planning an oktoberfest

[sam c]

i know its a little late but im planning on doing an oktoberfest in a month or so when it gets cold.ive come up with a recipe but have a few questions.

recipe is based on 81% efficiency

2200 g lager malt
1500 g munich malt
1500 g vienna malt
150 g cyrstal mat ( to add a little colour)
80 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker 2.6%aa - 90 mins
20 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker - 20 mins
either wyeast 2206 bavarian lager, wyeast 1007 german or 2 packs of saflager 34/70

how does the recipe look and which yeast do you think i should go for?

i plan to ferment at around 10 c and towards the end of fermentation bring the temp up to 13 c or so and then once fermentation is over i shall rack it into another f.v and get it as cool as pos and leave for a round a month to mature.

when i come to bottle the brew will i need to pitch some more yeast for priming? if so how much and also could i collect some of the yeast slurry from the bottom of the f.v when i rack it and store it in the fridge/freezer untill needed and use that?

cheers

[Fatgodzilla]

Re: the second adding of yeast - no, would not think necessary. Will still be sufficient yeast in solution to carbonise bottles. For instance, I put a kolsch into secondary for two months in a fridge using Whitelabs German Ale yeast, bottled and all carbed up within a few weeks per normal.

If you like the yeast though, save some from the krausen (skim froth into a sterile jar, avoiding the crust around the fermenter edge and clean as you would a slurry). Far beeter than a yeast slurry.

Re : recipe. Looks solid. I'd think about chocolate malt rather than a crystal malt. Check you bitterness ratios - that much grain especially vienna & munich - bocks are about balance. Strong malts with body and balanced by bitterness around 25 IBUs. If the HH gets you there, you are on.

Good luck

[sam c]

cheers for the reply.

must admit i am still a little worried about the priming but i will take your word for it.

as for the chocolate malt instead of crystal do you think it would add any flavour? i do also have black malt so could use that instead?

EBU's work out as 24 so that should be ok then.