October Brew of the Month: Hayden's Three-Week Märzen

By Hayden Shelley

The onset of autumn has my taste buds pleading for a classic fall beer, the Märzen. Better known by its alternant name — Oktoberfest — this malt forward, rich and refreshing beer pairs perfectly with the crisp fall air. However, many homebrewers are unable or just don’t want to go about dealing with the style because it falls into the lager category.

Homebrewers love their fancy gadgets. One of my first big upgrades to my system was an old chest freezer which I fit with temperature control. However, even after this occurred, the longer grain to glass time of lagers kept me away from making them. This changed once I stumbled upon Marshall Schott’s lagering technique on brulosphy.com.

This “quick lager” method starts out as any other brew by setting the temperature at the recommended range for your yeast strain. For my Märzen, I started at 53°F. After the beer reaches 50% attenuation, typically within one week, ramp the temperature up to the mid to high 60s and leave until no acetaldehyde or diacetyl is detected and you have reached your final gravity. This is usually another week for me. Finally, lower the temperature to around 32°F and condition for one final week. I usually do this all in the primary fermenter. Once the final week is complete, package the beer with your normal method. I primarily keg and will usually add gelatin to clear my beer even further at this time.

Using this method, I can go from grain to glass with most of my lagers in just under 4 weeks. This is much more appealing to most homebrewers when compared to the traditional Märzen method of brewing in March and getting to enjoy your creation six months later. Therefore, I hope this inspires you to strap up your lederhosen, turn on some polka music, and try your hand at brewing my Märzen recipe.

All Grain ($29.13)

• 6.25 lbs. Light Munich Malt
• 6.25 lbs. Pilsner Malt
• 0.625 lbs. Carahell Malt
• 0.625 lbs. Melanoidin Malt
• 2 oz. Hallertau @ 50 min.
• 0.5 oz. Hallertau @ 15 min.
• 1 package Wyeast Octoberfest Lager Blend (2633)
• Mash in for a 60-minute rest at 154°F.  Perform a 90-minute boil.  
• OG: 1.064 FG: 1.014
• ABV: 6.3% IBUs: 27.6
• SRM: 9.8

Extract ($40.03)

• 5 lbs. Munich Liquid Malt Extract 
• 5 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract 
• 0.625 lbs. Carahell Malt
• 0.625 lbs. Melanoidin Malt
• 2 oz. Hallertau @ 50 min.
• 0.5 oz. Hallertau @ 15 min.
• 1 package Wyeast Octoberfest Lager Blend (2633)
• OG: 1.064 FG: 1.016
• ABV: 6.3% IBUs: 26.7
• SRM: 11.1