It's dead week. I should be studying pretty serious right now, but I will be gone for a long time during X-mas break, and want to use that time to lager. I already have an Altbier fermented with Wyeast 1007 German Ale (purportedly a genuine Düsseldorf altbier strain). But I wanted to finally make a true lager. My favorite style of lager is the Oktoberfest/Märzen, so I figured I would brew one. Also, I have heard that amber/dark lagers are less fuckupable, so it especially made sense. I'm using a dry yeast, Fermentis W-47/70 (purportedly a genuine Bavarian lager yeast used for Oktoberfests in Munich). Why the dry yeast? Because a 5L yeast starter is just too big to be worth making. I would rather just use two packs of dry yeast than have to figure out how to make a 5L starter.
Here's the recipe:
6lb German Vienna Malt
2lb German Light Munich Malt
1 lb Belgian Aromatic Malt
8 oz German Melanoidin Malt
8 oz German Caramunich II (55-60L)
1 oz Dehusked Carafa II (430L)
1 oz German Tettnanger (3.2 AA) FWH
1.33 oz German Tettnanger (3.2 AA) 70 min
Mashed at 150 degrees for 70 min
Boiled for 110 min (due to excess amount of wort)
I broke my hydrometer, so I wasn't able to take any readings, but I am assuming I got about 80% efficiency, making this beer OG 1.054, SRM 12.7, IBU 23.
I actually made my water Munich-like for this one by adding 2.5 teaspoons of chalk to the mash (my water is extremely soft).
Also, I kegged my Grey Skies Porter and Denny's Rye IPA today (with sugar for natural carbonation). I hope all this works out, as I am planning on bringing one of these kegs down to the bay area with a picnic tap and a travel CO2 thingy to serve at New Year's.
