So it’s August and it’s time to get ready for September/October and Oktoberfest. A big hit from last year was the Bavarian Pilsner I built from zero using Designing Great beers. This year I attempted to brew it on a 12 gallon batch. There were adjustments due to the size but I ended up with a beer at 1.045 OG. This should result in an approximate and possibly a little more bitter version of last years beer. We’ll see how it passes muster with the neighbors. I have it cooling down to fermentation temperature and will pitch the yeast starters at the same temperature. This has pretty much been the way to go for a quality fermentation.

Update May 30, 2022

This one didn’t turn out well and was disappointing. Too bitter. I didn’t come back and add notes like I should’ve so I’m going off of memory. I remember due to time constraints, I was in a hurry and ran off quickly. Didn’t have an appropriate boil volume, tried to compensate by adjusting hop schedules and ended up with an unbalanced beer. Put an end to a run of very good pilsner brew days I’d had over the past several years. Honestly, it was purely a process issue for a style of beer I find is not forgiving to process issues. The previous attempts were successful because I was intentional in precision and hit everything just right. If there was a correction, I took my time. Oh well. I’m updating the notes now because I’m about to brew another Bavarian Lager or Oktoberfest type beer for Halloween 2022. I’ll get it right this time!