Seriously, it's time to brew the Festbier Lager!

It's the last weekend in July and I'm starting to freak out. Based on my brewing experience, I know lagers get better and better as they condition in the keg. Time is getting short and I want to have a traditionally fermented beer on tap this year for the festival....

This year (2022), Oktoberfest begins on Sept. 17th.

So if I brew next weekend, August 6th:

• 2 weeks to ferment = August 20th

• 4 weeks to condition (ideally 6 weeks!) = September 17th

• 6 weeks to condition = October 1st

YIKES - I guess it will be a 4 week conditioning time ;)

I have been looking for recipes and I found a few, mostly Pilsner malt with some Vienna and/or Munich malts with Hallertau Mittelfruh

• Beer and Brewing Magazine

• Mean Brewing (seems like the best option to me)

• The Home Brew Challenge

I think I'm going with the following, but I may reduce the Munich (to 15%) and add CaraMunich 1 (to 5%):

Vitals

Original Gravity: 1.057

Final Gravity: 1.012

IBU (Tinseth): 24

BU/GU: 0.42

Color: 5.7 SRM

Mash

Protein — 128 °F — 15 min

Beta — 144 °F — 40 min

Alpha — 154 °F — 50 min

Malts (11 lb 14.1 oz)

7 lb 6.5 oz (62.3%) — Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner — Grain — 1.5 °L

2 lb 4.7 oz (19.3%) — Weyermann Munich I — Grain — 6.2 °L

2 lb 2.9 oz (18.4%) — Ireks Vienna Malt — Grain — 3.9 °L

Hops (1.99 oz)

1.38 oz (21 IBU) — Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 4% — Boil — 60 min

0.61 oz (3 IBU) — Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 4% — Boil — 10 min

Here's the recipe details:

Here's a link to my final recipe I will brew this weekend

Beer is fermenting now with 34/70 yeast at 50F - link