OK, the first real post here. Nearly two weeks ago I brewed my first lager, an Oktoberfest, which has been in the chest freezer at 50 degrees since. It took a few days to start fermenting (didn’t do a starter at all, probably should have) and looks like this now:
The recipe was cribbed from Northern Brewer’s Oktoberfest recipe and modified somewhat.
5.0 lb. Munich Malt
5.0 lb Pilsener Malt
0.5 lb Dark Munich Malt
0.5 lb CaraMunich 60
0.5 oz Millenium (15.0% AA), 60 minutes
0.5 oz Mt. Hood (5.0% AA), 0 minutes
Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend smack pack
Mash Schedule:
20 minutes @ 122 degrees (Protein Rest)
60 minutes @ 153 degrees (Saccharification Rest)
15 minutes @ 168 degrees (Mash Out)
Sparged to collect about 7 gallons in the kettle.
Boiled 90 minutes, chilled with the immersion chiller, strained into the carboy and pitched the yeast.
I’ve found out in some reading that with modern malts the protein rest isn’t really necessary, so I may omit that in the future. In another week I’ll rack to secondary and do a 1-2 day diacetyl rest at room temp, then put it back in the fridge and slowly drop the temp to 33 degrees for lagering.