RecipeDB - Bulls Head Oktoberfest

[Tony]

Bulls Head Oktoberfest

Lager - Märzen/Oktoberfest
All Grain

Brewer's Notes

This beer is up in he top couple beers i have ever made.
It is easy to drink but has a wonderfull malt complexity, ballanced but a fruity, floral and slightlly citrus hop character that sits over the malt to ballance the beer sooooooooo well. Saphire hops ROCK!
I would recoment this beer to anyone anting a malty german lager for Oktoberfest. I went to a local Micro Oktoberfest today and their beer was practicly identical......... only this had a bit more malt punch!
Caraaroma was actually carabohemian and colour was aroun 16 EBC.

Malt & Fermentables

%	KG	Fermentable
	6 kg	Weyermann Pilsner
	4 kg	Weyermann Vienna
	1.2 kg	Weyermann Munich II
	0.4 kg	Weyermann Caraaroma

Hops

Time	Grams	Variety	Form	AA
	140 g	Saphir (Pellet, 4.5AA%, 40mins)
	40 g	Saphir (Pellet, 4.5AA%, 5mins)

54L Batch Size

Brew Details

• Original Gravity 1.054 (calc)
• Final Gravity 1.017 (calc)
• Bitterness 27.1 IBU
• Efficiency 80%
• Alcohol 4.79%
• Colour 21 EBC
• Batch Size 54L

Fermentation

• Primary 14 days
• Conditioning 2 days

 

[Calais_5sp]

sounds great,
what temp would you use for a single infusion mash

 

[Tony]

65

Edit: Ferment with a malty yeast strain that etenuates well......... WLP 833 is the best!

I used the Wyeast VS equivelent.... cant remember the number but it doesnt matter as you cnat get it any more.

Get some WLP833!

 

[kelbygreen]

be there tomorrow to try it haha. sounds good

 

[Tony]

hehe........ the keg ran out last week mate.

Pfffffffffffffffffffffft goes the KG baloon

 

[kelbygreen]

typical drank it all in one night lol

 

[beersatan]

I just noticed one of the current Wyeast specials is 2487 Hella Bock and this looks the business to buy it for.
Was that the one you used Tony?

 

[Tony]

yes mate.......... suposed to be the same as WLP833 which is IMO is the best lager yeast (insert Jeremy Clarkson voice) in the world!

 

[beersatan]

Cool! I'll have to snavel some of that and some saphir then.

I'm a lager noob - only lagered once - 8 weeks between cooking it up and drinking it put me off doing it again for over a year.
Did you "follow the rules" or take a bit of a short cut somehow?

 

[Tony]

I get it down under 20 deg and pitch......15 is best, as long as i know i can have it down to 10 deg in a few hours with the fridge already cold etc...... a fan moving cold air works well in the fridge.

Make sure your yeast has been siting at pitching temp for 24 hrs too so you dont stress it...... a 30 deg starter in the garage into 15 deg wort will not help.

ferment at 10 deg till done and crash chill to 4 deg on primary....... CC for 2 to 4 weeks and i filter from primary to keg, gas and drink, and its awsome!

mayby there was something else wrong?

 

[beersatan]

The 8 weeks put me off because I'm comparing it to 12-14 days from cooking to drinking for most of my beers. My keg fridge only has room for 3 cornies.

I made a pils - pitched starter at 18deg into 18 deg wort and put in temp controlled fridge - fermented at 10 deg for 12days upped it to 13deg for 3 days then kegged and it sat in the keg fridge lagering at 4 deg for 6 weeks before the sulphur smell went away. Gassed and poured. No filter action in my life yet but is on the shopping list. Maybe there wasn't enough yeast in the keg to clean up quickly?

I want to give this one a go so will try leaving it in the fermenter/primary for the lagering and see how it goes.

Thanks Tony! :icon_cheers:

 

[beersatan]

Yeast - check
Saphir - check
Carabohemian - ba-bow
Haven't used it before so not sure how to substitute for it.
Can get caramunich 2 and caraaroma locally.
Tony, any suggestions would be great mate?

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Gday Tony,
Im going to make this in a couple of weeks and I was wondering how you think munich type 1 would go instead of munich 11?? I got 25kg of munich 1 thats why im asking?

 

[mckenry]

Gday Tony,
Im going to make this in a couple of weeks and I was wondering how you think munich type 1 would go instead of munich 11?? I got 25kg of munich 1 thats why im asking?

Gav80
Dont want to speak for Tony, but if I was in your position here's what I would do.
Use the Munich 1 as there isnt too much difference between 1 & 2, just a slight colour really, touch of maltiness, but jeez, really hard to tell IMO. Then just up the Carabohemian by the slightest amount and play with it in your brew program until the colour comes up to the original - if thats what you're worried about. You will still make a great beer with 1 instead of 2.
mckenry

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Gav80
Dont want to speak for Tony, but if I was in your position here's what I would do.
Use the Munich 1 as there isnt too much difference between 1 & 2, just a slight colour really, touch of maltiness, but jeez, really hard to tell IMO. Then just up the Carabohemian by the slightest amount and play with it in your brew program until the colour comes up to the original - if thats what you're worried about. You will still make a great beer with 1 instead of 2.
mckenry

Cheers Mckenry im still coming to grips with all these different malts but im researching as much as possible. Your option sounds good to me and I can just use the grain I already have.
Thanks mate

 

[Tony]

I would just direct replace munich 2 with munich 1.

It wont really make bugger all difference in the end.

I have remade this beer and increased the munich malt and carabohemian amounts to up the maltiness and darken it and it wasnt as nice IMO.

You want a nice ballance of malt and hops..... i decided if i want a really malty beer i will make a Munich Dunkel!

Im actually about to step up a lager starter for a batch of this myself

 

[Thefatdoghead]

I would just direct replace munich 2 with munich 1.

It wont really make bugger all difference in the end.

I have remade this beer and increased the munich malt and carabohemian amounts to up the maltiness and darken it and it wasnt as nice IMO.

You want a nice ballance of malt and hops..... i decided if i want a really malty beer i will make a Munich Dunkel!

Im actually about to step up a lager starter for a batch of this myself

Will do mate cheers. I can't wait to taste this bad boy!

 

[Camo1234]

Hey Guys, I am planning on putting this down in a few weeks time and giving it a good lager period and am not sure which Wyeast will be best to use here...



Should I go Wyeast 2487PC - Hella Bock or should I go Wyeast 2633 Octoberfest Blend????


Cheers! Camo

 

[Tony]

the hella bock is a top yeast......i just got one for myself for my upcoming oktoberfest.

I hav not tried the blend, but i have been told the 2487 is a wyeast WLP833 :icon_drool2:

cheers

 

[iralosavic]

the hella bock is a top yeast......i just got one for myself for my upcoming oktoberfest.

I hav not tried the blend, but i have been told the 2487 is a wyeast WLP833 :icon_drool2:

cheers

I'm looking forward to giving your recipe a go, Tony. I've been reading up on the Marzen style a fair bit lately and your recipe is the only one I've seen around that looks on target (with the conclusion I drew anyway). Like you said, you've tried fiddling with the percentages to get a maltier grist, but feel the extra Pilsner makes it better balanced - and who am I to argue with that?

I have my 1L dimpled glass stein at the ready (it came with a 1L can of Paulaner Oktoberfest).