I love how honest you were about the second batch that didn't work out. It's really encouraging to see that other brewers don't always get it right either. Thanks for all the amazing content.
That's so crazy with the kviek taking off like that! Even though the experiment didn't work out, that's an awesome story and a good look at how homebrewing can go sometimes. Love it!
Kinda wish you had recorded yourself tasting the other beer. Thanks for sharing both the things that go right as well as the things that go wrong so that we can learn too. I've been meaning to ask you for a video on how your cleaning process has changed, especially since you have so much more equipment now.
I've had a similar issue with Lutra kveik persisting after cleaning. That stuff is heartier than you might expect. On the plus side, I've had a relatively easy time harvesting the yeast and keeping a culture going for more than a year now. Still, cleaning is a bigger pain now than it was before I started using it. That stuff coats every surface of the fermenter and bottles with a sticky film of yeast. ...At least the beers turn out great.
That pour! Looks very yummy and judging by the smacking while drinking it, I'd call this one a successful experiment! On a side note, I'd still would have poured the lager yeast on top of the krausen, as this could have been presented as a co-fermentation experiment and may be even a separate video ;-) Cheers, Steve, great video content as always.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I did add the lager yeast later once I got the temperature under control, but it didn't do anything unfortunately. The problem was the beer was at 106 F when I went to pitch the yeast and discovered the krausen!
Yet another enjoyable and informative video... and just kegged a Marzen that I slightly modified from your recipe like literally 10min ago 😁. Tasty at 5.8 abv. Thanks and keep the videos coming!
I heard that Saflager Saflager W34 -70 can be fermented reasonably warm temperatures up as high as 22C / 72F in a regular non pressure fermenter so I tried it and I have had good results with no off flavors but I always pressure ferment lagers, I love the deep red color of your beer at the start too, sometimes that red is difficult to achieve.
Live and learn from mistakes, haha. Great video! This is one of my all time favorite styles of beer after spending time in the Army over seas. I brew this regularly with a similar recipe and pressure fermented. The main difference is I use 10% munich malt, 10% Vienna and 2% melanoidin. Pressure fermented at 8 psi with Bavarian yeast. Hop schedule is similar. I have never compared it side by side with a traditional lager fermentation but i love the beer. Cheers!
I didn't evidently clean my ball valve on my anvil bucket well enough and my cream ale got some of my foraged yeast in it. To my surprise there was a pellicle on the sides of the fermenter once I racked it for bottling. Ran PBW, disassembled, boiled the ball valve and all, then cleaned and passivated the fermenter. Woof.
Man I wish I could have seen how the pressure fermented beer turned out if it went smooth. I'm about to get started on pressure fermenting. Do you still have to do a diacetyl rest when pressure fermenting? Great video, as always. Thanks.
If you're curious, I've got a decent number of videos on the topic so feel free to check those out. I usually don't do a D-rest on pressure fermented lagers, since you're usually fermenting them at D-rest temperatures the whole time.
A great looking recipe but I'd highly recommend straight Weyermann Barke Pils malt and nothing else. A supercharged Helles is the Oktoberfest Festbier, aimed heavily at drinkability. Every other malt addition leads one again towards the pre 1990 Oktoberfest style. All power to you, bro. Always enjoying your well produced program 🍻
I'm pretty ignorant on the subject, but what's the difference between pilsner and barke pilsner? Using straight barke pilsner wouldn't just make it a helles?
@@williamburkett7746 Barke is for me a tastier Pils malt. Using Barke doesn't make every beer a Helles, you could brew a tasty imperial stout with it. My recommendation to use Barke is due to Festbier being a very very light coloured beer and a single malt beer requires the tastiest Pils malt available. Festbier in Germany is simply a higher strength Helles... high 5.0 to low 6.0% ABV.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think you might be right, but I really do like my festbier (as well as my helles) to be a lot maltier than 100% pils. But then again, I have yet to taste either beer in Germany!
I'll definitely have to try the Diamond Lager yeast! I'm glad one of them came out right :D I used a Kveik strain once, and my next two batches fermented out in 48 hours and tasted awful. Had to throw all my plastic and rubber parts away and soak everything else in iodophor overnight to get rid of it. Not sure I'll use Kveik again lol
Quickly became one of my favorite lager yeasts! The kveik van be tricky, needs a lot of nutrients and sometimes needs a higher pitch rate than the internet will tell you
How does Weyermann Barke Pilsner malt compare with their regular Pilsner in terms of extract yield in your experience? If I need 5 kg of Pilsner to get an OG of 1.050 will 5 kg of Barke get me a similar OG or will it be lower. And I so, how much? I've tried to use both Brewer's Friend and Brewfather to try and get an estimate, but they give different answers.
I think S-23 is the same as Diamond lager if you are looking for alternate dry options. Seems to perform about the same as 34/70 at higher temps as well.
Hey, I’m brewing a Marzen right now based off one of your recipes. When you say 70-80% attenuation, is that 70% of the OG or 70% of the expected difference in gravity?
