Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

Oktoberfest 2018

August 27th, 2018

Finally returning to brewing after a year. Having this second baby has been tough on the family but she’s getting older now and not completely monopolizing our lives. So time to brew one of my favorite styles in Oktoberfest. Loved the beer last year so sort of re-created it again this year.

Brew day went well. 1.058 final gravity which was great. I am concerned about this yeast. Hopefully it’ll get dry enough. The bitterness is high so it will balance. I kept it simple to get back in the flow. Single infusion batch sparge. 90 minute mash and boil.

10/10/2018
Beer was transferred to kegs and is carbonating. Final gravity is 1.015 and it tastes pretty great to me. ABV around 5.6% I was hoping for 1.012 but the bitterness is pretty firm and the profile is very clean so I’m very much looking forward to drinking this beer.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	90 min	26.0 IBUs	8.6 SRM	1.057	1.016	5.4 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Marzen	6 A	1.054 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.014	18 - 24	8 - 17	2.5 - 3	5.8 - 6.3 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (Weyermann)	13 lbs	53.61
Munich (BestMälz)	10 lbs	41.24
Caramunich Malt	12 oz	3.09
Extra Light Dry Extract	8 oz	2.06

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertau	3.25 oz	90 min	Boil	Pellet	3.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1.75 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	9.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
WYEAST 2633 Oktoberfest Blend (2633)	Wyeast	75%	48°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	156°F	45 min

Notes

Was actually Chateau pilsen malt in this instance. Franco Belges Caramel Munich 60 for the caramunich. The Hallertau was said to be German on the site but who knows for sure. Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend was the yeast. May end up on the bitter side which won't impact me much. Measured SG of 1.058. Worried about attenuation that it may come out sweet. I guess we will see! I'll push the fermentation temperature after day 2

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Marzen 2017 – Gordon Biersch Sorta

August 12th, 2017

So we’re brewing Oktoberfest/Marzen. Probably one of my absolute favorite beers that I’ve never brewed exceptional. So I’ve really put some work in to this one. My past attempts were always too high on toasted maltiness and not smooth enough. The malt complexity was also never there. So I am trying a few things today. 1. Adding some purified water to drop my 174ppm sodium down under 100. I’ve always thought too much sodium simplifies the maltiness of beer. 2. Perform a single decoction to enhance melanoidin richness. 3. Using a recipe that doesn’t call for so much Munich 20 or higher. It should be on the bottom end of the Marzen spectrum rather than the middle which is what I typically brewed in the past and didn’t like.

This is sorta the recipe because come brew day I realize my Hallertau is only 2.5% AA so I had some Saaz to balance that. And lengthen the hop boil to 90 minutes.

Lagers as it turns out are my favorite sort of beer. With the exception of doing a doppelbock well in the past I’ve yet to brew one that’ll win at competitions. 35-39 pretty consistently but nothing with that extra special something yet. Here’s hoping this year is the year I get it right. We shall see.

Update 8/13/2017

Brew day went well. The decoction wasn’t near the trouble I thought it’d be with what I’ve read. Gravity came in high though and some equipment problems with a clogged pump near the boiling point made the boil a little strange. All in all the beer should come out fine. Some how, some way some old hops ended up in the beer so I’m worried about off flavors but we’ll see. Wort smells great, tastes great so cooling to pitching temperature overnight, re-racking off settled trub and pitching in the morning.

I’ve read some brulosophy and other experiments that say people can’t detect the decoction. I’m amazed at that given the aroma of the boiling decoction. It was strongly aromatic. I start to wonder about some of those experiments. They almost always seem to point at people being unable to detect anything about a beer in a triangle test unless it’s blatantly obvious. I wonder if the very nature of triangle tests throws people off enough that they can’t perform?

Update 9/5/2017
Original gravity which I forgot to note was 1.063. Final gravity was around 1.015 which although slightly high for style is expected because of the high original gravity. It’s quite malty and bready in the nose and in the flavor. Very complex. The hops are enough to balance the beer but I had preconceived notions of it being sweet so I think I find it sweet. It’s not yet carbonated to style so I need to give it more time before judging. However the beer is very good. The yeast character, the nose, the rich malt character. Gonna be a great drinking beer for the Fall months.

Update 9/27/2017
Now that it’s well carbonated and clear it’s got a really nice drinkability. Not dry enough but not so sweet that I can’t drink 3 of it in one sitting, which is my primary test on a beer. It’s deep in color for that Amber Marzen type of beer. Too much so for my overall appreciation of this style. On the next go I intend to adjust the pilsner to munich ratio by about 10% and drop the caramunich to only about 6 ounces per 10 gallons. I think the crispness was off by the higher gravity which hopefully I’ll get closer next time. But this is a good lager with German lager character, deep maltiness and a very fun, drinkable Fall beer.

