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Today I’m drinking HB Oktoberfest, and yes those labels have a “K” along with my favorite Mädchen! Let’s do it twice this time!

Not quite as “orangey” color as yesterday’s glug, this brew is a whole lot less cloying to me and the carbonation is perfect. Brewed with Weyermann Pilsner, Munich and some Vienna and a small amount of CaraMunich. Hopping is all Hallertau Mittlefruh. Don’t beat me up, but I did add some (non-Reinheitsgebot !) dextrose to pick up the ABV a click. 1.065 OG, 6.6% ABV and a modest 22 IBU’s, WLP 833, my fav...!

This brew puts me in my happy place. Eins, zwei, drei – CHUG!

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I don't try to clone my favorite beers; I pay homage to them.
Exactly. Brewed “in the spirit of”. Or trying to make something “like”. Taking inspiration from, etc.

But if I’m going to do something like that I work with whatever information the brewery gives me. In this case Ayinger tells us that Celebrator is 6.7%. So thats a starting point for how much malt you need. Its a German Doppelbock lager so its a safe bet its some combination of a large percentage of Munich, possibly with some Vienna or some Pils. I would include a little Melanoidin since I’m not doing a decoction. There is a chart for average BU: GU ratio by style. Dopplebock has a range. If you say .3 times 67 for your starting gravity you get about 20 IBU. You’re going to use German hops. I like Perle for this one. Yeast choice is not hard. WLP833 is supposedly Ayinger. I had WY2206. Work inside what they give you and use what you know. Its not that hard.
 
Exactly. Brewed “in the spirit of”. Or trying to make something “like”. Taking inspiration from, etc.

But if I’m going to do something like that I work with whatever information the brewery gives me. In this case Ayinger tells us that Celebrator is 6.7%. So thats a starting point for how much malt you need. Its a German Doppelbock lager so its a safe bet its some combination of a large percentage of Munich, possibly with some Vienna or some Pils. I would include a little Melanoidin since I’m not doing a decoction. There is a chart for average BU: GU ratio by style. Dopplebock has a range. If you say .3 times 67 for your starting gravity you get about 20 IBU. You’re going to use German hops. I like Perle for this one. Yeast choice is not hard. WLP833 is supposedly Ayinger. I had WY2206. Work inside what they give you and use what you know. Its not that hard.
Nicely said!
 
Delving into the BeerMeister32 hoard, I’m always amazed at what I can find. Here is yet another orphan, a leftover can from my IPAFest celebration last January. How is it this can go un-noticed for nine months? I’m trying to figure out why I didn’t drink this - however those were cloudy, hazy days indeed!

The only thing I can see is that it really isn’t an IPA after all, the can says Ale. So many orangey flavors are hop or yeast-derived, this one actually says it is brewed with Blood Orange. I guess that means actual fruit.

Looking a lot like my desktop, the color of Firestone Walker’s Cali Squeeze 5% ABV Blood Orange is just that. Blood Orange! Why, I have no idea. It certainly blends into the surroundings!

The past months in cold storage seems to have protected this beer well. What does it taste like? Well, it certainly has a tangy, orangey taste – first gulp and I’d say tangerine if I hadn’t read the can. More sips, more like oranges. The color is crazy, not one you regularly see. Malt is still there, hopping in check but not IPA range. This beer is still an orphan to me, hard to really place in a category, but tasty nonetheless! I think you’ll enjoy this!

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Safe beer after making 2 starters, on the stirplate is a german lager yeast for this weekends 5 gallon batch, next to it is coastal haze that will get built up in a second 5L starter for next weekends 15gal batch of neipa. I feel accomplished, oh and not pictured is a sundried tomato and basil sourdough bread that's in the Dutch oven. All this after finishing up putting on new struts and front brakes.
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First time seeing/trying this very nice helles from Schlenkerla. No smoked malt used but there are subtle smoke notes in flavor and aroma. Maybe they reuse yeast from a rauchbier for this? Light malt, medium body, tasty.
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From their website:

Helles Schlenkerla Lager​

Helles (pale) Schlenkerla Lager
“Schlenkerla Helles” is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops from the area around the city of Nürnberg. It's lagered in century old caves underneath the historic Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. Schlenkerla Helles is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the historic Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Its subtle smokiness without using smoke malt makes “Helles Schlenkerla Lager” a unique representative of the classic lager beer style “Bavarian Helles”.
 
