Its time to reach for the lederhosen, knee high socks, put your hair up in piggy tails or pull on some skin tight skivvies and amp up the German techno whilst drinking a traditional Märzenbier or Oktoberfest bier! Märzenbier or Märzen is traditionally a Bavarian beer that takes its moniker from two months of the calendar: March and October (spelled März and Oktober in German).  Down under you can brew in March and Lager (store cool) through the months of winter giving your Märzenbier a traditional long cool lagering for an extra clean and crisp and malty taste.  This traditional malt forward style is a very popular beer during the globally recognised Oktoberfest! This Oktoberfest | Märzenbier | BeerCo Recipe is a modern twist on an ancient hero where we use a layered Gladfield Malt bill for depth and flavour and a moderate hopping regime with the traditional German noble hop Hallertau Mittelfruher to hit the upper reaches of the style guidelines target at 28 I BU.  We trust this will help you celebrate the change of seasons in style with a brew to style – Prost!

vital stats:

• Original Gravity:  1.057
• Final Gravity: 1.017
• IBU 27
• SRM 8
• ABV 5.3%
• Balance: 0.49

Gladfield Malt Bill:

• 2. 50 Kg Pilsner 45%
• 1.50 Kg Munich 27%
• 1 Kg Vienna 18%
• 050 Kg Toffee 9% 5.50 Kg Total Grist

 Hops:

• 50g Hallertauer Mittelfruher GR Hop Pellets at 60 minutes 22 IBU
• 25g Hallertauer Mittelfruher GR Hop Pellets at 15 minutes 6 IBU

75g Hallertau Mittelfruher T90 GR Hop Pellets @3.60% A/A You could try an additional kiwi twist and use the new world NZ Hops triploid Wakatu in place of Hallertauer Mittelfruher and even go a step further and dry hop your Märzen.  We will leave it to you to do as you please to put your own twist on a classic style.

Yeast:

Liquid:

1. GY045 German Lager GigaYeast or
2. GY030 American Lager GigaYeast or
3. GY005 Golden Gate Lager GigaYeast (if you are in a hurry!)

Dry:

• Fermentis Saflager S-23 Yeast (2 x 11g sachets)

Method:

1. Mash – the brewer should do normal mash regime, mashing at 67 C for at least 65 mins with a water to grain ratio of 3:1
2. Sparge – once again the brewer should do normal regime at around 76 C to top up the kettle to required amount of pre-boil wort for a 90 minutes’ boil down to 23L.
3. Boil – vigorous boil for 90 mins.  First bittering hop addition at 60 mins.
4. Hops: Add 50g Hallertauer Mittelfruher GR Hop Pellets at 60 minutes for 22 IBU and second addition of 25g Hallertau Mittelfruher GR Hop Pellets at 15 minutes for 6 IBU.
5. Pitch Yeast & Fermentation – Aerate well and ferment cold 12-15 C ideally closer to 12C until FG is reached or terminal gravity is table for two days.  You may like to raise the ferment up to 15-18C for a few days’ diacetyl rest at the end of the secondary fermentation.
6. Rack and Yeast off and lager cold 0-2C for a long as possible – if you brewed this in March (Märzen) by all means lager through the cool winter months to September / October because we can as a homebrewer.  If you have no ability to keg or lager, bottle and store cold as possible for ideally a minimum of 6-12 weeks lagering.
7. Crash chill and bottle or keg as normal.  You may or may not need to add some bottle conditioning yeast if you are bottling after an extended lager period off the yeast.  For this we recommend Fermentis Safbrew T-58 Yeast
8. Mature for 7-10 days after carbonating in the keg or 6-12 weeks if bottled at around 10-12C.
9. Enjoy with friends during your own Oktoberfest celebration! Prost!

All the Ingredients you need to brew this recipe are available in the shop or if you like we can pick and mill and pack and dispatch as a completed fixed recipe kit with your choice of dry or liquid yeast - milled or unmilled.

Oktoberfest – Märzen – BeerCo Recipe Kit