2023 festbier

Festbier has become one of my favorite beer styles in recent years and I generally prefer it over the Marzen beers, which are more common, though I still hold special regard for Sam Adams Octoberfest. This was the second beer brewed with the Omega Oktoberfest yeast. Based on a recipe I came up with in 2020, it was good but was a little harsh. I am not sure what to attribute the harshness to, so I feel somewhat cautious about rebrewing it, but maybe it came down to something in my brewing process that day or maybe the hops had a higher AA than I was told. I had used very old Galena hops to add some bitterness, and there was a slight harshness even before pitching yeast. 

Recipe:

8.5 lbs Weyermann Pils

1 lb Munich light

.25 lb Melanoidin

1 oz Tettnanger (2.2 AA) 60 minutes

.2 oz Galena (16 AA) 60 minutes

1 oz Tettnanger (2.2 AA) 20 minutes

1.055 OG

27.85 IBU

Actual FG 1.012

2023 helles

I had gotten a free pack of Omega Oktoberfest in summer 2023, which I held until September. I made a starter the night before brewing, which took off by morning. Very straightforward. 8 lbs Weyermann pils. .5 pound Munich light. Hallertau hops. In past years I used acid malt as well, but did not this year, though not for any particular reason. The yeast performed well. Clean. It cleared pretty well without gelatin. 

This beer sort of raised some questions about my own brewing abilities and senses. I submitted it for an informal competition between different brew clubs. The comments mentioned diacetyl. I didn't taste butteriness though. So, can I not detect diacetyl? Or, were the judges associating the corny/bready taste that it definitely had (which I think is a normal characteristic of pilsner malt) and then thinking popcorn and then thinking buttered popcorn from there? Incidentally, those flavors were most intense when the beer was still young and freshly kegged, as the yeast and proteins settled to the bottom. Once the beer cleared those flavors dissipated, but I don't think that diacetyl just goes away.

Anyhow, aside from this informal competition, I don't enter my beers in competitions. I brew them for me to drink and to share. And I brew them to my taste. That's all that really matters, though I'm of course open to feedback and always willing to learn and improve.