Loose Lederhosen

Well, my friends, I owe you an apology. I haven't written to you in some time, but I have been very busy with March and totally forgot to provide any updates! Well, I have several posts to share with you, so let's get started.

The first topic to update you on was the other lager I made, my Oktoberfest Loose Lederhosen. As with the maibock, I decided I had to be respectful of the brewing tradition here and kept everything in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, or the Purity Law of 1516 that says only a few special ingredients can be used: water, barley, and hops (later they learned of yeast, so it is considered an obvious addition to the list). As a result, I made sure to use as much of traditional malts and hops I could, so I stuck with Vienna, Cara-Munich, and Munich malts, along with some amber DME to get the color and OG just right. The hops I chose were as close to the money as I could get them, with Hallertau and Tettnanger.

All told, this beer clocked in with an OG of 1.056 and a respectable 26 IBUs. I didn't want this to be a knock your socks off beer, but rather something that will become more and more interesting as it cellars and conditions, considering I won't really be enjoying this until September.

The other part of keeping this traditional had to do with when I made the beer. Marzen, or March, is when the beer is made so that it can lager and age nicely during the hot summer months and be truly enjoyed when the weather starts to get cold again. Did I hear someone say football beer?

Well, the brew day went really and I have to admit, it was not a hard batch to get together. I might consider doing a winter version of this at some point by incorporating some late harvest or winter wheat to add some complexity to the body and flavor.

Stay tuned, because there will be more to follow with this one as it continues to age.

As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!

UPDATE 1: The fermentation for this batch lasted just as long as the maibock, which surprised me in a bit considering the amount of yeast, even with the starter, was decent, but it was still a lower gravity beer. I'm not going to complain though!

UPDATE 2: The lagering has begun! The garage is sitting comfortably in the 30s, and even if it does go up to about 45 or 50, the carboy is sitting covered, and out of direct light. I suspect the temp inside is hard pressed to go above 40, but if it gets closer to 60 during the day and 40s at night, I'll end up cutting the lagering short and bottle it. Here is hoping the cooler temps can stick around just a bit longer!