I want to surprise my sister with some beer in May. She likes the following beers.
Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest
La Fin du Monde
Samuel Smith’s Chocolate Stout
Are there any recipe kits available that are very similar? I will have two brews under my belt by the time I make this one.
Thanks,
Brent
Northern Brewer’s Sweet Stout extract kit would probably do just fine.
She likes some very good beers.
NB has an Octoberfest extract kit, but you need good fermentation temperature control to get it right, and even then I don’t know how close it would be to Hacker Pschorr. I’d give that one a pass.
La Fin du Monde is stylistically a Belgian Triple, but unique as well. Much smoother than a typical triple. So the NB Belgian Triple kit might be somewhat close, but don’t expect it to be right on. Same for the Sweet stout, it will be in the same category but not the same beer. Sam Smith makes some extraordinary beers; I tried for years to get something close to their Oatmeal Stout and finally gave up. Don’t know how they do it.
La Fin du Monde is a great beer(and the only Belgian style that I actually like). I did brew something close to it by taking NB’s La Petite Orange and bumping it up to Triple range. But I also cultured yeast from the dregs of a bottle. So, I’m thinking it’s a bit beyond someone with just 2 recipes under his belt.
If you don’t have lagering capabilities(and 2-3 month patience), then a true Oktoberfest is also beyond, BUT… you can take that NB Oktoberfest extract kit and use an ale yeast- WY1007 German Ale would be a real good choice. It would be more like Sam Adams Oktoberfest, rather than Hacker Pschorr IMO, but would make a good one.
Stouts are my White Whale, so I’m not going to offer an opinion there.
[quote=“JimRMaine”]La Fin du Monde is a great beer(and the only Belgian style that I actually like). I did brew something close to it by taking NB’s La Petite Orange and bumping it up to Triple range. But I also cultured yeast from the dregs of a bottle. So, I’m thinking it’s a bit beyond someone with just 2 recipes under his belt.
If you don’t have lagering capabilities(and 2-3 month patience), then a true Oktoberfest is also beyond, BUT… you can take that NB Oktoberfest extract kit and use an ale yeast- WY1007 German Ale would be a real good choice. It would be more like Sam Adams Oktoberfest, rather than Hacker Pschorr IMO, but would make a good one.
Stouts are my White Whale, so I’m not going to offer an opinion there.[/quote]
I brewed a batch of my Ofest with 1007 at 60 and it was very much like SA Ofest.
[quote=“JimRMaine”] I’m thinking it’s a bit beyond someone with just 2 recipes under his belt.
[/quote]
I’m beginning to agree. LOL.
I came up with a recipe for a Chocolate Oatmeal Stout that I’d be willing to share with you. It actually turned out very good if I do say so myself. Now I’m not saying it’s Samuel Smith’s good, but of the recipe’s I came up with, this is the one I’m most proud of. It’s a partial mash recipe. I suppose that could be a problem for a 2nd batch, but really not that difficult. Let me know, if you’re interested I’ll post it to this thread.
:cheers:
Last year Wyeast released WY3964 (a “private collection” yeast that they produce on occasion), supposedly the same yeast used to brew La Fin du Monde. I found a recipe in “Clone Brews” and used 3964 to make, in my opinion, a very close version of the original. Some friends did a blind tasting test and liked mine better. In any case, 3964 is now available until March, depending on your retailer. I plan to do this one again.
