A note on the name: after the boil, I was chilling this beer in the front yard. I discharged the circulated water into the grass, obviously irritating the worms that I could then see swimming to the surface. My girlfriend suggested the name Wormkiller for the beer. It’s not the most appetizing name for a beer, but it’s memorable and has a unique story to go with it.
There is something really appealing, maybe even romantic, about brewing a beer in the spring for later consumption in the fall, maybe due to the old German origin of the style. This is the story behind Marzen/Oktoberfest. I have always wanted to do it and now I have.
I started thinking about an Oktoberfest earlier this year when I began my lager yeast experiment. I have never brewed one before, even though I love the style, which might be my favorite currently. I love Oktoberfest season, when breweries release this delicious, malty German lager. I like the Sam Adams version and the rotating iterations put out by Sierra Nevada.
I read some blog posts and watched some videos. I saw a good looking Oktoberfest homebrew on the German Brewing Facebook group. Ultimately I settled on a recipe published by Chop and Brew last fall, which is a take on Jamil’s from Brewing Classic Styles.
Brew day (6/9/19) was mostly unremarkable, except the mash was interrupted by a few errands. There were a few hiccups. I lost track of a fruitfly that had found its way into the airlock (this beer was fermented with the same yeast and same fermenter as the Pilsner). So it was either in the keg of Pilsner or in the fermenter. Also, the bottom of the fermenter was wet from sitting in the swamp bucket. When I moved it, some water dropped into the wort.
Initially I was concerned about this beer. It was cloudy. Smelled a little musty and like Pinot noir. I grew to like it initially, but since then my opinion has changed.
Aroma: Bready malt. Lager sulfuriness.
Taste: bready. Lightly caramelized sugar. A slight tanginess that is not unpleasant. The aftertaste is a doughy, crackery, grainy flavor. To what can be attributed the tanginess? There are no off flavors per se. Instead I simply taste the ever so slight tartness. Could it be the hops? Could only an ounce of hops at 20 minutes or so impart such a flavor?
When I kegged the previous beer, the Pilsner, I noticed that I misplaced a fruitfly that had found its way into the airlock. I think it sucked back into the beer when i was moving the better bottle. Did it end up in the Oktoberfest wort? Evidently fruit flies carry acetobacter. I did not see a pellicle or anything funky going on when I racked this beer to the keg.
The more I drink this beer, the more I think of yogurt. It has a tang in the nose and the flavor. Yet I’ve noticed a slight tang in some other Oktoberfest lagers. And the two prior beers were pretty clean.
Another clue. These beers were built up from yeast from a bottle in Schlafly’s Lunar Lager pack (the liftoff Lager, a German Kellerbier). I built a starter and then made a one gallon batch, which I bottled. It was a defective beer actually. It barely fermented (to 1.020 I think). The hop flavor was overly strong. When I opened a few bottles a few months later, they overflowed. The FG, at 1.020, was pretty high. Was there additional fermentation in the bottle? Too much priming sugar? Or was there a bug in there that continued fermenting the beer?
And yet another clue. A dunkel lager I drank from the same Lunar Lager pack was quite tangy. So much so that I drain-poured most of it.
Update 10/12/19: The yogurt-like tanginess actually is unpleasant. I don't care for it. It seems to really clash with the bitterness and leaves an odd lingering taste on the tongue.
Appearance: Amber. Copper. Clear with the aid of gelatin. Good carbonation so a good layer of bubbles persists. It's really a beautiful beer.
In the end, I'm glad I brewed the beer and it was a fun experiment to build up some commercial yeast. It certainly looks nice, but the tangy flavor overwhelms the bready malt in the background.
No comments:
Post a Comment