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True Brew Oktoberfest Question(s)
Hello all, I've just started brewing after many years of appreciating, and I'm about to start my third batch, all of which have been made using the True Brew kits (go easy on me...I'm just starting).
I have a couple of questions about my intended next brew, the True Brew Oktoberfest. First of all, has anyone ever had any experience with this particular kit? If so...what are the opinions and thoughts on it? I've brewed their Nut Brown Ale and Irish Stout already, and the stout is carbonating/conditioning in my basement as we speak.
As a companion question to my first, what kind of tweaking should I consider for this mix? I only ask because I'm picky about my Oktoberfests. I like the Sam Adams Oktoberfest (the only one of their beers that I enjoy, fwiw), as well as the Southern Tier one, as well as a couple others that I would consider maltier.
I've tried some others that tout themselves as more "German" in their construction, and haven't enjoyed them as much. I generally do not go nuts for German beer (sorry...I know that makes me less of a beer drinker...but other than that, I'm a pretty good beer connoisseur/snob!), as it always tastes a little too...yellow (?) for my tastes. But anyway, what kind of Oktoberfest is this particular mix? And again - opinions on it?
As far as specifics, it's marked as a partial mash kit, but I've seen other people call them "extracts with grains" mixes, so I don't know how exactly to describe it.
If any other info is needed, please let me know. I'm new to this, so thank you very much for any help you can provide!
I found a site listing the kit as such:
Oktoberfest
German-Style Amber Festival Beer. A harvest-time brew rich with malt character. Smooth and silky mouthfeel with excellent body.
Similar to Paulaner or Harpoon Oktoberfest.
Brew Stats:
Beginning Gravity: 1.040- 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010 - 1.012
Hop Bittering Units: 6.0
This kit contains:
Unhopped Amber Malt Extract – 1 can
Light Dried Malt Extract – 2 lbs
Melanoidin Malt Grains – 8 oz
Hop Pellets – 2 oz
Ale Yeast – 1 pack
It's hard to say if it will be to your liking. I'd expect the Harpoon Oktoberfest to be sort of like the Sam Adams one, but then they also compare it to Paulaner, so... who knows!
It'll probably be fine. One thing that brewing has done to me is that it has made me a lot more tolerant of styles that I haven't historically been too fond of. When you make it yourself, it's a lot more fun to drink!
The only problem I see is that according to their stats, this will come out just over 4% ABV. You could add a few pounds of Amber Dried Malt Extract, which would give you more alcohol and a bit more body/maltiness.
Welcome to the fun!
Thanks for the reply ksb!
Yeah, that comparison to the Harpoon and Paulaner seems funny to me, too. The Paulaner was one of the most recent Oks I tried, and I liked it well enough.
The addition of the Amber Dried Malt extract is interesting. At this point, I know very little about the details of all of this, but if the extra DME would add to the body (and, hey, why not the abv, as well?), then I'll certainly try it. You say a few pounds - 2/3 lb? And does the "brand" of DME matter at all? How exactly does the amount of DME affect abv?
Sorry to ask more questions after you've answered my original ones. Thanks for your help, and I'm looking forward to contributing to this board a bit more as I get more experienced!
Only other thing I would add is that your making an ale not a lager. Traditional german oktoberfests are usually Marzens. Marzens are typically lagers brewed in the spring and aged untill fall. Many american companys have simply branded their fall seasonals as oktoberfests.
I'm not sure what Sam Adams brews for their oktoberfest, but if its a marzen you may not get exactly what you were thinking about (but who cares its homebrew so yours will be better anyway!)
I would also recomend breaking the mold away from kits. My first batch was a kit then I bought a book and started buying ingredients based off of the recipies. The best part of this is that your shop wont always have the correct ingredients and youll have to substitute which will give you your very own recipe!
