to lager in secondary for 2 months at 35-40 F.

I was planning on doing an Oktoberfest before I found that out, so now I'm looking into pumpkin ales and/or ciders.

Don't let this lagering thing scare you guys off. If you can ferment at lager temps that's great, but if you can't, use the lager yeast and do it at ale temps, you'll be much close than an ale yeast. If you can't lager the beer at near freezing, let it sit at ale temps for a few weeks, you'll still have a good beer.

 

[BrewHound71]

Don't let this lagering thing scare you guys off. If you can ferment at lager temps that's great, but if you can't, use the lager yeast and do it at ale temps, you'll be much close than an ale yeast. If you can't lager the beer at near freezing, let it sit at ale temps for a few weeks, you'll still have a good beer.

I may still be able to do an Oktoberfest, only thing holding me back is whether or not I can fit the carboy in the keezer. I'll have to check it out when I get home. Probably just have to rearrange the 2 kegs a bit.

 

[estricklin]

I may still be able to do an Oktoberfest, only thing holding me back is whether or not I can fit the carboy in the keezer. I'll have to check it out when I get home. Probably just have to rearrange the 2 kegs a bit.

OR lager it in the keg. OR lager it in the family refrigerator SWMBO permitting of coarse.

 

[drewsk]

I second the Kaiser being a good beer- and thank you for linking in the recipes, I had no idea they did that!
This year's oktoberfest is already 1+months in, but for next year...

 

[vNmd]

Last year I did Austin Homebrews Oktoberfest and it was the best one I did all year, I did the AG but I assume their extract version would be similar. I have the same thing going right now and can't wait.

 

[edbdr]

I have not made this kit yet but it doesn't say anything about lagering in the instructions. It's called Oktoberfest BSG Select Ingredient Kit. It's made by BSG.

 

[Bowman]

Last year, a friend and I did a blind taste test of seven different Oktoberfest brews. We both separately chose Barktoberfest from Thirsty Dog to be the best.

 

[ralliman]

I personally love the Kaiser from Avery. It's an imperial oktoberfest so it's a bit higher in ABV than a typical one but it tastes amazing.

Avery actually provides 5 gallon recipes for homebrewers on their site

http://averybrewing.com/brewery/recipes-for-homebrewers

This includes the Kaiser. I'm looking to brew this in early September.

Was looking in on this brew. Sounds good. Anyone know the conversion to make this an extract??

Also looking at the site of the recipe. What weight of each grain are they using. The Kaiser for example has the grains in percentage so Pale 2-Row is 64.7%. What is the 100% weight.

I will probably stick to extract but the recipe interested me. Sounds great tasting, higher ABV.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Also looking at the site of the recipe. What weight of each grain are they using. The Kaiser for example has the grains in percentage so Pale 2-Row is 64.7%. What is the 100% weight.

Well, that depends. Everybody's all-grain system is different and, as such, the efficiency is going to vary. For example, for my setup I'd expect to hit around 78-80% efficiency on a 1.085 brew, but someone else may expect 70% and another may expect closer to 90%. The higher the efficiency, the less grain is required. For this reason, it's always best to list the grain bill in percentages so that brewers can fit the recipe to their system. Also, the percentages are scalable, so they are the same, whether sizing for a 3 gallon batch or a 10 gallon batch. Once you get into all-grain and figure out the efficiency of your system, you'll be able to figure out how much grain it will require.

With that said, I think most all-grain kits you can buy online or from your LHBS are based on 70% efficiency, which seems to be a fairly typical number. Using that assumption, a 5.5 gal batch would require about 18.5 lbs of grain.

 

[ralliman]

Well, that depends. Everybody's all-grain system is different and, as such, the efficiency is going to vary. For example, for my setup I'd expect to hit around 78-80% efficiency on a 1.085 brew, but someone else may expect 70% and another may expect closer to 90%. The higher the efficiency, the less grain is required. For this reason, it's always best to list the grain bill in percentages so that brewers can fit the recipe to their system. Also, the percentages are scalable, so they are the same, whether sizing for a 3 gallon batch or a 10 gallon batch. Once you get into all-grain and figure out the efficiency of your system, you'll be able to figure out how much grain it will require.

With that said, I think most all-grain kits you can buy online or from your LHBS are based on 70% efficiency, which seems to be a fairly typical number. Using that assumption, a 5.5 gal batch would require about 18.5 lbs of grain.

Thanks for the info. This is great. I'm rather new, less than 10 brews of mostly boxed kits, so this info is great and much appreciated!!. Any info on constructing the recipe with extract conversion?

 

[LLBeanJ]

I've never done any extract brewing, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get in the ballpark. Would you be doing extract w/steeping grains or partial mash?

 

[dcrog]

If you don't have the ability to lager a beer or the time to do so, check out Biermuncher's OctoberFAST ale. There is an extract conversion recipe in this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

+1

This was a great brew last year for me. In fact I just kegged 5 gallons a few minutes ago. I didn't lager last year. I just kegged it like this time and put it on gas for a few weeks at 38 degrees.

BM called it OctoberFAST for a reason.

 

[ralliman]

I've never done any extract brewing, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get in the ballpark. Would you be doing extract w/steeping grains or partial mash?

Probably just steeping the grains.

 

[LLBeanJ]

For the extract, go with 50% pale or pils and 50% Munich. You should use however much extract it takes to get you in the low 1.080s. For steeping, I'd say 2 lbs Vienna and .5 lbs aromatic. If you can lager, use WL820 or Wyeast 2206 along with an appropriate sized starter. If fermenting at lager temps is not possible, then go with whatever Biermuncher specs out in his OctoberFAST recipe referenced above by dcrog (I'm too lazy to look it up).

 

[PDJ]

I recently used the True Brew Oktoberfest kit. It was really easy, does not require lagering so I guess it isn't technically an Oktoberfest style, but it was one of the best beers I've ever tasted. I highly recommend this for an extract kit. http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_Oktoberfest.cfm