Catchin' Up
You wouldn't know it from reading this blog, but I have been brewing this year.
Besides the ESB I brewed on MLK Day, I brewed a Bock in February and an Oktoberfest in March.
Bock: 2/23/2008
I wanted to try out Wyeasts Hella-Bock VSS, and I also wanted to get a head start on brewing at least 4 lagers this year, so I decided to brew a Bock in February and then an Oktoberfest in March using the yeast from the Bock primary. Looking back I should have switched the beers around since the bock is higher gravity and darker, but I was fixated on brewing the Oktoberfest in March. Oh well. Without going into details, I did a protein/saccharification/mashout step mash and ended up with about 11 gallons of 1.076 wort in the fermenters. I started fermentation at 49° and after some initially vigorous fermentation things got really sluggish after a couple weeks. I raised the temp to 58° to try to get things going, which worked with only marginal success. I transferred to secondary after a total of 5 weeks and the gravity was only down to 1.029. I kept it warm in the secondary for a few more days and the gravity didn't drop much, so I decided to pitch some German Ale yeast (1007) to ferment it down a few more points so it wouldn't taste like syrup. As I type this it's down to about 1.020, which is right about where I want it, and I'll probably crash cool it to drop the yeast then keg it for extended lagering soon.
Here's the recipe: Promash | HTML
Oktoberfest: 3/30/2008 (phew! just in time)
I went with a pretty basic recipe based on Bob Allen's award winning Cure of the Mouth Maerzen. On brew day I got a late start and had a commitment in the evening, so in the interest of speed I decided to just do a single step infusion mash at 152°. Then I sparged at 170°, boiled, and ended up with about 11 gallons of 1.051 wort in the fermenters. After just 2 weeks in the primary the gravity is down to 1.020 and I decided to kick the temp up to 65° for a diacetyl rest (as recommended by Wyeast). After a couple days I'll crash it and transfer to secondary after I keg the Bock.