I think I've come pretty close to figuring out Fred Scheer's beers. Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club reviewed Fred's Oktoberfest and Dark of which I found in 2012. This year I was able to find an ingredient book on the web that lists the ingredients of Fred's beers dated in 2004. My next batch should come real close to his Frankenmuth Dark and Frankenmuth Oktoberfest. So, I consider this mission accomplished.
Call me a beer detective. You can go out to www.brewtoad.com, search on recipes with the words: "Fred's Frankenmuth" to find the latest on these recipes. I've added beer notes. Next month I'll check the taste to see if it all what I remember. If it is close I've got to adjust the ratios of some of the ingredients a little and I will keep tweaking it a little bit. I am certain I have the correct ingredients but the ratios may be off a little.
Now, the mystery remains for Paulaner's Oktoberfest Wiesn. I should have shot that picture above a few more times to find a better picture. The right side of the picture is a little fuzzy like someone had a few too many to drink! My first set of clues came from reviews on the web. Knowledgeable beer drinkers analyzed this beer using their senses. I used these sensory clues to research malts and hops that match the same characteristics. For example, the golden color is indicating caramel, crystal, Munich, Vienna or dextrin malts. Corn taste comes from high amounts of DMS that is present in German pilsner or pale ale malts. Bready and doughy tastes may be coming from biscuit or 2-row pale malts.
A letter revealed on a forum at www.tastybrew.com showed Paulaner had stated they only use hops from the Hallertauer family. Paulaner had reported that their Märzen beer was 70% of a Munich malt type and 30% Pilsner malt. That's a lot stronger than I thought they would have used. That's almost a pure Munich malt beer. They appear to be cutting the specialty malt with the Pilsner malt. When I started homebrewing I was trained to use a lot smaller amounts of specialty malts. The rule of thumb here is to make our recipe with 85% 2-row malt and the other 15% is varied with the recipes. If Paulaner's Märzen is any example of the rest of their beers they may be adding their specialty malts at 70% of the beer and American homebrewers are taking the cheap way out at 15%. No wonder Paulaner tastes so good!
I've got to sniff for more clues!
Call me a beer detective. You can go out to www.brewtoad.com, search on recipes with the words: "Fred's Frankenmuth" to find the latest on these recipes. I've added beer notes. Next month I'll check the taste to see if it all what I remember. If it is close I've got to adjust the ratios of some of the ingredients a little and I will keep tweaking it a little bit. I am certain I have the correct ingredients but the ratios may be off a little.
Now, the mystery remains for Paulaner's Oktoberfest Wiesn. I should have shot that picture above a few more times to find a better picture. The right side of the picture is a little fuzzy like someone had a few too many to drink! My first set of clues came from reviews on the web. Knowledgeable beer drinkers analyzed this beer using their senses. I used these sensory clues to research malts and hops that match the same characteristics. For example, the golden color is indicating caramel, crystal, Munich, Vienna or dextrin malts. Corn taste comes from high amounts of DMS that is present in German pilsner or pale ale malts. Bready and doughy tastes may be coming from biscuit or 2-row pale malts.
A letter revealed on a forum at www.tastybrew.com showed Paulaner had stated they only use hops from the Hallertauer family. Paulaner had reported that their Märzen beer was 70% of a Munich malt type and 30% Pilsner malt. That's a lot stronger than I thought they would have used. That's almost a pure Munich malt beer. They appear to be cutting the specialty malt with the Pilsner malt. When I started homebrewing I was trained to use a lot smaller amounts of specialty malts. The rule of thumb here is to make our recipe with 85% 2-row malt and the other 15% is varied with the recipes. If Paulaner's Märzen is any example of the rest of their beers they may be adding their specialty malts at 70% of the beer and American homebrewers are taking the cheap way out at 15%. No wonder Paulaner tastes so good!
I've got to sniff for more clues!