VMO Differentiation

[koomber]

I've been looking at brewing a Marzen beer in the next week or so (I know, wrong time of year, but I've just got my lagering fridge running and I'll be damned if I do a 'normal' lager right of the bat.)

Since I got Designing Great Beers for my Christmas, I've been scouring through that for hints and tips. Whilst it has been over all very useful and informative (and well worth picking up) I found there are some aspects of the VMO style that wern't explained clearly and I hope that you kind chaps could help with.

From what I can see the major differentiation between Vienna and Marzen styles is alcohol content (slightly higher in Marzen), malt character (sweeter in Marzen, toasted in both), hop character (slightly stronger in both aroma and taste in Vienna) and the colour (slightly darker in Marzen).

I'm pretty certain I can get the colour, hops and alcohol content sorted but I'm wondering about the malt character. And since these beers are all about the malt, I think I should try and learn more!

Would there be a different selection of malts that would be appropriate for each style?
Would I be looking for more crystal/caramel malts in a Marzen Vs a Vienna?
Would I use a higher temperature for the mash (I'd probably do single infusion) to increase the amount of unfermentables in the wort or would this risk it becoming a bit too chewey?
What about yeast? Would the yeast choice have an impact on the malt character?

I realise that the differences in the two styles are subtle, but I think that the devil is in the detail, and that if you don't try to make every beer as good as possible then your doing it wrong

Any help that anyone could give would be greatfully recieved!

 

[zgoda]

The grain bill is not that much different - pilsner, munich, vienna, some caramel malt ("crystal" as you call it). Caramel malt does not exceed 10% of grist, can be darker for vienna and lighter for marzen. You don't want caramely taste, nor aroma.

My marzen was made of 46% pilsner + 46% light munich + 8% caraamber, vienna lager had 46% vienna + 46% light munich + 8% caramunich II. I think my marzen is too dark, in the next one i'll substitute caraamber with carahell.

Yeast choice is about the most important, tis is the source of "maltiness" - as the beers should be "malty", choose any south german strain (Bavarian Lager, Munich Lager). Or, if you prefer more balanced beer, use general purpose german lager strain, W34/70. This year i used Munich Lager, next season i'll use W34/70 as it is more versatile.