A couple years ago I brewed a version of this award-winning recipe from Ian Anderson of the Boston Worts. I'll be damned if that was not one of the best beers I have ever made!
Now, I did to make a few adjustments based on the ingredients I had on hand.
No Fest 2020
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 4.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %9 lbs 11.9 oz Pilsner Malt (Muntons) (1.9 SRM) 85.0 %
1 lbs 2.3 oz Munich Malt (Muntons) (8.1 SRM) 10.0 %
9.2 oz Cara Malt 10 (5L) (Muntons) (5.1 SRM) 5.0 %
1.50 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [2.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min 14.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [2.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min .4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Octoberfest Lager Blend (Wyeast Labs #2633) 10
Tasting Notes from my brew log: Might be the best lager I've ever made. The consensus is that my beer is better than Notch's Festbier. Definitely more malt forward and less hoppy than Weinstephan Festbier.Overall super smooth, touch of sweetness, enough hop character to finish clean. If anything it could have used a little more body and breadyness. That could be corrected with better yield in brewhouse.
I replaced the 20% Vienna Malt with 10% Munich Malt because that's what I had. The 5L Caramalt really gave the beer a subtle sweetness that I think put it over the top.
One thing I love to do is play around with grists. To take the percentages and change the ingredients. In the Festbier Malt A was 85%, Malt B 10%, and Malt C was 5%. I wondered what would happen if Malt A was Munich instead of Pilsner Malt, Malt B was Pilsner instead of Munich, and Malt C was a different Caramel or Crystal Malt. This beer, I put that theory to the test!
