Name: Water Street Brewery Oak Creeks OKTOBERFEST Recipe
Cook time: 24 h
Total time: 24 h
Yield: 5 servings
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 6 lbs Pilsner malt (floor-malted or base pale lager malt); 4 lbs Munich malt (10°L); 1 lbs Vienna malt; 0.75 lbs Caramel/Crystal malt (40–60°L); 0.25 lbs Melanoidin malt; 0.25 lbs Dark Munich or Special B (optional, for deeper color/ripe fruit); 3.5 gal Brew water (treated to moderate carbonate, softish profile); 3.5 gal Sparge water; 0.5 tsp Gypsum (calcium sulfate) or calcium chloride (optional, to adjust profile); 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfrüh (or other traditional Hallertau); 0.5 oz Hallertau (finishing/aroma); 1 pkg German lager yeast (e.g., Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager or White Labs WLP820); 1 pkg Lager yeast starter (recommended); 1 tsp Irish moss or Whirlfloc (optional, for clarity); 3 oz Priming sugar (corn sugar) for bottling

Med Bag of Chips

Ham, cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes, and arugula.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Sliced turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mustard in a whole wheat wrap.

Fit Turkey Wrap

German Marzen style dark lager. Bread like Munich and caramel malts rich malty copper-colored lager German Hallertau hops.

Crush malts to a medium-coarse grist. If using whole grains, mill so husks remain mostly intact for good lautering.

Mill/Crush

Pour crushed grains into the mash tun per mash schedule below.

Heat 3.5 gal strike water to about 165°F (74°C) to achieve a target mash temperature of 152°F (67°C) when grains are added. Add gypsum or calcium chloride to the strike water if making water adjustments; dissolve thoroughly.

Heat Strike Water

Add crushed grains to the mash tun and pour strike water in while stirring to avoid dough balls. Target mash temperature: 152°F (67°C). Mash thickness ~1.25–1.5 qt/lb (for this grain bill ~1.25 qt/lb).

Mash-In

Hold at 122–131°F (50–55°C) for 15–20 minutes if desired for very dark or under-modified malts. For most modern malts, skip and go straight to saccharification.

Protein Rest (optional)

Hold mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes to produce a balanced, moderately fermentable wort that retains malt body typical of Märzen.

Saccharification Rest

Raise mash to 168°F (76°C) for 10 minutes by adding hot water or direct heat to stop enzymatic activity and improve wort lauterability.

Mash Out

Sparge with ~3.5 gal of water at 168°F (76°C) until pre-boil volume is reached (aim for ~6.5–7.0 gal pre-boil to yield ~5.5–6.0 gal into the fermenter, accounting for boil-off).

Sparge

Bring wort to a rolling boil and boil for 60 minutes. Watch for hot break and apply good kettle control to prevent boilovers.

Boil

Add 1.0 oz Hallertau at the start of the 60-minute boil for mild German bitterness. Target IBU ~18–22 (adjust quantity if needed for your batch size and alpha acids).

Bittering Hop Addition (60 min)

With ~10–15 minutes remaining in the boil, add Irish moss or Whirlfloc to help cold break and clarity.

Fining (10–15 min left)

Add 0.5 oz Hallertau with 5–10 minutes left for delicate noble hop aroma and flavor.

Aroma/Flavor Hop Addition (5–10 min)

After 60 minutes, turn off heat. Chill wort quickly to yeast-pitching temperature using an immersion or counterflow chiller to ~50°F (10°C) for lager yeast.

End of Boil

Oxygenate the chilled wort by shaking, splashing, or pure oxygen to achieve adequate dissolved oxygen for healthy lager fermentation (target ~8–10 ppm O2).

Oxygenation

Transfer wort to a sanitized fermenter. Pitch a healthy, well-aerated lager yeast starter (or rehydrate dry yeast per instructions). Target pitching temperature ~48–52°F (9–11°C).

Pitch Yeast

Ferment at 48–52°F (9–11°C) until vigorous fermentation subsides (typically 7–10 days). The beer should reach final gravity close to expected FG (around 1.014–1.016 for a Marzen-style depending on mash).

Primary Fermentation

Raise temperature to 58–62°F (14–17°C) for 48–72 hours once primary fermentation is nearly complete to encourage the yeast to reabsorb diacetyl and finish fermentation cleanly.

Diacetyl Rest

After the diacetyl rest, drop temperature gradually to 34–38°F (1–3°C) and lager for 4–8 weeks. This cold conditioning clarifies the beer and smooths malt flavors characteristic of Oktoberfest/Märzen.

Lagering (Cold Conditioning)

If bottling, gently warm the beer to room temp, dissolve 3 oz corn sugar in 1 cup boiling water, cool and add to bottling bucket. Transfer beer to bottling bucket, mix gently, and bottle. Cap and carbonate at room temperature for 2–3 weeks, then cold condition.

Bottling (optional)

If kegging, force-carbonate to 2.4–2.7 vols CO2 at cold temperature or naturally carbonate in keg with priming sugar. Chill and serve at lager serving temperature (38–45°F / 3–7°C).

Kegging (optional)

Serve in a beer stein or tulip at cool cellar/lager temps. The color should be copper to deep amber with rich bready malt aroma, light caramel, and noble hop balance.

Serving

Pilsner malt (floor-malted or base pale lager malt)

Munich malt (10°L)

Vienna malt

Caramel/Crystal malt (40–60°L)

Melanoidin malt

Dark Munich or Special B (optional, for deeper color/ripe fruit)

Brew water (treated to moderate carbonate, softish profile)

Sparge water

Gypsum (calcium sulfate) or calcium chloride (optional, to adjust profile)

Hallertau Mittelfrüh (or other traditional Hallertau)

Hallertau (finishing/aroma)

German lager yeast (e.g., Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager or White Labs WLP820)

Lager yeast starter (recommended)

Irish moss or Whirlfloc (optional, for clarity)

Priming sugar (corn sugar) for bottling

OKTOBERFEST

Make OKTOBERFEST Recipe in just 24h . German Marzen style dark lager. Bread like Munich and caramel malts rich malty copper-colored lager German Hallertau hops.

OKTOBERFEST

Descriptors

Tasting Notes

Food Pairings

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