Aroma hop for octoberfest?

[denver brewhoo]

my bittering and flavor additions are tettnang an hallertau...wonder if saaz would be appropriate or good as the aroma hop. (Recipe, for ten gallons, calls for 1 oz of hallertau 4.5% AA) I understand hop flavor should be low and hop aroma practically non-existent...if you're going by the book...

let me ask another way--how do y'all hop your octoberfests?

[Beerconnoisseur]

1 oz. Hallertauer for bittering, and 1 oz. Saaz for aroma. And Saaz is fine, BTW.

[stokbridge]

2oz. hallertau for bittering in a five gallon batch for 25 minutes. No aroma. That's what the recipe said. Smells good. :)

[Dropzone]

Anybody got a good Oktoberfest all-grain recipe? Want to try a lager next... either a Maibock or an Oktoberfest.

[denver brewhoo]

well, now that you mention it, here's what I ended up doing the day after I originally posted this thread (ten gallon batch):

12 lbs American 2 row (actually, Craftbrewer's--Canadian I think)
6 lbs German light Munich
3 lbs German Vienna
1 lb CaraMunich
2 oz Crystal 120

1.5 oz Hallertau whole, 4.5% AA
1.5 oz Tettnanger whole, 4.5% AA, for 60 minutes

.5 oz Hallertau
.5 oz Tettnanger, for 15 minutes

1.0 oz Hallertau, @ flameout

Yeast was White Labs 820 "Octoberfest/Marzen"; because I primaried in 2 glass carboys for this batch I divided vial contents in half and made 2 750ml starters.

Per beertools, anticipated OG at 72% efficiency was 1.054, think I actually got about 1.058; their anticipated FG was 1.013 and I was at 1.014 after a 2 1/2 week primary. Color should be at 11 or 12 SRM, and the IBUs calculate to 25.5.

brewed this on April 3, (guess I can't call it a Marzen), it's lagering at 35 F right now...the hydrometer sample tasted nice and mellow when I racked to secondary but I can't honestly say its "tried and true"; won't really know until mid-September...

[BREWERDLUX]

Similar to my recipe. I use a bit more Munich and I added a half pound of Toasted malt to mine. After several months of maturation it gives it a nice nutty flavor. Victory malt works well, but I toast my own. I dont use much finishing hops in mine. Again allot of the aroma is gone by the time it matures.

[Dropzone]

What temperature did you mash at? Sparge at about 170*F? SO, I take it you boiled your wort for 75 minutes? Once the wort reached boil, you pitched 1.5 oz Tettnanger & 1.5 oz Hallertau? Boil for 60 min and then pitch .5 oz Hallertau & .5 oz Tettnanger for 15 min (75 min. mark @ the end of the 15 min boil). Once you hit the 15 min mark (75 min total boil), you then pitch the 1.0 oz Hallertau ask you turn the flame off? Making sure I follow ya. Thanks.

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by Beerconnoisseur
1 oz. Hallertauer for bittering, and 1 oz. Saaz for aroma. And Saaz is fine, BTW.

saaz. mmmm.

[BREWERDLUX]

I do a three step decoction mash on my Ofest. It gives it a nice malty texture. Ofest should be a malt based beer. Not as much as some other styles, but leaning more to the malty side of the spectrum.

[denver brewhoo]

For dropzone, re your last post---no, that's not quite right.

I get it to boil, which starts the 75 minutes going. 15 minutes into the boil was the first hop addition, so those hops were boiled for 60 minutes (1.5 oz of each). Then, in the 60th minute, i.e. with 15 minutes left, I added the flavoring hops, which were allowed to boil 15 minutes. Then as I turned off the gas I added the aroma hops, so they are "0 minute hops".

I think BREWERDLUX is absolutely right about doing decoctions, on this or any other german lager style, but after talking it over with the guys at the store I did this batch single infusion. The base malt, the Canadian Craftbrewers, is highly modified and doesn't require a protein rest for clarity; the Munich malt is "melanoidy" enough that I thought I could get away with a single infusion and still get that mellow malty flavor. Actually, looking through my notes, I did do a sort of mini-decoction at the end to get to mash-out temp of 163. (From about 152 which is where this batch ended up mashing at). You don't have to do this, though.

I don't know about everybody else, but I sparge with water that was boiling when I poured it into my Rubbermaid hot liquor tank, at the beginning of my brew day. Usually, though, the act of pouring it cools it down so that it's around 185 per the thermometer I have on there, and by the time I get around to sparging the thermometer is reading maybe 180 to 182. I batch sparge, about 3 gallons per batch, and the thermometer in the mash tun really doesn't tend to show higher than 166-168. I've decided not to worry about this; it's just the way my system works.

Hope I didn't muddy the waters even more!

[Dropzone]

Originally posted by BREWERDLUX
I do a three step decoction mash on my Ofest. It gives it a nice malty texture. Ofest should be a malt based beer. Not as much as some other styles, but leaning more to the malty side of the spectrum.

I'm new to all-grain brewing, so here comes the questions. What exactly (and how do you conduct) a "three-step decoction mash"? When I mashed my 12lbs of grain for my smoked porter, I poured 1 gallon of water into my mash tun, grains, another gallon of water, more grains, final gallon of water, and last bit of grain. Applied heat, and stirred often to ensure uniform temperature. Thanks.

[Dropzone]

Denver Brewhoo---- Thanks for the info! Might have to give your recipe a shot sometime. Hoping my fridge can get down to 34degrees.... I'm sure it can.

[BREWERDLUX]

Decoction is basically taking out a portion of the mash, (normally one third or so) after it has rested and reheating it to boiling temp. That portion is then placed back into the mash to raise the entire mash temp up to the next level. I do a 122 degree protein rest for about thirty minutes. I then decoct up to my main conversion temp of about 152-155 for about 45 mins to and hour. Then I decoct again to mashout temp of about 168 for thirty mins.
Make sure that each time you pull out a third of that mash you raise the temp slowly.... I stop at 152 and let it rest for about 20 mins before going on up to boiling temp...... I dont know if I did a good enough job on the explanation for ya I was on the phone at work while typing...

[Dropzone]

Originally posted by BREWERDLUX
Make sure that each time you pull out a third of that mash you raise the temp slowly.... I stop at 152 and let it rest for about 20 mins before going on up to boiling temp...... I dont know if I did a good enough job on the explanation for ya I was on the phone at work while typing...

Ok, I think I understand. So, basically, I won't have to do this step as I mash in a 22qt stainless steel pot. I just heat the whole pot w/ all the grains. Once 152-155 degrees are obtained, I remove the pot from the heat and wrap in thick towels. It maintains its heat surprising well, btw. I take it you use a cooler to mash in so you can't apply heat directly?