Bierkeller Märzen

This is a recipe i did for a public brew with Homebrewers Gorizia at a pub in my hometown, Bierkeller. As you can read in this post, Bierkeller is a pub specialized in bavarian beers, so the choosen beers was a Märzen.

The recipe is quite simple and standard. As a base for the grist I used a classic 50/50 blend of Pilsner and Munich malts, to which I added two other malts. Carapils, added in a minimal part (2.6% of the grist) to avoid caramelized flavors in the beer, has been added to improve the body and foam of the beer. Since it was a night brew I wanted to avoid the classic decoction phase typical of Märzen to avoid a too much long brew: for this reason I added the malt Melanoidin that will improve the fullness, color and taste of beer in an acceptably similar way to decoction. I decided to do a single-step mash at 66°C followed by mash-out at 78°C.

Hopping has also been defined in a classic way wit classic hops: Tettnang hops at 6 minutes for the bitterness and Mittelfrüh hops at 20 minutes for bitterness and soft aroma, avoiding later additions to not enhance too much the aroma. To keep the IBU under control, I added part of the Tettnang at 20 minutes. Being a low fermentation with a lot of Pilsner malt would have been good to make 90 minutes boil to be sure to eliminate all the DMS, but for timing reasons I decided to do a very vigorous boil for 60 minutes without the kettle lid.

To simplify the public brew I decided to use a dry yeast (no starter and no rehydration), choosing the famous Fermentis W-34/70 in adequate quantity with a slight overpitching. Classic low fermentation profile, two weeks at 11°C with a few days at 15°C. to remove diacetyl and lagering at 0ºC for 30 days.

BIERKELLER MÄRZEN

Specifications

Batch Size: 22 liters
ABV 6.3%
EBC: 18
IBU: 21
OG: 1.058
FG: 1.010

Ingredients

Fermentables:

• 2,6 kg Pilsner malt:  (4 EBC, 44,4%)
• 2,7 kg Munich malt (15 EBC, 46,2%)
• 150g Carapils malt (3,9 EBC, 2,6%)
• 400g Melanoidin malt (70 EBC, 6,8%)

Hops:

• 25g Tettnang hops (AA 4,5%) at 60′
• 30g Mittelfrüh hops (AA 4%) at 20′
• 5g Tettnang hops (AA 4,5%) at 20′

Yeast:

• 6 packages (11,5g) of Fermentis Saflager W-34/70

Water:

• 33 liters of low mineral water

Brew directions:

1. Mash step at 66°C for 70 minutes
2. Mash-out at 78°C for 10 minutes
3. Fly sparge with hot water at 78°C
4. 60′ Boil
5. Chill wort to 16°C and add yeast

Fermentation:

1. Primary fermentation for 10 days at 11°C
2. Diacetyl rest for 3 days at 15°C
3. Primary fermentation rest for 2 days back at 11°C
4. Ride down temperature 3°C per day til 0°C
5. Lagering for 30 days at 0°C