Oktober Fest

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

private4587

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
566
Reaction score
86
Location
Middlesbrough
I am about to attempt David Heath's october fest from his latest video. I have all the ingredients on hand including the kevic yeast which i have never used before. I have a few questions which i hope someone can help with
1 i am going to be fermenting under pressure(15psi)@30 centigrade, do i apply pressure straight away or all the wort to build up to this pressure.
2 i will be using the all rounder with spunding valve set to 15psi, do i allow this to go to jar with starsan in for the 1st 24 hrs od do i just let the brew pressurise to 15psi and let the spunding valve take care of excess pressure.
3 when could i close the spunding valve to allow pressure to build up to take of carbonation (2.7)
Many thanks
 
I am from Munich and I can assure you that none of the breweries ferment their Festbier like this.

I would use a yeast strain more typically employed. It has a substantial influence on the flavour profile.

Pressurising a vessel without a PRV open is not a good idea. I'd keep (the spunding valve) attached and set to the target pressure.

15PSI is about 1BAR. That's way too low for fermenting under pressure. Especially at 30 centigrade. I dont know that yeast, but the temperature sounds very high (Bavarian lagers are typically done at 9 centigrade).

If you are doing the whole fermentation in this vessel, then it will reach 15PSI rather easily.

Sanitising the vessel is important too.
 
Last edited:
Just wanted to say, I've seen that video and it's a Marzen style, just to be clear.

I've just done (by coincidence) a Lutra Kveik Festbier (the lighter style), and I hate it. It's only 2 weeks old but next time I will use M84 yeast as it's so much nicer.

My one doesn't taste remotely like lager. The Marzen style might work better though. Just my opinion.
 
I am about to attempt David Heath's october fest from his latest video. I have all the ingredients on hand including the kevic yeast which i have never used before. I have a few questions which i hope someone can help with
1 i am going to be fermenting under pressure(15psi)@30 centigrade, do i apply pressure straight away or all the wort to build up to this pressure.
2 i will be using the all rounder with spunding valve set to 15psi, do i allow this to go to jar with starsan in for the 1st 24 hrs od do i just let the brew pressurise to 15psi and let the spunding valve take care of excess pressure.
3 when could i close the spunding valve to allow pressure to build up to take of carbonation (2.7)
Many thanks
Do you want to pressure ferment for carbonation or ester suppression?
 
Why don’t you use a lager yeast and ferment it around 10C? Then you would get a nice clean lager profile. Which Kveik does he say to use? Hopefully not Voss, I don’t find it clean at all, quite orangey, but others may disagree. I just tapped a Vienna Lager brewed with M76 Bavarian Lager and it tastes far better than is reasonable for it to do, for someone with my lack of skill.

FF9C5ECE-F208-4D65-9C65-C2ABE978A2FC.jpeg
 
There are plenty of typical Bavarian lager strains on offer.

W34/70 is probably the most widely used.

I tend to go for W105. Imperial L17 or Omega Bayern.

Alternatively, WLP838 or 830 or similar are also good choices.

It is not a surprise when the result doesnt taste as expected when you don't use a relevant yeast strain.

The MM actually did a reasonably good video introducing those lager styles. Learning from the brewmaster in Budvar is a very good starting point ;)
 
I've just ordered the ingredients for this too; I'll be using W34/70 for it and allowing it to take its time at atmospheric pressure. I'm not in a rush because I currently have a backlog in my kegs, so I'll be dumping the trub and leaving it in the (temperature controlled) fermenter to lager.
 
I would recommend applying pressure straight away, as it worked for me and I had a great time. However, it might be slightly risky as the ingredients may spill out while doing this.

I recommend using a tablecloth if you’re doing this in large quantities or high-quality beer mats if you just want to try it in small glass containers.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top