BeerBorg

MadBrewer wrote:
1.00 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Actually a flameout addition for 15 minutes at 180*).

I'm not one to brew to style (versus brewing to what I like/want) but I'll ask:
Is this going to add significant aroma to your Octoberfest? The few that I've had in the past were malty, not hoppy and I find that hopstands like this are great for aroma and flavor stability.

I've also not brewed with Hallertau Mittlefrueh before, so take that question for what its worth.

LouieMacGoo wrote:

BlackDuck wrote:That last Cream Ale I did had both a lager and an ale yeast in it. I used S-05 and W-34/70 and held the temp at 65. Wonder if that would work for you here? I am considering doing that in an IPA actually.

What about using something like this?

WLP080 Cream Ale Yeast Blend
This is a blend of ale and lager yeast strains. The strains work together to create a clean, crisp, light American lager style ale. A pleasing estery aroma may be perceived from the ale yeast contribution. Hop flavors and bitterness are slightly subdued. Slight sulfur will be produced during fermentation, from the lager yeast.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-70°F
(18-21°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium High

WLP080 is the exact yeast that my LHBS guy recommended if I were going to use liquid yeast. He said it works great around 60-65. Took his last US-05 instead as I'm not really a liquid yeast guy (yet).

FWIW, my favorite simple O-fest is as follows (5 gal):

3.125lb ea German Pils, Munich, Vienna
1.25lb Crystal 40
1.25oz Tettnanger (60 min)
.75oz Saaz (20 min)
WLP830 German Lager (or WY2565 Kölsch if doing an ale)

As for Kealia's comment about aroma... I personally only want grain aromas in my o-fest. Of course, that's personal pref... YMMV.

Looking forward to hearing about the caramunich/crystal additions.

Kealia wrote:

MadBrewer wrote:
1.00 oz Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Actually a flameout addition for 15 minutes at 180*).

I'm not one to brew to style (versus brewing to what I like/want) but I'll ask:
Is this going to add significant aroma to your Octoberfest? The few that I've had in the past were malty, not hoppy and I find that hopstands like this are great for aroma and flavor stability.

I've also not brewed with Hallertau Mittlefrueh before, so take that question for what its worth.

I have quite the same questions myself. LoL

I brewed a 1.045 OG Cream Ale and added 1 oz of Willamette for 60 min and then addd nothing else until a 15 min hopstand with 1 oz of Willamette and 1 oz of Saaz. The beer came out great and it was my first time doing the hopstand. I have done them a few more times now with hoppy beers and I really like the impact. I figured if the cream ale could handle that hopstand then the Oktoberfest probably could too. I know Oktoberfest is a malty style but I do like a little late hop character. I plan on giving it a long lagering period so im hoping it all comes to gether as a nice balanced beer.

The hopstands I have done seem to bring a nice lasting hop aroma with a clean refined flavor. I dont know how to guesstimate the IBUs from the hopstand but time and temperature are big factors in that. I guess we will see how it goes...but in short I dont think it will be too much for the beer. Not after doing similar with the Cream Ale as a reference.

I generally figure that a proper hopstand adds about 10% additional bittering IBU's (ballpark) and a bunch of flavor and aroma... Both the latter seem to be based on the amount of time the hopstand is held at specific temps...

I think BYO did an article on this a while back but I have lost my reference to it.

Hmm thanks for the reminder that I need to brew my Oktoberfest soon....probably not for a couple of weeks but soon! Your recipe looks good though! I am not a huge fan of Vienna malt but I know others really love it, love me some Munich though

BigPapaG wrote:I generally figure that a proper hopstand adds about 10% additional bittering IBU's (ballpark) and a bunch of flavor and aroma... Both the latter seem to be based on the amount of time the hopstand is held at specific temps...

I think BYO did an article on this a while back but I have lost my reference to it.

Depends on what temperature you start your stands at of course. I have been basically hopstanding flameout additions by putting the lid on the pot and walking away for nn minutes. Did it out of desperation to keep brett out, but found it worked great. That causes the volatile oils that get vaporized by the higher temps to stay in there and then re-condense back into the wort as it cools down. (they are not destroyed, just temporarily vaporized - it's no different the perfume distillation - except your keeping it in the same vessel). So I end up with just as much flavor/aroma as a lower temp hop stand when it's all said and done. But I also get full IBU contribution for at least 10 minutes, because you get that until it gets down to around 190. So I consider it a 10 minute increase in boil time as far as IBU contribution for a 2.5 gallon batch, which is often more then a 10% increase. It's more like a 20 minute increase in a bigger batch if you do it this way. So you can do a really short boil - 10 to 15 minutes - and get a lot of IBUs out of a short boil, if you are using high AA hops. And no I do not get DMS from doing this.

I ended up cooling the wort for a second down to 190* turning off the chiller and added the hops. Put the lid on (not completely) and the temp free falls from there. I did 15 min for this particular batch. I didn't want a lot of IBU contribution, just wanted to extract some* of those long lasting flavor and aroma properties that a hop stand seems to bring. The hops I was working with (Hallertau and Saaz) were so low in AA's I wanted to get a little more out of them. The Hallertau were 2.7% AA and the Saaz 3.6% AA. I only had like 17-18 IBU's coming from the 90 minute bittering addition of 2 oz of Hallertau. So a few more IBU's from the Whirlpool (Hopstand) should get me in the ballpark I want to be of low to mid 20's for IBU's.

Good deal. I'm a big hopstand fan, too. My pales and IPA/IPL get a nice fat dose at 180 for 15-30 minutes and I love what it brings. Juat wasn't sure what you know and wanted since you're 'new' here.
Sounds like you are dialed in.

Heres the hydro sample when I transfered to the fermenter. Looks like an Oktoberfest to me so thats a start. It ended up about 1.052 OG. 5 gals into the fermenter. It's sitting in the chest freezer with the temp controller at 50-52*. Seems to be showing signs of starting to take off.

I appreciate the replys about the hopstand. I'l be sure to update how I feel about it in this beer.

Yeah, that's pretty.

Dass sieht gut aus für mich!!!

Ibasterd wrote:Dass sieht gut aus für mich!!!

ich auch!

Tomorrow this will be 2 weeks in. I only bumped the temp controller once in this time. I fermented mostly around 50*. Once fermentation slowed down a week or so in I bumped the controller to 54* to give it a boost. I don't brew a lot of lagers at all. I'll bump the temps again to finish out with a D-rest wether it's needed or not. Then I can start lagering.