Oktober's around the corner...
...and you know what that means: it's time to brew my Oktoberfest beer! I made a 1-gallon starter this evening in preparation for brewing on Sunday. I guess it says something about how cool this summer has been that I'm worried about the heat . . . and it's only supposed to be 83°F. Anyway, my local homebrew store was out of the yeast I wanted yet again so instead of my beloved WLP 838 South German Lager yeast I'll have to settle for WLP 830 German Lager yeast. Fortunately the reviews for the yeast strain are positive so hopefully it won't be a big deal. The only other thing worth noting at this point is that the grain bill is going to be just Pils and Munich. Initially I wanted to make this a true German-style Märzen, which is more like a slightly stronger Helles than the Vienna-like Oktoberfests exported to the States. However, since I just brewed a Helles a few months ago I wanted to give it at least a little nutty character. Since I've been very pro-keeping-things-simple, I figured Pils and Munich counted as simple. I know technically I should use Vienna malt, but I want to get a better handle on Munich at this point so it should be a good experiment. Stay tuned for a brew day wrap-up.
posted by Chibe at 10:28 PM
2 Comments:
Russ, I read the earlier post about being starved for time to brew three 10 gallon batches of Oktoberfest. Why not brew two 15 gallon batches? What is the limiting factor on your system--the kettle or the mash tun? If it's the kettle, I can lend you my 20 gallon one--you can squeeze a 15 gallon batch out of it.
Thanks, Señor, but actually both the kettle AND the tun are limiting factors. Plus, I've always offered three different beers at past Novemberfest parties and ideally I'd like to live up to the precedent I've set. :-)
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