Oktoberfest - Munich I or II ?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
4,012
Reaction score
4,141
Location
St Albans, Herts
Just ordering in the necessary for an Oktoberfest.
GH suggests the following... but he doesn't specify which Munich or Crystal :rolleyes: any recommendations? (or indeed does anyone have a good recipe they can share)
  • 4kg Vienna
  • 800g "Munich"
  • 750g Carapils
  • 100g "Crystal"
Hops are Perle and Halletauer Mittelfruh; and I was planning to use the WY2633
 
Last edited:
I think (others may confirm) that it's probably Munich I (light).
Thanks.
Interestingly, looking at: Make Your Best Oktoberfest they suggest:

Your base malts will be Munich and…not Pilsner. I mean, you can use Pils (most do), but I frankly find that it lends a sweetness to the flavor that you’re always working against. Instead, I use a 50/50 blend of Munich and Maris Otter. And for the specialty malt, about 8 percent of the total grist is a good British Medium Crystal (45–50L). The Maris Otter adds a great complementary bready/biscuit note to the beer and meshes with the higher-kilned Munich malt beautifully. The “middle crystal” adds a slightly deeper brown sugar aroma without adding noticeable sweetness.
 
Thats what I use - Light.
The recipe CC has put up is very similar to mine I call my version triple grain as it consists of 1/3rd of Pale, Munich Light and Vienna and I'll tell you what it makes a lovely drop.
Ps I sometimes use English hops like First Gold athumb.. and thats why I call it Triple Grain and not Oktoberfest
 
The real dilemma is not whether to use Munich I or II but which crystal malt to use. Special B would push that beer far out of style. Most German lagers handle crystal malts up to about 20 or 30 well.
 
It sounds like a sensible enough consensus has been reached, but I thought I’d share one of the places I like to look when formulating recipes is mean brews on YouTube.

The guy basically trawls the internet for recipes that have placed or won in bjcp competitions and then compares all the recipes, looks at trends over time etc.
 
Depends whether it's a traditional Oktoberfest (aka Marzen), which is a darker malty lager, or a modern Oktoberfest (aka Festbier) which is a pale lager with a slightly elevated strength.

For the former I'd suggest 40% of the grain bill each from Munich and Vienna, with the rest being Pils malt and about 3% of Caramunich.
 
Back
Top