Author: Jake Huolihan

Märzen has long been a favorite style of mine– sipping a malty sweet yet crisp and refreshing pint on an Autumn afternoon is about as close to beer nirvana as it gets for me. My wife and I have made an annual tradition out of attending as many local Oktoberfests as possible, one of our favorites being Dry Dock Brewing’s event that also includes the single-style Docktoberfest Homebrew Competition. I’d avoided entering in the past for various reasons, likely my fear of not doing too well, and decided this would be the year I’d shelve my anxieties and enter what I believed to be a good example of the style.

I’ve brewed a fair amount of Märzen over the last few years, mostly scattershot attempts with little forethought or discipline in execution, but given my goal of making a version worthy of an award, I approached design a recipe with a bit more scrutiny. With the grain bill and hop schedule set, I was left to decide which yeast to use, an ingredient that seems to me an often overlooked component of lager recipe formulation. After some deliberation, I boiled my choices down to two strains, based largely on my appreciation of the commercial breweries the strains are purported to have originated from– Ayinger and Weihenstephaner. Rather than pick just one and hope it works, I thought it’d be more fun to compare them and put them to them to the test!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between WLP833 German Bock Lager yeast and Saflager W-34/70 when used to ferment a split batch of the same Märzen wort.

| METHODS |

For this batch of Märzen, I compiled the recipe data I could find online from a bunch of commercial and award winning homebrew examples, did some fancy spreadsheet finagling, and created a recipe using the most common ingredients between them.

Märzen Recipe

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 11 gal 60 min 23.2 IBUs 12.3 SRM 1.058 1.013 6.0 % Actuals 1.054 1.012 5.5 % Fermentables Name Amount % Vienna Malt (Weyermann) 11 lbs 46.32 Munich I (Weyermann) 7 lbs 29.47 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 5 lbs 21.05 Caramunich II (Weyermann) 8 oz 2.11 Blackprinz 4 oz 1.05 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Hallertauer 50 g 60 min Boil Pellet 2.4 Nugget 15 g 60 min Boil Pellet 12.4 Hallertauer 28 g 30 min Boil Pellet 2.4 Hallertauer 52 g 10 min Boil Pellet 2.4 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Saflager Lager (W-34/70) DCL/Fermentis 75% 48°F - 59°F German Bock Lager (WLP833) White Labs 73% 48°F - 55°F

Using my preferred yeast pitch rate calculator, I determined the size of the starter I would need for the WLP833 and threw it together a couple nights before brewing.

I collected my ingredients and water the night prior to brew day then woke up the next morning, heated my strike water, and mashed in to come close enough to my target mash temperature for this batch.

After a 60 minute rest, I collected 13 gallons of wort and proceeded to boil it for 90 minutes, adding hops per the recipe.

Once the boil was finished, I chilled the wort to a respectable 62°F/17°C then split it equally between two 6.5 gallon fermentors. A hydrometer measurement showed the wort to be at 1.054 OG, exactly what BeerSmith predicted.

I placed the fermentors in my cool fermentation chamber to let them continue chilling to my desired fermentation temperature of 49°F/9°C; once reached, each batch was hit with 60 seconds of pure O2 before the yeast was pitched, one receiving two rehydrated packs of W-34/70 while the decanted starter of WLP833 was poured into the other. At 36 hours post-pitch, I noticed the WLP833 beer had already developed a kräusen, confirming the experiences of others who have noted longer lag times when using dry yeast.

The W-34/70 beer began showing signs of activity just 12 hours later.

Four days after pitching the yeast, I observed the W-34/70 batch to be noticeably darker in color than the WLP833 beer.

This difference became less stark over time and they looked about the same a few days later. At one week post-pitch, with both beers showing signs of slowed fermentation activity, I began gently ramping the temperature up to 58°F/14°C over the course of a few days to ensure complete attenuation and clean-up of any undesirable fermentation byproducts. After another week, multiple hyrdometer measurements indicated both beers had stabilized at the same finishing gravity.

I then cold crashed and fined the beers with gelatin before kegging them a couple days later. After 12 hours at 50 PSI, I purged the kegs, reduced to my preferred serving pressure, and impatiently pulled samples of each that showed they were already well carbonated and clear. After another week of “lagering,” they were ready for evaluation.

| RESULTS |

A panel of 27 people participated in this xBmt. Each taster, blind to the variable being investigated, was served 2 samples of the beer fermented with Saflager W-34/70 and 1 sample of the beer fermented with WLP833 in different colored opaque cups then instructed to select the odd-beer-out. At this sample size, 14 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to select the sample fermented with WLP833 in order to achieve statistical significance. In the end, 12 tasters (p=0.15) accurately chose the different beer, suggesting participants were not reliably able to distinguish a Märzen fermented with WLP833 German Bock Lager yeast from one fermented with Saflager W-34/70 yeast. Preference ratings of those who were correct on the triangle test were about split with 6 reporting they liked the beer fermented with W-34/70, 4 thinking the WLP833 fermented beer was better, and 2 saying they noticed a difference but had no preference.

My Impressions: A day after kegging and burst carbonating, I performed my first semi-blind triangle test and was able to pick out the WLP833 beer on aroma alone, noting a light, but distinct sulfur note that I’ve always experienced with this strain. Comparing the beers side-by-side, I perceived the one fermented with W-34/70 to have a slightly higher level of malty sweetness, similar to the Vienna Lager fermented with W-34/70 I happened to have on tap at the same time. However, in follow-up triangle tests, I was unable to reliably distinguish the beers, which proved to me how similar they really were. Bias most certainly played a role, though it’s also possible any differences I noticed at first effectively dissipated over the time the beers spent cold conditioning between my initial and later tastings.

As for the beer, I enjoyed it, but felt it wasn’t quite there for me. In my opinion, it tasted more like a Vienna Lager than the toasty Märzen I’d hoped for. For the next batch, I might go with a malt bill consisting of a 60% blend of Munich I and Munich II to get more depth of flavor, balancing it out with 20% Vienna and 20% Pilsner malts.

| DISCUSSION |

I’d used WLP833 German Bock Lager yeast a few times prior to this xBmt and always perceived a distinct yet subtle sulfur note in the finished beers. Initially, I was pretty shocked tasters weren’t able to reliably tell these beers apart, as my first impression was that they were fairly different. However, the longer I had the beers on tap, the more they seemed to converge, eventually to the point it was difficult for me to tell them apart.

The ease of using dry yeasts is something I really love, particularly when it comes to making lager, which traditionally requires large starters that need to be decanted when using liquid strains. Going forward, I plan to use Saflager W-34/70 more often not only because it works well and makes a tasty beer, but because it’s less of a pain, just rehydrate a pack or two for 15 minutes then pitch. I’m certainly not writing off liquid lager yeasts, but the results of this xBmt and my experience with these beers have influenced my perspective on dry yeast. Ultimately, my search for the perfect house lager strain continues, as I’m still after something I experience as a bit more crisp and defined, a search that will include both liquid and dry options.

If you’ve used WLP833 German Bock Lager yeast and/or Saflager W-34/70, or if you have thoughts on this xBmt, please share in the comments section below!

Support Brülosophy In Style!

All designs are available in various colors and sizes on Amazon!

Follow Brülosophy on:

If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support Us page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!

Advertisements

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Tumblr

Email



Like this: Like Loading...