New Club President needs advice.

[Der_Alte]

Planning a brew day at my house for our club. We are going to brew an Oktoberfest.
Recipe:
5.5 gal batch
5.lbs 15oz Pils= 50%
3.lbs 9.3oz Munich= 30%
1.lb 8.8oz Vienna= 13%
- - 9.6oz Caramunich= 05%
- - 3.8oz Aromatic= 02%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hops:
1oz Tettnang 60 min.
0.50 Hallertauer 30 min.
0.75 Hallertauer 15 min.

Yeast:
WLP 833 German Bock

I have a Blichmann 15 gal. kettle with false bottom. My question is, Will this style greatly benefit from a step mash? Say 122*- 144*-157*. I have a pump so I could recirculate step mash while heating, or will a simple single infusion work just as fine?

Also our water profile is:
Ca 34
Mg 4
Na 26
s04 12
Cl 27
Hc03 138
Should we add anything to our water. I know its best to have the Ca in the 50-100 range.
Thanks all, first time hosting a brew day as the new president. We also dont have many members here on Guam.

 

[hercher]

One thing to consider for your brew day is this: is this a public event in which you are attempting to attract new members? If so, I would avoid the step mash. You want to show potential homebrewers that making good beer is easy, not a long, involved, complicated process. If it is a members-only event, then the step mash could be a good idea.

I don't think your beer would benefit greatly from the step mash, but you need to check the malt profile to determine if the Pils wants the protein rest.

 

[mbauer013]

+1 - I use Best Malz pils and munich and have done both a step mash and non-step mash version of an oktoberfest and noticed little result except slightly more attenuation in the step mashed beer. If you are using a different brand of malt it may vary, but with these I noticed no difference so I excluded the process from my brew day.

As a caveat though, sometimes it is fun to do these things to give people in your club the experience. Plus you have the manpower to help, so why not mach it a double decocted o-fest!

 

[tgmartin000]

Your water looks good for the style except for the bicarbonate. That's a highly alkaline water.

 

[amandabab]

members only: full bore triple decoction with a separate rake/plow lauter tun.
"see how easy this is. you should do this" event: single infusion batch sparge.

 

[Der_Alte]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
The pils malt we will be using is from Wyermann ordered through Morebeer. How would you know if it needs a protein rest? Also if we only add gypsum and ca. chloride that should drop the bicarbonate a little. What numbers should we shoot for. Thanks.

 

[amandabab]

the protien levels in todays malts are lower. I think you could skip the protien rest with no bad effects

 

[JRems]

Just a personal opinion, but I would swap the Vienna and Munich quantaties. Use more Vienna than Munich. That was my experience. I made one very similar to your grain bill and it was just too much Munich. When I remade it it was basically the same but swapped( 50%pils, 30%Vienna ,10%Munich, Carapils, aromatic, and victory for the rest. Came out great.