Brew Cat,
In addition to the good feedback you received, I highly recommend Ken Lenard’s excellent website:
http://www.freewebs.com/kenlenard/Tons of information (particularly for us lager brewers), photos, helpful tips, good recipes, etc. Very helpful to many of us. I hope your maibock turns out well - cheers.
Well the maibock is lagering, the pilsner is almost done fermenting. Since it’s march I’m going to roll it into a marzen and put it up for my yearly Oktoberfest. Anyone brew a good one. I find most Oktoberfest on the sweet side I would like to avoid that.
How about something more like Paulaner Oktoberfest Weisn? It’s more of a big helles. I love that beer. I find the usual O’fests and marzens too sweet as well.
Here’s my Ofest recipe Brew Cat. I don’t find it too sweet. I brewed the same recipe as an ale with wy1007 and it was a bit sweet. Reminded me of Sam Adams Ofest. The one with the Ofest lager yeast is much cleaner IMO.
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt - 20L (15.0 SRM) Grain 1 40.7 %
4 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 40.7 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 18.1 %
1.0 oz Carafa II (Weyermann) (415.0 SRM) Grain 4 0.5 %
0.85 oz Tradition [6.90 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 5 20.7 IBUs
1.25 oz German Hallertau [2.70 %] - Boil 10.0 mi Hop 6 4.0 IBUs
2.3 pkg Octoberfest Lager Blend (Wyeast Labs #26 Yeast 7 -
Mash temp Danny ?
151 no decoction for me!
Yea I was thinking 150. I think I would go higher on the IBU also.I like my beers on the bitter side. I’m worried about that pilsner now I bittered it to about 39 IBU I wish I went higher. I have to change the hops also. I bought a bunch of hops bulk and I’m mostly brewing from those. The only noble hops in the freezer are magnum Styrian and saaz. I’m going to use those I guess.
My czech pils was 41 ibu. Supposedly right in the urquell sweetspot. I think it needs more hops and will probably go to at least 45ibu next time i brew it.
How much finishing hops did you use in your pils?
It was all saaz 3.6AA. 2 oz at 90, 1.5 at 20.
I just bottled my pils a couple of weeks ago… 1.054OG, 45 IBU. I think the 45IBU was perfect - Could have had the entire batch flat! Can’t wait for this one to carb up in a few more weeks.
I just bottled my pils a couple of weeks ago… 1.054OG, 45 IBU. I think the 45IBU was perfect - Could have had the entire batch flat! Can’t wait for this one to carb up in a few more weeks.[/quote]
Why, I’m brewing a Czech pilsner this weekend, as matter of fact. Mine is targeted for about 43 IBU and 1.054 OG.
Pretty much 75% of the beers I make are lagers and that percentage keeps going up. I might just end up saying eff it to ales and just do lagers…except for hefeweizen. I don’t seem to like my ales nearly as much as my lagers. Getting a pond pump to recirculate ice water was key to getting the wort down to pitching temp without having to wait for the wort to cool over night in the fermentation fridge.
I just bottled my pils a couple of weeks ago… 1.054OG, 45 IBU. I think the 45IBU was perfect - Could have had the entire batch flat! Can’t wait for this one to carb up in a few more weeks.[/quote]
Why, I’m brewing a Czech pilsner this weekend, as matter of fact. Mine is targeted for about 43 IBU and 1.054 OG.
Pretty much 75% of the beers I make are lagers and that percentage keeps going up. I might just end up saying eff it to ales and just do lagers…except for hefeweizen. I don’t seem to like my ales nearly as much as my lagers. Getting a pond pump to recirculate ice water was key to getting the wort down to pitching temp without having to wait for the wort to cool over night in the fermentation fridge.[/quote]
I’m at the same point right now re: lagers vs ales Beersk. I’m really enjoying the lagers more! Honestly once you get your process dialed in they’re no more difficult and the only additional time is the lagering period
The main thing with lagers that prevents me from doing them more is the cold conditioning period. I only have 1 fermentation chamber and if im lagering something for 1 month or more at 35* I either have to stop my cold conditioning for a time to ferment another beer or just hold off on fermenting anything while im cold conditioning.
Really a second “lagering” fridge/freezer would be ideal but I don’t have the space for it. Possibly when I find space and money to start kegging, my keezer will double as a lagering chamber as well.
See this is a GREAT selling point with SWMBO to get a keezer. All joking aside it truly is a great way to do both.
Danny an Beersk I agree. Although I do enjoy my ales, there is something very satisfying about lagers. One thing I really enjoy is brewing light american lagers for BMC folk. It really surprises them that they style can be brewed with more flavor and it also removes the misconception that all homebrew is 10% estery swill.
[quote=“Beersk”]Why, I’m brewing a Czech pilsner this weekend, as matter of fact. Mine is targeted for about 43 IBU and 1.054 OG.
[/quote]
I have to compliment you on your excellent taste, Beersk! :cheers:
How many IBU s do you guys suggest for an Oktoberfest. I know what the style guidelines are, would like to be a little higher.
For me its not so much total IBUs as it is IBU:OG. O’fest is .45. I think you could go up to .55-.60 without being overly hoppy.
Yea my recipe is .46. .56 would put you right at the top edge of the style guide per BS2.
I target around 20 IBU for most of my German lagers, a bit higher for schwarzbier, more like 25 IBU. I’m not sure there is a noticeable difference between 20 and 25 IBUs.
Lagers are pretty easy if you keg. I treat mine pretty much ales, except you have to chill the wort colder and ferment colder. That’s about the only difference for me. I usually tap my lagers in about the same time frame…give them 2-3 weeks and tap them. They aren’t bright yet, but they clear up after a couple weeks on tap.
