2008 BKB Fall Community Brew---Oktoberfest style ale!!!
So the winner as mentioned, an Oktoberfest style ale based on the recipe of our very own Brewchez. Of course, as ingredient availability differs, please post any changes you make in your version of it, as well as a good review of your brew.
The original extract version is below, with conversion to come later.....
Oktoberfest Ale
3.3lb Amber LME
3.3lb Light LME
0.5lb Crystal 80L (or 60L if you can’t get 80L)
0.5lb Munich (8L)
0.5lb Pale Malt (standard 2-row)
0.25lb Chocolate Malt (350L)
1oz Hallertau pellets -60min
1oz Hallertau pellets -15min
0.5oz Halertau pellets -2min
2tsp Irish Moss
Yeast= German Alt yeast or American Ale yeast
I was certain the pumpkin beer was going to win so I went ahead and got ingredients to do my own Octoberfest Ale. I can post the recipe if anyone's interested - its all grain.
GREAT, 
cause I've got this going right now. Couldn't get Hallertau, so subed Liberty. Had to increase the amount, they were only 3.7%AA.
Recipe: O-Fest
Brewer: Brewski
Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen
TYPE: Partial Mash
Est ABV: 5.3%
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 16.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.3 IBU
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3 lbs Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 38.46 %
3 lbs 4.8 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 42.31 %
8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 6.41 %
8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.41 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3.21 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.21 %
1.50 oz Liberty [3.70 %] (60 min) Hops 13.8 IBU
1.00 oz Liberty [3.70 %] (30 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [3.70 %] (2 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale
Should be ready by mid-October.
And, yeah, I'd love to see your all grain FirePit. I'm starting to accumulate bits and pieces to go to AG.
Feel free to post whatever recipe you decide to brew. I think that although this is a community brew, most people don't follow exactly what they see, and prefer to tweak a bit here and there. The style is mostly where the community part comes in; we pick a style, and each person brews their version. I know I'm probably not doing the AG conversion exactly, as I have been working on a similar recipe for a while. Either way, I'm sure we'll all have good brews in the end......
Mine is in the primary. Damn, does it smell good. 
Brewski wrote:
Mine is in the primary. Damn, does it smell good.
Damn you are fast.
Mine won't be in primary for a while, and will probably end up a little late....I'm doing a brown ale next week, and then possibly this brew the week after, so I'll have a pseudo-Octo-Fall style ale ready sometime in early November.....
Brewchez wrote:
Damn you are fast.
Well, I'll admit that I was going to do an Octoberfest one way or another, and got all the stuff last Friday. Monday morning is usually pretty slow in the wholesale lumber biz, so there ya go. 
OK here's the recipe I picked up ingredients for when I thought the Pumpkin Ale was going to win. (I'm not a big fan of pumpkin ales by any means) Its not my recipe and I picked it up off another forum I belong to so I'm not taking credit for it, but I've heard good things about it. I've already tweaked it a little to fit my batch size, equipment and efficiency.
Octoberfest Ale - all grain - 70% efficiency
5.25 gallons
OG 1.054
11.7 SRM
20.6 IBUs
5.00 lb German Pilsner Malt
2 lb 5 oz Vienna Malt
2.00 lb Munich 20L
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt
0.50 lb Carapils
0.50 lb Crystal 40L
.90 oz Tettnang 60 min
.50 oz Tettnang 15 min
.25 oz Tettnang 2 min
Safale 04
Mash at 158 for 45 min
I'm not dead set on the yeast. I do have some Wyeast Irish Ale that I'm thinking of using hoping it'll leave some maltiness. I'm also not sure about the mash temp. I've never mashed that high so I'm not sure what kind of body its going to give the beer. I'm thinking about upping the bittering addition to give it a little more bite, as well. I made the mistake of picking up light Munich so my beer is going to be even lighter - oh well. Let me know what you guys think.
i'll be doing the octoberfest in a couple weeks. I'm brewing a pumpkin ale first, hopefully this weekend. I found a good pumpkin ale recipe on BYO site. Here the link for anyone interested. I know the community brew is octoberfest but the holidays coming up and this sounds like a good beer.
I'll be fermenting all my beers in the fridge from now on to keep temp in low 60's range.
http://www.byo.com/recipe/191.html
DC