Agreed on going away from caramel malts, with the exception of Carahell. I use that one in my Helles.
Am I the only one who decides to build a recipe, then discovers that the best examples of that style are far more simple. But I’m like… ya, but, how will i ever get to try all these cool specialty malts? That urge is even more compelling if those speciality malts are sitting around your brewery.
Drew’s “Brewing On The Ones” helped me get over that. Though the beer i sent him had 2 base malts, 2 color malts, 2 bittering hops, and 2 flavor hops. I guess brewing on the 2s is close enough lol. No more brewing on the 15s for me
^^^^
Ha! Seems like every so often I end up throwing out my accumulated odds and ends of specialty malts, because they’re staring at me, tempting me to overcomplicate things just to use them up…
Jamil Zainasheff’s Brewing Classic Styles has always been a good starting point for recipes for me - especially on the first try with a style. Over the years, I’ve tweaked the recipes a bit to fit my tastes and preferences. And, over the years, I’ve tended to end up with simpler recipes in terms of the number of ingredients. Attempts at “complexity” often just result in a beer with no particular character. I think that keeping the recipe simpler allows ingredients and brewing skill to shine.
- a zillion
It’s been a while since I checked on this post. I want to first say thanks to everyone who posted and provided advice/insight. I did tweak (pretty significant actually) the recipe based on more research and comments, so thanks!
Here is what I ended up going with
6lbs Weyermann Vienna
4lbs Weyermann Pilsner
1lb carapils (could not get carafoam)
1lb Dingemans Munich
1/2lb of carared
1oz of Tettnag at 60mins
1oz of Hallertauer at last 15mins
IBU’s calculated to be 22.9, finish at 5.5% (maybe a little low, but we’ll see what happens).
I wanted the color a little darker, so I added 2oz of roasted barely, which did the trick. It gave it a nice kick without imparting any taste that I can tell.
I was concerned about being able to hit the main ferm temperature with a true lager yeast, so I decided to try WLP810 (san fran lager yeast). Right now the beer is in my keggerator with a heating pad. The keg temperature was way higher than I thought (50F - this probably explains why I need so much C02 pressure and time to get good carbonation), so the combination of the keggerator being $hitty, and the heating pad is keeping the temp consistent at 58-59F. Honestly, I probably could have chosen a different strain and made it work, but experience is a good teacher.
It’s day 4 into fermentation right now, and things are looking good so far. Any advice on this yeast? It’s described as an lager like characteristics, even at higher temps. This makes me wonder if I should pull it out of the keggerator and allow it rise up to 64F after reaching half terminal gravity? Never laggered before, and this strain is unique.
Experience is a [VERY] good teacher.
I think you’re fine. Don’t futz with it. Let nature take its course. CA Lager Yeast “has the ability to ferment up to 65°F (18°C) while retaining lager characteristics. Can also be fermented down to 50°F (10°C) to produce märzens, pilsners and other style lagers.”
Brewing one soon even though it will be ready a little late.
50% Weyermann Munich II
41% Weyermann Pilsner
8% Weyermann Vienna
1% carafa II
Amber Malty water
21 IBUs with Magnum/HM @ 60
Undecided on yeast. Probably Imperial L17
Recipe looks good. I’ve used WLP810 several times both at cold 50 F and cool 60 F temperatures and have been very pleased with it in every case. Made a great “altbier” and “schwarzbier” with it last year.
Encouraging! Thanks for the responses!
Since you have some experience with this yeast…should I keep it at 58F? It’s sitting at a little more than halfway to terminal gravity (1.043 measured with a refractometer), ~3.28%. Wondering if it would be better to reduce it down in the low 50’s based on other things I’ve read regarding Marzen’s?
I’d keep it warm. I don’t like to go down in temperature, only steady or up.
O’zapft is!
Deep golden-bronze, aromatic and enticingly drinkable, crisp but not dry; rich, spicy malt under a thick, white head; I’ll be brewing this again next year (might not be able to wait that long.)
• 7 gal.
• 13.5°P
• 100% Weyermann Bohemian Dark (6.6°L)
• Balanced water, all available low-oxygen measures
• Hochkurz
• 1 oz. Saaz (whole cone) FWH
• 2 oz. Saaz (whole cone) start of 60 min., low-intensity boil
• Weihenstephan 34/70
Of all the Oktoberfest beers I’ve tried this year, this is, by far, my favorite.
And that’s why we brew.
Agree! If I lower temp its because it’s done and I want to speed up dropping bright
I like the simplicity!
Update on the Oktoberfest…
It still needs another day on the gas, but overall I’m very happy with it! Just a touch of caramel on the back end, so I might tweak that next time to remove it from the gain bill. I used 1/2 lb of Carared for this brew.
Otherwise, it has a great copper color, perfectly hopped, and a nice balance.
I would say 8/10 right now, and considering it was my first attempt at this style. Thanks to everyone who provided advice on the recipe!
Take care.
The least a brewer can do is share a picture so we can live vicariously. 