The main book I use is great! (The Brewmasters Bible by Stephen Snyder).Still being an extract brewer myself (haven't taken the all grain (AG) plunge yet) I found this book to be truely my homebrew bible. It has hundreds of recipes all sorted by style with varying degrees of dificulty. Best of all it contains a chart with the basic ingredients (Extract and AG) typically used for 36 different styles of beers. So when your ready formulating your own recipe is a snap.
Hope this helps
You might be a homebrewer if:
You've ever gotten up in the middle of the night to check an airlock.
Sorry got off on a tangent and didn't try to answer your questions.
As for how many pounds of DME to add my reference states that DME typically yealds an SG of 1.040 per pound per gallon of water. An easier way to think of this is points per pound per gallon (ppg) Since a gallon of water has an SG of 1.000 and adding 1 lbs DME will give you 1.044 you could assign each pound of DME 44 ppg. So for a 5 gallon batch one pound DME is typically going to raise your OG by 0.0088. (.044/5=0.0088)
For a more in depth discussion of this try:
http://mybrewblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/ … avity.html
So how much you add depends on how much you want to raise your OG. Remember avb is determined by the difference from your OG to your FG and FG roughly determines your body Brewmasters Bible lists typical OG for Marzens as 1.050-1.060 with typical FG of 1.012-1.020.
If you went with one lbs your OG should be around 1.048 a pound and a half would give1.053. and 2 lbs would give 1.058. (may want to check my math.) Also this is based on DME which is usually a pale malt I don't know the ppgs for amber DME they would probably be higher.
As for your second question I just buy whatever my home brew shop has on hand others may have an opinion on this.
AVB is determined (roughly) by the difference between your OG and FG. I use a chart found in my brewmasters bible for this. They state that going from an OG of 1.053 to an FG of 1.012 would yeald approx AVB of 5.1 % Where as Going from 1.056 to 1.012 would yeild AVB 6.0%. Again others may have different calculations and I'm sure their are plenty of online charts you could use as well.
Hope this helps.
You might be a home brewer if:
You ever had to take your dog to the emergency vet for 3rd degree burns on his toung from lapping up a boil over.
I have tried that kit years ago and I have no recollection of a complaint. It should make a fine amber style ale that you can call an oktoberfest celebration style ale.
If you want to bump it up a bit I would suggest that you add a half pound of Amber DME and steep in the brew kettle as the water is heating to 165F a half pound of crystal 60 or 85. Steeping some grains in the wort will help make an mostly extract kit seem remarkable fresher. I don't know how advanced your homebrew skills are but I would also recommend pitching two packets of dried yeast if you are using dried yeast.
Be sure to rehydrate them first in some boiled then cooled water.
Good luck. You are on your way already to wanting to make better beer!
Now thats the difference between an expert and a novice. While I'm still crunching numbers brewchez already has a great beer in the primary! 
Rph Brewer wrote:
Now thats the difference between an expert and a novice. While I'm still crunching numbers brewchez already has a great beer in the primary!
Ahhh.. I was still looking foward to you numbers.
I think taking a look at how much more DME to add is important. I just figured off hand that 0.5-1.0 lb of extra DME will get you an additional ~4.5-9points of gravity in the wort. Also adding a little DME to supplement the LME that comes in that style of kit will help with the freshness factor. LME even though canned tends to be somewhat flat when compared to real fresh ingredients.
Freshness counts alot. Take into account that the original poster talked about not caring for to many German beers.... which is fine. But its likely that those beers are very fresh due to poor handling and the long trip to import them right.
Kits are great for intro brewing. Anything you can do to boost the freshness factor in a kit will make for a more happy experience.
Wow. Thanks to all who have responded.
There is a lot of information there, and I plan to wade through it very soon, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, as tonight I've opened the first bottles of my very first batch of home brewed beer! On a bit of a high right now, so let me just reiterate my great thanks to everyone who has responded already, and to all of those who will respond to all of my future questions.
Oh, and thanks for not hazing the noob. Yet.
Bear Einstein wrote:
Yet.
...Yet indeed.
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