Is this Dry Thursday and I missed the memo? There’s usually some posts in this thread by now. 😎 🍺
No, it's Anything But Dry Thursday because the damned Niners are choking playing tonight.

Here's my plan.

1) Drink two three beers while making a colossal Mexican dinner.

1a) Realize that <4% UK ales are over matched by this task, switch to German lager.

2) Drink a beer while eating that colossal Mexican dinner. Clean the plate and lick it clean...no carbs left behind!

3) Fight off the colossal Mexican dinner coma and do the dishes, have a beer while doing so.

4) Long hot shower. Stop being so cheap! Drain the water heater.

5) Go to bed and enjoy a restful night prior to kickoff.

Step one is complete, will be switching to step 1a) momentarily.

Pattison's Boddingtons '76 recipe
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Bods with a splash of mild
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Straight mild
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Spent some time at the Barber track prepping for Vintage Festival so wanted tall, cold and refreshing. This Pils is it!
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You prompted me to Duck Duck Go Skip Barber Alabama and I was amazed at just how wildly Barber's schools have grown throughout the country. That's a really nice looking track, by the way. The straights aren't too long, so it looks like it rewards fast drivers in slow cars. My kinda track.

Point 1a is checked off the list, the enchiladas are in the oven and my Munich lager thing is in my glass.
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No, it's Anything But Dry Thursday because the damned Niners are choking playing tonight.

Here's my plan.

1) Drink two three beers while making a colossal Mexican dinner.

1a) Realize that <4% UK ales are over matched by this task, switch to German lager.

2) Drink a beer while eating that colossal Mexican dinner. Clean the plate and lick it clean...no carbs left behind!

3) Fight off the colossal Mexican dinner coma and do the dishes, have a beer while doing so.

4) Long hot shower. Stop being so cheap! Drain the water heater.

5) Go to bed and enjoy a restful night prior to kickoff.

Step one is complete, will be switching to step 1a) momentarily.

Pattison's Boddingtons '76 recipe
View attachment 859683

Bods with a splash of mild
View attachment 859684
Straight mild
View attachment 859685

I'll play along, this beer is not as beautifully clear as yours are though... hb best bitter poured via handpull, still cascading a bit
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I'll play along, this beer is not as beautifully clear as yours are though... hb best bitter poured via handpull, still cascading a bit
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You should've seen mine last month! The Bods is due to kick any day now and I think that was kegged in August. I would gladly share a pint of your best bitter with you. At any rate, you have me beat with your beer engine. Here's my hoopty beer engine...
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Feel free to laugh, I certainly don’t take it seriously. It’s not too shabby with leftover dregs from the fermenter on kegging day, though. It’ll shove a nice head into them and knock some CO2 out of ales that I've over-carbed.
 
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We recently had a fantastic Oktoberfest celebration of sorts at the Beermeister32 crib. Did I say that? Yep, the family that slays together, stays together!

Of the many, MANY German brews we chugged (and did blurry, quasi - evaluations,) one stood out and it wasn’t even German – It was Salzburg Austrian for crying out load. Stiegl! Again, Stiegl! My daughter even began stacking the Stiegl cans into her rendition of a Leaning Tower of Salzburg!

Needless to say, there were plenty other cans and bottles shoring up that tower - and littering the floor! Let’s just say it was one great evening, much Bräu was consumed. I consider it my humble duty to pass these important traditions and practices on to the willing in the next generations! Prost!

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