Oktoberfest in March

In the true spirit of a Marzen, we are going to be brewing an Oktoberfest this weekend. With hopes of matching the success of the fall 2007 Oktoberfest party, the plan is to brew up 10 gallons of this delicious brew and let it age till late September when we can have friends over to drink it all with us.

The brew is in the spirit of the 2007 Oktoberfest which was a rousing success at our Oktoberfest party;

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 10.50 gal
Boil Size: 13.12 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
18.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 70.0 %
4.70 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 18.3 %
3.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (11.0 SRM) Grain 11.7 %
1.00 oz Brewer's Gold [8.00%] (60 min) Hops 14.0 IBU
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30%] (60 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30%] (60 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30%] (30 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
1 Pkgs Munich Lager (Wyeast Labs #2308) Yeast-Lager


Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Single
Total Grain Weight: 25.70 lb
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Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Protein Rest Add 8.85 gal of water at 128.6 F122.0 F 35 min
Saccharification Decoct 3.98 gal of mash and boil155.0 F 45 min
Mash Out Add 3.50 gal of water at 205.2 F168.0 F 10 min

We will be brewing this Sunday and for the day I have a new toy. In the process of picking up some cheese cloth from Home Depot so that I could use it for dry hopping our Celebration Ale I saw this beauty;

This hos hooks in like a 3/8 drill bit into a drill and is normally used to mix paint, but for us, it will act as our mash mixer. For the $8 it cost me, it was well worth it (assuming it works). The cheese cloth was used as a way to dry hop with out sacrificing a lot of volume. It's a less than perfect solution if you ask me, but it works for now.

I had hoped to run all the wort from my racking cane through the hops into the carboy, but that didn't work. Good idea, but failed just the same.

Finally I had lunch at Empire Brewing Company today and thoroughly enjoyed the smoked porter and saison they had on tap. Great job by Tim the master brewer.

Cheers!