oktoberfest

[cobb]

sorry for such a long thread but its not something ive made before and would like to get it right and i know you chaps are the people to ask.

i know its the wrong time of year bieng that its not october but as i dont have anywhere to cold ferment i thought i would take advantage of the cold weather and see if i can do my first lager. ive decided to go with an oktoberfest as ive never drunk one and thought it would be something a little more special than a standard lager.

recipe is based on 81% efficiency and is as follows all comments on the recipe are welcome)

23 litres

Lager-2200 g
Mnich-1500 g
Viena1-500 g
Black-5 g ( this is just me being fussy and wanting a little extra colour :) )

hallertauerr hersbrucker 2.6%AA - 80 g - 90m mins
hallertauerr hersbrucker 2.6%AA - 20 g - 20 mins

yeast is either 2 packs of Saflager W34/70 or a bavarian lager slant from brewlabs. ive never used a liquid yeast before.if using the dried yeast i will make each one up into a 200ml stater(or both into a 400ml one) at 23 c and then let it gradually cool to 10 c and pitch them both into the wort at 10 c.is this the best way to go?

if i use the brewlabs slant what size should i be stepping it up to before pitching it and what temp is best to do this?

i plan to ferment this as close to 10 c as possible and once it reaches about 1.020 bring it up to 14 c for the diacetyl rest ( im not entirley sure what this is) and then once its finished fermenting move it some place really cold to mature for 3 -4 weeks before bottling. does this sound ok?

cheers

 

[unclepumble]

Looks pretty much ok, I would pitch at 10 deg C and allow to free rise to about 13 deg, then raise the temp once the fermentation has knocked back, the diacetyl rest is to get rid of the butterscotch flavours produced during fermentation.

I have just done a Lager in the garage second AG, pitched at 18 deg, and left to ferment out to 1010, didn't bother with diacetyl rest, just added some IHE today as had not hopped enough for my liking, still not cleared after 2 weeks but now tastes great, first attempt was an Oktoberfest style that turned out great that I pitched at 12 deg and left to its own courses in the garage with a temp of about 15 deg.

 

[cobb]

cool, cheers for the advice.

what do you think about the yeast options?

 

[unclepumble]

I don't get too involved in yeast to be honest, I allways use liquid starters of a good viability, either lager or ale strain, not too sure what strain though as i get them off a friend, and just state lager or ale.

I would use whatever strain suits you and make up as big a starter as you can with a stirbar, there is a link somewhere on the site, I usually make up to about 1 gallon, but will pitch into a 150ltr brew