J&J’s Rowdy Brew: Reilly’s Oktoberfest
On August 27, Reilly and I decided to kick off the homebrew 2005 season with a bang and brew two batches. Reilly had an itching for an Octoberfest that would be ready in time for baseball playoffs, and I had planned on brewing a big barley wine that would be ready around the time that the baby was born, but that was put on hold in favor of a very hoppy pale ale.
Reilly’s recipe was from Modern Brewer in Cambridge, MA.
Reilly’s Oktoberfest
1 lb. Munich Malt
3/4 lb. Crystal 20L
1/8 lb. Crystal 80L (called for Crystal 70L, but they didn’t have it)
7 pounds of John Bull Light malt extract Syrup
1 ounce of Perle hop pellets (bittering hops for full hour — used flowers instead of pellets)
1 ounce of Hallertau pellets (flavoring hops for last 25 minutes of boil — used flowers instead of pellets)
1/2 tsp. of Irish Moss last 15 to 20 minutes of boil.
1 ounce of Hallertau pellets (aroma hops for last 15 minutes of boil — used flowers instead of pellets)
Wyeast 1007 — for some reason, the yeast pack never expanded, so we used some a package of dry Nottingham.
The brewing went off without a hitch, and the wort tasted pretty sweet pre-pitch.
The original gravity was 1.054 (54 gravity points) and after week in the fermenter the final gravity was 1.016 (16 gravity points), so:
Alcohol by Volume = OG (in gp) - FG (in gp) * 0.129
ABV = 54-16*0.129
ABV = 4.9%
We bottled it last Saturday with the help of my father-in-law (his first brewing experience!). This batch produced about 47 12oz. bottles, 1 16oz. grolsch bottle and 1 22oz. grolsch bottle. The beer came out of the fermenter looking like the Sam Adams October fest that we were drinking just the night before, so I’m really excited about breaking into them in first weekend of October!