Update 10/6/2017
I’ve picked up a few authentic seasonals to compare it to. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest and Ayinger Oktoberfest are very similar to this beer. A little more crisp than mine but very similar indeed. Remarkably close to the Ayinger but with a less sweet nose than Ayinger and not as clean probably due to the higher than desired finishing gravity of mine and the lower bitterness.
Update 10/24/2017
In an unexpected twist this beer is surprisingly clear now and about 3-4 SRM lighter in color. It’s professionally clear and barely amber in color. It’s like whatever was still in solution that fell out was all amber in color. To the point that I’m wondering if I’ll get dinged at Dixie Cup, it’ll be because they question whether it’s a festbier. The impression of sweetness has lessened and the melanoidin flavor has increased in that munich sort of fashion. I’m kind of stunned on how this beer has changed. I think I took a picture weeks ago and can get one now to post. Hopefully I remember to do so. As it sits I would still lessen the gravity on this beer(I went to high) but man, it is a great Oktoberfest. Better than many I’ve had from pro brewers.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	60 min	20.1 IBUs	7.9 SRM	1.057	1.014	5.6 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Marzen	6 A	1.054 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.014	18 - 24	8 - 17	2.5 - 3	5.8 - 6.3 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (Weyermann)	13 lbs	55.08
Munich (BestMälz)	10 lbs	42.37
Caramunich I (Weyermann)	9.6 oz	2.54

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	2 oz	90 min	Boil	Pellet	2.6
Saaz	1.5 oz	90 min	Boil	Pellet	3
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	9.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
German Lager (WLP830)	White Labs	77%	50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Protein Rest	122°F	35 min
Saccharification	154°F	45 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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Doppelbock 2016 Edition

February 12th, 2016

Probably the final beer in my annual German series will be a very nice doppelbock. This is a re-brew of a beer that’s come out extremely well in the past. I’m really looking forward to fermenting it with two different yeasts. The 2015 edition of this beer got great marks at a few competitions but didn’t place. My thoughts on it were that it wasn’t quite aromatic enough in it’s malt profile. . So I’ll be adding some melanoidin malt to try and bump that up a little.

Update 2/15/2016

Brew day was a pain in the ass. Lots of wind made it hard to get to a boil. I’m going to have to invest in building a wind guard to fit on these keggles for 10 gallon batches. Gravity readings early made it seem as if I’d be high on gravity but ended up being around 1.074. So somewhat low for some reason but it tasted great and should be a fine beer. Pitching the yeast 24 hours later after it cools down to 50F.

Update 2/18/2016

Fermenting like crazy for the first couple of days. Still going now. Made a mess in the bottle of the chest freezer. Very thick smell of yeast character in there compared to the previous two beers on the yeast.

Update 2/28/2016
Final gravity on the 833 version was around 1.013 for an 8% alcohol beer. Final gravity on the 830 version was 1.016 for a 7.5% alcohol beer. Both taste like young doppelbock with my preference being towards the 833 version. The both need about 6 months to mature. I’ll carbonate these two, bottle them and put them in the closet until the end of 2016.

Update 1/30/2017
This beer was over-carbonated so it’s been hard to enjoy. I tend to believe this beer will behave similar to my previous years doppelbock and need another year to be worth drinking. Although I’ll have to let every beer rest before actually enjoying it. Or employ some strategy to reduce carbonation.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	22.0 IBUs	20.8 SRM	1.081	1.022	7.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
doppelbock	5 C	1.072 - 1.112	1.016 - 1.024	16 - 26	6 - 25	2.3 - 2.6	7 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	12 lbs	61.54
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	5 lbs	25.64
Caramunich Malt	2 lbs	10.26
Melanoiden Malt	4 oz	1.28
Special B Malt	4 oz	1.28

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.25 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	8.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	4.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Bohemian Lager (2124)	Wyeast Labs	71%	48°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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Doppelbock March 2015

March 15th, 2015

One of my favorite styles to brew when it’s cold. I’ve been a little behind on my brew schedule as evident that I posted this guy in February, got the flu and am just now going to brew it in March. So actual brew day ended up being March 15. Gravity was coming in a little low so I gave it a pound of DME. The only big change for me in brewing this beer versus my previous bocks was the use of a late charge of magnum instead of an hour long charge of Hallertau. I find with the Hallertau I’m waiting longer for the beer to smooth out. The wort tasted excellent and came in around 1.072. Pitched yeast from the Export I brewed a month ago. It seemed to be very vibrant yeast which woke up quickly in the starter and quickly took to this bock.

Update January 2016

Nearly one year later and this beer is excellent in my opinion. Lots of malty toastiness, dark fruit and chocolate malt flavor, fair malt aroma. It got excellent marks from the 2015 Dixie Cup with a total score of 39. The judges in question did a not so great job on any comments. I think it needs something to enhance melanoidin aroma. So on the next run in 2016 I’ll do melanoidin malt at around 3/4 of a pound.

