Request: Augustiner Marzen Clone

[MrPowers]

It’s an honor to have you on this thread. Do you think we have a chance of cloning this at home? We can’t get the same grains, and the grains we can get are oxidized. I’m low oxygen from fermenter to packaging but not before.

You can probably get really close. Without the same grains, brewhouse, etc... it won't be Augustiner, but you can definitely make an equally good Märzen/Festbier at home.

If you want to get the latest information related to the Helles article from the german brewing forum, I suggest checking out Methods of the Low Oxygen Brewhouse - Low Oxygen Brewing (also, thanks to Die_Beerery). There is a wealth of blog/forum information on there that should help you on your quest.

 

[johnwpowell]

Update: I brewed this last weekend and it's in the fermenter. It went really well. Here's the batch Brewfather

 

[javlin624]

Doesn't look too bad! I'd cut out the carapils and hop stand though. I'm planning on brewing something similar to this soon, absolutely love Augustiner Märzen. If you have the ability to spund (naturally carbonate with remaining extract) I'd highly recommend it, it's really help me turn my lagers from tasting and looking like "home-brew" to getting very close/mimicking the real deal.

 

[javlin624]

Update: I brewed this last weekend and it's in the fermenter. It went really well. Here's the batch Brewfather

How'd it turn out?

 

[johnwpowell]

How'd it turn out?

It was just OK. I’m giving up on this for the foreseeable future

 

[javlin624]

That's a bummer, what was lacking in it?

 

[johnwpowell]

That's a bummer, what was lacking in it?

I actually caught my first infection on this one. Batch number 73. Baby vomit smell

 

[Johnsiii]

I brewed my version of it in June. It's been a year since I was at the Augustiner so it's hard for me to say how close it was to theirs, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this beer as did others who drank some and I plan to brew it again in the next week or so. (It's all gone).
I used: 10lbs Pilsner, .5 lbs cara-pils, 1 lb Crystal 10, WLP820 yeast, 1 oz Hallertau first wort and 1 oz Hallertau 15 minute whirlpool. BIAB, starting with 7.74 gal water.

 

[javlin624]

I actually caught my first infection on this one. Batch number 73. Baby vomit smell

Well that's a bit worse that "Ok"! I'm planning on doing 90% barke pils / 10% carahell ~~18IBU spalter select w/ what should be my last generation of Wyeast Hellabock slurry (low attenuation austrian yeasts, fits the bill). Should get to it sometime in the next month when I clear up some fridge space.

 

[RCubed76]

Augustiner is truly my dream beer (blessed to have experienced it twice - one pint in their beer garden in 2011 and three bottles out of a take-home six-pack in 2016) and I made a version (based on JP's) that I think is going to be fantastic. This is my first lager and I made some kegging mistakes (ended up bottle conditioning, adding 4 more weeks), but other than taking more time than usual, I think this recipe is a keeper. I tasted today to check bottle-conditioning progress after two weeks and it is still pretty flat. I will probably allow it to carbonate for two more weeks before beginning the lagering phase. The taste was VERY promising - not too sweet, smooth, bready, perfect mouth-feel, just enough bittering from the hops. If you're a hophead, please know there is little to no hop flavor or aroma to this recipe, which is pretty true to style. The ONLY issue I perceived is a slight sulphur aroma, which the lagering should take care of. I dare not compare it to Augustiner because I have no access to that divine elixir, but it checks the same boxes for me. Here's my recipe for 5.5 gallons:

