Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Oktoberfest

Probably my favorite beer style so I didn't want to get this one wrong.  We went with a traditional recipe without any frills or special ingredients.  The hard part was that a traditional Marzen  (Munich style Oktoberfest beer) is a lager and this is our first lager.  55 degree fermentation, really long primary fermentation times, diacetyl rests, and the lagering process were all a new experience for us.  We were up for the challenge and the only thing to probably fix would be to just lager longer and start earlier so that the beer is actually ready by October.  Pilsner, Munich, and Crystal malt were used with Hallertauer and Tettnanger hops in this beer to create an OG of 1.052 and it has 21 IBUs.