Update October 2016

Maybe all this beer needed was time. It ended up getting first place with a 41.5 score at the 2016 Dixie Cup. Really stoked about my first ever first place medal at the Dixie Cup.

Update January 2017

So I finally got around to enjoying in good conditions my last bottle of this bock. I’d say the difference between this January and 2016 January is the malt aroma. Everything else is the same but the aroma is now there. Additionally there is more apparent oxygen in the form of enhanced dark fruitiness and melded flavors. It currently reminds me of a light version of Samichlaus. Like many of my big beers I will rebrew this guy but at 10 gallons.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	22.9 IBUs	19.8 SRM	1.076 SG	1.021 SG	7.4 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Doppelbock	5 C	1.072 - 1.112	1.016 - 1.024	16 - 26	6 - 25	2.3 - 2.6	7 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	12 lbs	65.75
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	4 lbs	21.92
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	1 lbs	5.48
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	1 lbs	5.48
Special B Malt	0.25 lbs	1.37

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	14
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.25 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	8.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	4.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Bohemian Lager (2124)	Wyeast Labs	71%	48°F - 58°F

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North German Altbier

January 22nd, 2014

Recently I had the opportunity to judge alts at Roberts Cover Germanfest. As I’d never had a German alt other than Uerige Sticke I had no idea what to expect but was surprised at how much I enjoyed the beers submitted. So I’ve made it a point to brew my own German altbiers this year starting with 10 gallons of Jamil’s North German Altbier with a minor change of using only half of the roasted malts he used. The reason for this change is the beers I judged seem very dark compared to the description of the style. Most of the alt recipes I’ve seen out there are adaptations of Jamil’s North German Alt or Dusseldorf Alt recipe and I suspect these are where many of the beers I judged came from.

Brew Day Was January 20, 2014

A fairly hectic brew day. Had some pump issues with recirculation and something happened with the screen at the bottom of the mash tun as I couldn’t get it to run clear. I ended up transferring the wort/grain to buckets, resetting the tun, transferring it back, recirculating and getting it straight. Post boil and in to the fermenters everything was right on gravity and tasted/looked really good so no worries. As I suspected the beer is much lighter in color and more akin to the style description.

January 22, 2014

Really strong 2 days of fermentation at 60F and it’s still going. Should be a good beer. It’d better be for 10 gallons.

January 26, 2014

After the great ice storm of 2014 here in Baton Rouge I was a little worried this beer wouldn’t finish out enough. It’s currently at 1.0115 even though with the cold weather my outside storage got it down as low as 50F. The top 1/4 of the fermenter is brightening so I’ll let it sit for another week to polish up before crashing to lager on the yeast for a week. Overall it’s a very bready, very strongly bittered beer with distinct German flavors. Definitely some bready tastes bordering on toasty in there and a full body especially for a 1.048 beer. I think I’m going to really enjoy this one when it’s finished.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	90 min	36.8 IBUs	11.9 SRM	1.048 SG	1.010 SG	5.0 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Northern German Altbier	7 A	1.046 - 1.054	1.01 - 1.015	25 - 40	13 - 19	2.4 - 2.8	4.5 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	18 lbs	85.71
Munich Malt - 10L	2 lbs	9.52
Caramunich Malt	0.5 lbs	2.38
Carafa II	0.25 lbs	1.19
Pale Chocolate Malt	0.25 lbs	1.19

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	1.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
German Ale (1007)	Wyeast Labs	75%	55°F - 66°F

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Traditional German Hefeweizen

March 30th, 2013

And I know it’s traditional because I used red wheat! I’m a little easily excited and when I was picking up ingredients at Brewstock in New Orleans I learned that red wheat is more traditional and the white wheat was more of an American thing. Cool little thing I didn’t know that Aaron dropped while getting my order together.

I don’t know a whole lot about wheat beers when it comes to brewing them. This will be my first shot at a weizen and I’ve purchased the ingredients for a couple of other weizens.

How it went 3/30/2013

Brew day went very well. I used the PH meter for the first time and got the ph down. I have a feeling I’ve been pretty high on PH on past beers even though I have been adjusting with acid. My previous beers have probably been in the 6.5PH range as it took a little more acid to get this thing in the right range.

The mash went well but I was a little worried I may experience a stuck sparge which didn’t happen. Everything lautered off just fine. The boil went well but had to go a little viscous to get the excess boiled off. Cooled down and transferred over a very clear and very beautiful reddish beer. I pitched the active starter after it cooled down into the mid 60’s. This beer should turn out fine based on process. We shall see.

