The Complete Bliss of Homebrewing

[Mark]

The mash boiling

it's crazy thinking about a boiling mash! Way to go traditional! How did last year's turn out?

I totally agree. It goes against everything you know about mashing. But then again, all of the malts we use now are highly modified and this technique was developed when the malt was garbage.

Last years turned out good. Threw an Oktoberfest party with a 5 gallon keg of my beer and a 5 gallon keg of Sam Octoberfest. My beer was gone well before the party ended. The Sam keg lasted about 2 weeks before it kicked. I am in no way saying that my beer was better that Sam Adams, but I think that people really enjoyed my beer.

I am my toughest critic and most beers I brew I will drink very little of it as I think it can be MUCH better. I thought the Oktoberfest turned out good, but there was some things I could have done better. This year I upped the CaraMunich to 1lb to get a better malty/sweetness to it. I also upped the hops from 1.5oz to 2oz as the hops last year were almost nonexistent. I know Oktoberfest isn't a hop forward style, but there should have been a little more flavor in the background.

I'm very excited to see how this years turns out. It will end up lagering for a little less time than it did last year as I haven't had much time to dedicate 3 hours to a mash lately. I did however remember the mistakes I made during the mash last year (my first decoction) and adjusted for those mistakes. I ended up hitting 93% efficiency today and the wort is a spectacular garnet red color. The 1 gallon starter is in the fridge right now and I will probably pitch it tomorrow that way I can decant off the spent wort.