By Greg B. So I realize I brewed this a little bit too late, as the brew date was April 4th (opps!), but I was close! Marzen is a traditional lager brewed in Germany in March (Marzen), lagered over the summertime traditionally in caves, then consumed at the end of the summer, with the final leftovers being drank at Oktoberfest. You may also know Marzen as an ‘oktoberfest’ beer. Here is a recipe that I put together, where I am starting to explore different styles of malts and what they can bring and do to a beer recipe

I’ve been reading of different malt types, and decided in this beer to use some US 6-row malt. Marzen beers really have a nice mouthfeel, and I wanted to see if adding 6-row, instead of just 2-row, would give me some extra proteins in the beer which will improve mouthfeel. The problem with 2-row malts is they have a little lower enzyme concentration, and in the same water/grain/temp mashing time, will convert less starch to sugar, just simply because they have lower enzyme amounts. So, I added 6-row, to add more extract to the brew and also to beef up the enzymes. I want as much of the starches to convert to sugar so the yeast can do their thing and make the sugar into alcohol! And it is true, German beers do not use 6-row, so this will not be the most authentic recipe, but I am playing around with it.

Plus, traditional Marzen beers have a nice toasted color to them, and I will rely on Vienna and Munich malts to this end. The Munich malt is kilned at a higher temperature, but also while still wet and germinating. This means that some of the starches are already converted to sugars, and these sugars caramelize in the kiln, giving the beer a nice toasty color and aroma. So, in this beer, with these basic malts, I wanted a beer that has a good, thicker mouthfeel, some nice alcohol concentrations, and a toasty malty aroma with a nice color. As for the yeast, White labs oktoberfest strain should leave this beer with a malty flavor, and thus, I picked that strain!

Grain Bill

• 4.6lbs US 2-row
• 3lb US 6-row
• 3.15lb Vienna
• 3.05lb Munich
• 1lb Crystal 40
• .65lb Cara-Munich

Everything else

• 1oz Hallertau (pellets) 60 min, 3.0% aa
• 1oz Tettnang (pellets) 10 min 3.7% aa
• 1oz Hallertau (pellets) 30 min 3.0 % aa
• WLP 820 Oktoberfest yeast (suspension)

For this beer, I ran a step infusion mash. The strike temp was at 135F, and I maintained the heat around 125 for 30 minutes (I was a little lax for the 125, it was a bit higher, almost 130 for the 30 minutes, as i didn’t want the proteases to get too active and digest all the proteins, just enough to supply the yeast with what they need to live and divide). Then i raised the temperature to between 142-145 for 30 minutes, than 155-160F for 45 minutes, hoping to get a good conversion. I did this in 6+ gallons of water. After this, I ran the wort on a 75 minute boil, adding the Hallertau hops for a 60 minute and a 30 min bittering regimen, with the German Tettnang hops for the aromatics for 10 minutes at the final.

After cooling to 75F, I pitched the yeast in the primary, added the wort, stirred vigorously for about 60 seconds to aerate the wort and then sealed it up. By my calculations, the initial gravity of this beer is 1.057 at 75F, so if this ferments to 1.010 for a final gravity or so, this will be a beer around 6.3% abv. In the case the final gravity only ends up around 1.016, I’ll ave a 5.5% abv beer, also respectable. For the rest of you beer nerds, this will be about 10.4 SRM (standard reference method… a way of universally determining the color of beer from the ingredients used) and 22 IBU (International Bittering Units, another standard way of comparing beers).

** Update** After 5 days, the bubbling ceased, so I moved the beer to the secondary. The gravity at this time was 1.013, and the beer a little hazy. After 3 days at 65F upstairs, moved it to the basement, which has a temperature around 54F, and this will be where the beer stays for a few months until I decide to bottle it, sometime around June.