For those of you that are familiar with my brews, you’ve probably noticed that all of my beers are named with an old-school wrestling theme. Naturally when I thought to myself that it was high time I try and do an Oktoberfest that I should name it after the classic annual WCW pay-per-view “Halloween Havoc”. It’s currently lagering right now, so no idea how it tastes. I’m hoping the end product tastes like a Halloween Havoc 1993, but the process so far has been a real Halloween Havoc 1992.
First off, I have no temperature control, so an August ferment – even in my basement – was not going to yield a clean lager profile. So I thought outside of the box. I had heard that fermenting with Kviek yeasts at a cool 72 can yield lager-like qualities in a short time, so I settled on using Imperial Yeasts Loki and leaving the fermenter in my basement. Then life got in the way and every spare weekend I had was occupied by some household project, work responsibility, or (responsibly distanced) social commitment.
One of said household projects – unfortunately – was the eradication of a couple of mice that snuck in while we were having some work done on the house. I battled them for a couple of weeks but could never figure out where they were getting their food from. Then my wife noticed my grain bag (that had been sitting there for almost 3 months since I purchased all my ingredients) had started to spill a little bit. I’ll give you three guesses why.
Anyway, on what seemed like our last sunny October day, I finally got around to brewing a beer I’d been planning on since July. The Loki yeast worked well and acted on a more “normal” timeframe than you usually hear about these Kviek yeasts. I attribute that to the fermentation temperature between 67F and 70F. I popped it into the fridge to drop out the rest of the yeast and plan on kegging this weekend and letting it age for another couple of weeks. I’m not sure exactly what I’m expecting from it, but if it drinks anything close to a Marzen that means I’ll be able to drink one of my favorite beer styles year-round without expensive cooling technology.
Halloween Havoc
5 gal batch
8.9SRM
22 IBUs
Est OG 1.062
Est FG 1.012
ABV 6.4%
Grains
3lbs 8oz Munich Malt (9 SRM)
3lbs 8oz 2-Row (1 SRM)
3lbs 8oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
1lb Munich Malt (20 SRM)
8oz Caravienne Malt (22 SRM)
Hops
1/2oz Hallertau – 60 mins
1/2oz Tettnanger – 60 mins
1/2oz Hallertau – 15 mins
1/2oz Tettnager – 15 mins
Yeast
Imperial Labs Loki (Kviek)
Add clarifying agent at 15 minutes left in the boil. Immediately chill to 70°F. Pitch Loki and ferment between 65-70°F for two weeks. Transfer to secondary fermenter at lager temps for one week, then transfer to keg. Let age in keg for 2 weeks, carbonate, and enjoy.