I just started not using it. I remove the bazooka screen on the kettle outlet and whirlpool my hops and trub before chilling. It works like a charm and I get a ton more hop character out of it.
Been drinking this Weinhestephaner Festbier, delightful stuff! Think I prefer the marzen style, but I can see why this is the chosen beer for the festival. Good video, of course!
Great Video. As I live in Munich I know Wiesenbier (as the locals call it) quite well. Yours does look fantastic. On your prenounication of mittelfrüh (mittelfrueh) is pretty good. Just leave the eh at the end out of it, more like mittelfrew. Ue = ü which is a weird ehw ish sound. Cheers
Issues like the heating pad and the wrong yeast getting happy still helps people know what can happen and how to correct it the next time. So still very valuable for a video. 🙂
I'm drinking my first smash Helles (Helles Smashed) now, it's pretty amazing! I am definitely interested in giving your Festbier a go though, it looks and sounds great and you totally had me at "like a Helles on steroids"!!
I think Harvest would work well in this style. I used Biergarten Lager from escarpment lab and it was killer last one I made. Went full decoction and was a bit surprised how much that raised og and fg. Cheers!
Absolutely! I'm pretty sure that's the same strain as Wyeast 2206. Decoction will get you the character you want out of this for sure, it does make an interesting difference sometimes.
Thank you for making this beer!! It’s too bad about the experiment, but at least the traditional one turned out well! I know you mentioned the amount of melanoidin added to the body and maltiness, but I wonder how it would have turned out if you skipped the step mash and just did a single mash in the high 140s-low 150s. But, that’s the joy of homebrewing! As long as you like it, there’s nothing wrong with it being a little “out of spec”!
Fair enough. So, if you were looking for a result that’s a little closer to style, just cut back on the melanoidin? Otherwise, I’m glad you did make a Festbier! Nothing wrong with a good Märzen, but it would be nice to see a domestic/micro brewery make a Festbier.
Sorry your pressure batch went so poorly, still happy to see the results of the non pressurized fermentation. Very impressive beer, absolutely delicious looking.
Seems like u really got stuck in those European lager styles. Would love to take u around some places in Germany and Austria to try some outstanding lagers. My recommendation is the area around Bamberg (which has a world cultral hertiage old town centre) for Kellerbiers and Franconian Lagers.
Hey, great video as always :) I would just like to ask on some tip how you measure PH? I bought PH meter but i am not sure am I supposed to cool sample down as it takes a lot of time or just dip it in at mash temp? Its not related to video I know, but i could use some input as im new to water chemistry.
I measure at mash temperature but I take a sample instead of putting the pH meter directly in. There's a debate as to whether or not to cool it down, but every time I've gotten the correct pH at mash temp, the beer turns out the way its supposed to. Just be sure to keep the pH meter calibrated.
@@TheApartmentBrewer ok thanks! This will be much easier, as the first time I was waiting for it to cool down and got very low efficency... But pH was off so I guess that was the problem... Anyways thanks and thanks for ur time u put into this videos I learned a lot from you
Festbier is perhaps my favourite all time beer. It's got that classic munich taste, but in a full bodied and still sweet way/balanced way. Gotta be careful not to dry out munich lagers too much because when combined with the grainy bitterness of the region's styles, they quickly become (to my taste) way too much, I've even had some commercial helles that despite my love for the style are almost undrinkable for being too dry. I've never had that w festbier tho, always a win. Hey also I don't know if you care too much about this, but I like how you put effort in to try to pronounce regional words/names authentically! A couple tips to help your German out (again, if you're interested don't let accent snobs make you feel you need to be); the English "L" sound happens with the tongue between the teeth but in German it's done a bit more upwards above the teeth in the gummy section. It's a subtle thing that can make a big difference since it can sorta impact how you pronounce vowels, in a good way (as you get used to it). Also, when you read "ue" in a word, it means ü. Ue is the historical way of writing it (some places like Switzerland still use the old way of writing). Hallertau Mittelfrueh = Hallertau Mittelfrüh. I think the change makes reading in German a little more intuitive because you can stick strictly to the rule that every vowel and consonant gets pronounced, as I've heard you do. And finally R's come from the throat, which admittedly can create challenges when followed by sounds like ü which isnt common in english. When in doubt, the audio/auto text to voice in Google Translate is actually pretty good! aside from accounting for regional differences. Cheers from Canada (not Germany lol)
When you add sodium chloride, what brand do you use? Or what kind maybe is a better question. I know it's just table salt but there are a million kinds. To me they all taste....salty but im new to building water so I was just wondering which salt you prefer
@@TheApartmentBrewer - Yeah, I find I’m not getting much hop flavor or aroma from my hops. How did you work around that when you did use your hop spider? Did you double your hop amounts?
