Was the color darker on the later batch? In the video review I saw, the color was very light; like 6 SRM. He commented on how bitter and out of balance it was.
you can see in my photo posted how light it is. its definitely out of balance favoring bitterness.
couldn’t tell you at the moment - i had all of the later batch at the brewery and from a growler when i was on vacation, but have had all the 6/30 at home. i’ll check the stores soon and look for a newer batch to grab and compare (i have a few bottles left) - assuming that Celebration doesn’t make its way here beforehand.
I’d say more like 7-8 SRM nonetheless. Ayinger is about the same, FWIW, so are most of the imports; Spaten is one of the darker ones IIRC, and even that is not nearly as dark as Sam, Victory, Lefthand, etc.
I am having one right now dated 8-11-15. I like this beer and I usually find U.S. O’Fest beers a little too malty, kind of the same malt flavor as an Irish Red if you know what I mean. This is more bread crust and considerably lighter in body than most.
I’d say the color is light, maybe 6. Dark gold would be a close descriptor.
Yep, exactly. Bad examples have too much Caramunich/Caravienne sweet character IMO - I like the ones with little or none like this one.
So as it turns out I have both of these batches on hand. I poured the 6/30 and the 8/11 into judging cups to compare. They are the same and very close to 7L.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that a brewery of this caliber would have quality control to make the beers the same.
How many of you have been to Oktoberfest in Munich, where they serve Festbier?
I need to seek out some of this to see how it compares.
I have a few times. What I drank was to hop dominant in comparison. I lived Germany for 5 years.
Only went once, the beers were malty with a dry/neutral finish so that you could drink more. Which I did, so once was enough.
Only 1.5 years in Deutschland for me.
Agreed. You can have Malty without sweet… And that’s what the fest beer is to me.
The one batch I brewed turned out this way. It was tasty but a bit over the top with its malt character and a bit too sweet. When I brew one again it will be substantially different.
I’ve never been too crazy about Oktoberfests in general, for me just kind of an annual six pack to buy. But if this was the standard for the style then I would be crazy for them. By the way if you like this one, I recommend giving Firestone’s Oaktoberfest (not wood aged) a try.
I just brewed 10 gallons on saturday. Essentially BCS recipe for half and the other half git the same percentages of pilsner, munich II, and vienna, leaving out the caramunich. I made the BCS version last year and could not get it to budge from 1.025, down from 1.056. It turned out darker and obviously overly sweet. The overwhelming thought from the forum was to leave out the caramunich, so now I can compare for myself. Good luck with yours when you do brew it again
I use some carahell in mine- finished 1.012 and 1.011 on two batches this year.
Yeah, something sounds off about an FG in the 1.020’s. Even when I brewed the BCS recipe as-is with CaraMunich III, I finished in the 1.012 range. I have since replaced the CaraMunich with half as much Aromatic. It boosts the crusty/toasty/Munichy goodness that I like without adding sweetness or fullness.
I will have to try some aromatic or the carahell the. Ext time I go this route
and with SN FG of 1.014, it doesn’t come across as heavy or sweet at all…just touch bitter on the 6/30 batch I have.
It was my first lager, so I’m sure the issues were mainly mine. The suggestions to leave out the caramunich started as soon as I started asking questions prior to brewing it. Fingers crossed for these 2 batches running the fast (er) lager method for them
i love the carahell- 8-12 lovi and adds some nice malt attributes in combination with the munich and vienna i use.
here’s what i rolled with this year:
5 lbs 8.0 oz Vienna Malt (5.0 SRM)
4 lbs Munich Malt light (7.0 SRM)
1 lbs Munich Dark (BestMälz) (15.0 SRM)
1 lbs carahell (12.0 SRM)
grow enough yeast?