4# Maris Otter (for its breadiness and to combat the perceived sweetness of the pilsner)
3.5# Pilsner
1# Carahell
1# Munich Light - for body and maltiness
8 oz. Cara-Pils (dextrine) - this may prove unnecessary, but I added it for head retention
5 oz. Victory
.05 oz Chocolate (for color and a subtle dry roastiness) - with such a small amount, this may also be unnecessary
Mash at 153 F
Batch sparge
Boil 90 mins (because of the Pilsner)
1 oz Hallertauer Mittlefrueh (4% AA) - 60 mins
.25 oz Santiam (6% AA) - 60 mins - had this leftover, you could probably use any noble hops for bittering
.2 oz Hallertauer Mittlefrueh (4% AA) - 15 mins
2 pks Saflager W-34/70 - pitch and ferment low as possible for strain
I also added calcium chloride and epsom salt to RO water
Cold crashed and fined with gelatin
OG was 1.055
FG was 1.012
Plan to lager minimum of 6 weeks

 

[johnwpowell]

Augustiner is truly my dream beer (blessed to have experienced it twice - one pint in their beer garden in 2011 and three bottles out of a take-home six-pack in 2016) and I made a version (based on JP's) that I think is going to be fantastic. This is my first lager and I made some kegging mistakes (ended up bottle conditioning, adding 4 more weeks), but other than taking more time than usual, I think this recipe is a keeper. I tasted today to check bottle-conditioning progress after two weeks and it is still pretty flat. I will probably allow it to carbonate for two more weeks before beginning the lagering phase. The taste was VERY promising - not too sweet, smooth, bready, perfect mouth-feel, just enough bittering from the hops. If you're a hophead, please know there is little to no hop flavor or aroma to this recipe, which is pretty true to style. The ONLY issue I perceived is a slight sulphur aroma, which the lagering should take care of. I dare not compare it to Augustiner because I have no access to that divine elixir, but it checks the same boxes for me. Here's my recipe for 5.5 gallons:

4# Maris Otter (for its breadiness and to combat the perceived sweetness of the pilsner)
3.5# Pilsner
1# Carahell
1# Munich Light - for body and maltiness
8 oz. Cara-Pils (dextrine) - this may prove unnecessary, but I added it for head retention
5 oz. Victory
.05 oz Chocolate (for color and a subtle dry roastiness) - with such a small amount, this may also be unnecessary
Mash at 153 F
Batch sparge
Boil 90 mins (because of the Pilsner)
1 oz Hallertauer Mittlefrueh (4% AA) - 60 mins
.25 oz Santiam (6% AA) - 60 mins - had this leftover, you could probably use any noble hops for bittering
.2 oz Hallertauer Mittlefrueh (4% AA) - 15 mins
2 pks Saflager W-34/70 - pitch and ferment low as possible for strain
I also added calcium chloride and epsom salt to RO water
Cold crashed and fined with gelatin
OG was 1.055
FG was 1.012
Plan to lager minimum of 6 weeks

That’s great! Let me know how this turns out when carbonated. I’ll brew it for sure. I had given up on this recipe until now.

 

[RCubed76]

I had a problem with the flip tops on some of my bottles so some never carbed up. The ones that did produced excellent beer, but not Augustiner. However, while doing some research on this beer, I learned a couple things:
1) In Salzburg, maerzen is a) the most popular beer style, b) Salzburg maerzen is a style all it's own, lighter than German marzen and closer in style to German helles.
2) So with that info I thought maybe if Augustiner's recipe is completely hidden, possibly another Salzburg brewery may have a clone recipe of the same style to follow, which led me to Steigl Brewery's Goldbrau (which is their maerzen).
3) Then I found this: Vienna Lager Recipe - Stiegl Goldbrau | Brewgr
I don't know where this recipe came from, but you'll notice that it's mostly pilsner with some carahell. Sound familiar? To beef it up, there is vienna malt and melanoidin to mimic decoction. The hops are different, but still noble, and they are just for bittering anyway so... I'm thinking this might get us closer.
I plan to brew this with a little less hops and see what I get. It will be a while before I do so, either this summer or fall.
Anyway, just wanted to share my update. Happy brewing!

 

[mgoyne27]

I was there last summer and I have to say I whole heartedly agree. It is indescribably good. I have been searching for that recipe for a whole year.

Let me tell you after walking around Salzburg in the summer it is the best thing you ever taste