I got the bitterness but not as much flavor. There's a rule of thumb that says increase hols by 10% when using a hop spider, it's probably better to go up to 25%
@@TheApartmentBrewer - I just tried a beer that I did a hop stand on using almost double the hops in again I got barely any hop aroma. I think going forward, for flavor and aroma Ho additions, I’m just gonna have to put the hops directly into the kettle and not in the spider. I’m just worried about getting hop particles stuck in the plate chiller, causing infection later on down the line in another batch. Do you still use the plate chiller?
You've gotta disassemble those valves each time! I know it's a PIA but PBW doesn't get everywhere. You might also want to douse the fermenter with fresh Iodaphor before adding more wort. Also, try recirculating water through an ice bath. We do that down here in the warm parts of the year because ambient temp at the faucet is usually in the 80's. Otherwise, I laughed at the honesty! We've all been there. I had to dump a damn good saison last year because a wild yeast took over before I pitched it. Smelled like wet cat food... blehk....
I noticed you pitched hops right into the boil kettle loose. I've done this on the 10g system and the screen gets horribly clogged, making cooling and transferring very difficult. Does the 20g system have a screen over the bottom port in the kettle? Curious how you solved for the clogging issue with the system. Thanks, and love the channel!
Correct. I removed the bazooka screen for that reason. I whirlpool the hops and trub now before chilling with the spincycle whirlpool arm and it works like a charm. I get so much more hop character than I used to.
Nice recipe and a really delicious looking fest bier! It's great that you show and discuss the mistakes you make. Interesting that you don't use a metal coil + water chiller. Obviously not the most environmentally friendly but I do wonder if cooling quickly and pitching early would have prevented the infection from getting hold. Though given it was in the container it could've just as likely ended up with a mixed fermentation.
I use a plate chiller instead of an immersion chiller, just about the same amount of water. Problem is the water isn't very cold around here and I am really limited on space.
@@iliffavenuebrewhouse6496 you're right for this style it might be excessive. I've used 10% melanoidin on darker heavier beers before and it yielded a considerable character.
Yeah it was a lot for a festbier, I honestly didnt expect that much color contribution! But I was ultimately curious just how much maltiness it would impart.
Going to brew this, thanks. Did you mash in with hotter strike water in order to settle at 146F or just add the grains to 146F water and bring it up from there?
Nice video. I would reduce the second rest by 15 minutes and maybe mash out at 77 °C without resting. After resting 30 minutes at 71 °C the starch should be broken down into sugars. This increases drinkability. Prost from Germany.
Are you saying that spending too much time in that zone is hurting the drinkability? I just wanted to be sure I had completed conversion without doing a starch test. My system will go from 71 to 77 C in about 3 minutes so thats why I'm a bit more deliberate about resting there for a bit.
@@TheApartmentBrewer The conversion of starch to sugar can be completed after 15 minutes at around 71 °C yet. 30 minutes is a safe time without checking the conversion. It also will produce a balanced beer. The longer you rest at 71 °C the more unfermentable sugar is produced and the beer gets sweeter and more full bodied. When you rest at 77 °C it will have a similar effect to the body. You could try to rest 20 minutes at 71 and 77 °C as well for a balanced beer. I look at it like a fader between alpha and beta-amylase dividing the minutes you need to convert the starch. Starch is not unlimited, the longer you rest at 63 °C the less starch is left for the alpha-amylase.
Are you using the plate chiller that comes with the 20g 240v system? I saw you throw the hops in without using the hop spiders, I haven't taken that leap of "not going to clog the plate chiller" trust yet - any issues with clogging of the plate chiller and the free-floating hops?
Yes. I now conduct a whirlpool to pile trub and hop debris in the center before initiating the chill. I have yet to clog the plate chiller, although sometimes if I don't do a good whirlpool it will slow the flow down
@@TheApartmentBrewer can I assume you don't run boiling wort through the chiller to sanitize it? I'm seriously looking to go the free hop route as soon as today's brew, just want to understand what I may be looking at as far as complications and things I can do to minimize them. Thanks and keep up the great work!
So far I've had luck running a quick burst of boiling wort through the chiller somewhere around the 5-10 minutes mark before ending the boil. Due to the boil intensity, most of the hop matter is circulating around still at that point and not piling up at the bottom. However if you are concerned, you could always use sanitizer or run boiling hop free wort through at the beginning of the boil. Three things that are important: 1 - remove the bazooka screen because that will clog well before your chiller, and 2 - try to setup a 3-way valve that will bypass your chiller and go straight to the whirlpool arm to perform the whirlpool with. 3 - whirlpool for 3 min, then turn off the pump and let it sit for 15 min. This will pile the trub up neatly in the center of the kettle
Do you do a forced diacetyl test before kegging beers like this (pull two samples, nuke one in the microwave until it's hot ~150°F, then cool both and compare) and did you do one before you kegged this beer?
Nice video as always. Why don’t you put the weights in kgs and grams as well? You do convert the temperatures… Would make it easier and more enjoyable for anyone who’s not in your country.
Yup, grams are in there for hops and water additions, liters for volumes, temps are also in Celsius. Scale your grain according to the percentage displayed. I take care of the rest of the world just fine.