Update 4/3/2013

The gravity is about 1.015 and it tastes pretty darn good flat. Should be about ready to carbonate tomorrow so I’ll get that started for the sake of getting it ready for the Louisiana Club Homebrew Competition in Lafayette.

Update 9/8/2014

Looked up this recipe to brew it for Oktoberfest 2014 and realized I never noted that it placed 3rd in the Louisiana Club Homebrew competition. there were 15 entries so pretty good. I was having problems with transferring beer from kegs to bottles without losing carbonation at the time and the primary complaint was it needed more carbonation. So fix that and it wins!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min		5	1.05	1.012	5

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Weizen/Weissbier	15 15A	1.044 - 1.052	1.01 - 1.014	8 - 15	2 - 8	0 - 0	4.3 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel	6 lbs	50
Wheat Malt, Ger	6 lbs	50

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	70 min	Boil	Pellet	4.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	529.11 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	17.64 oz	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300)	White Labs	74%	68°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
New Mash Step	153°F	70 min

Notes

Prepared 10 gallons of water and used 9 of it. Salts and acid went in to the 10 gallons. Missed gravity which was my fault due to calculating on inappropriate efficiency but should be more than fine at 1.048. Used PH Meter for first time and for first time ever I am confident it hit the range.

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First 2.5 Gallon Batches – Bock & Munich Dunkel

November 14th, 2012

I’ve recently figured out that my small bar refrigerator at the lowest setting will hold 2 – 3 gallon better bottles and will keep their temperature at about 44 degrees Fahrenheit. So now it’s time to start brewing some lagers! Both of these guys are either direct copies or very near copies of Jamil’s Brewing Classic Styles recipes. Here’s hoping the new 2.5 gallon kettle and mash tun scenario works out!

Brew day was November 21, 2012

Everything went very well. It was much easier working stovetop in the kitchen rather than working outside. The small batches went almost exactly as planned. The Munich Dunkel finished at around 1.059 and slightly low in volume. I decided to leave it rather than dilute it. The bock finished at 1.069ish. PH, Mash Temperature, cooling and boil all were fine. I pitched the Dunkel after a few hours in the refrigerator and waited until morning to pitch the bock. I pitched an active 1 liter starter in the bock. I think these two beers will end up great.

I don’t have the recipes up here at the moment. I used my new Brew Tablet software on this particular round of brewing. Due to not having a “recipe export” feature completed yet I’m not able to post them here yet. However I will be getting that done in the next month so I can continue posting the recipes I use here.

Notes From Bock Recipe:

Single infusion mash at 155F. Mash with 10 quarts of acidified prepared water. Sparge with 8 quarts of acidified water. Water Salts Used: 1.4 grams of chalk, 0.25 grams Gypsum, .5 grams calcium chloride. 1 ml of lactic acid on the mash and 1 ml lactic acid on the sparge should adjust the ph. This is an adaptation of a Munich water profile.

Notes From Dunkel Recipe:

Mash at 154F single infusion. 8 quarts of acidified mash water needed. 6 quarts of acidified sparge water needed. Treat 10 quarts of mash water and 8 quarts of sparge water to be safe on amounts. Water Salts Used: 1.4 grams of chalk, 0.25 grams Gypsum, .5 grams calcium chloride. .8 ml of lactic acid on the mash and .8 ml lactic acid on the sparge should adjust the ph. This is an adaptation of a Munich water profile.

Notes at Fermentation after 10 days of fermentation.:

The beer seemed to take off immediately but it was slow at first. There was immediate krausening and it was obvious activity was happening. After 6 days I took a reading and it was about 30% done. At 10 days there’s a lot of movement in the fermenter. The yeast is doing very well now. Interesting enough the WLP833 yeast is rocking despite being below it’s optimum temperature. The liquid temperature is in the mid 40’s. I decided to try this from what I heard from the head brewer at Karbach who spoke at the Dixie Cup. The bock tastes nice so at this point I think it’s a good suggestion.

Notes at Fermentation after 14 days of fermentation:

The dunkel is at 1.013 and appears completely done fermenting and the bock is at 1.018 with some yeast still left in suspension. Both are at desired terminal gravity and taste great so I’m dropping the temperature on them to cold crash. So far pretty darn good on first attempt in this new brewing configuration.

Tasting Notes on Dunkel at 32 days

The nose is right on as it smells like cocoa, fudge type character. The taste is good but at first astringent. A light astringency but it’s indeed there. I believe it should age out after 1 month of lagering.

Tasting Notes on Dunkel and Bock at 42 Days

I just got around to racking the bock to a keg and was a little worried about it. However it looks beautiful and tastes absolutely wonderful even flat. I hope not a thing changes! The astringency in the dunkel is gone and it tastes like German bakers chocolate to me. Zero head retention though. Both should be very good beers.