Gordon Biersch Märzen
Today's sample is another from the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company in San Jose, California. As for explaining the name of this beer, I'll just quote from the website:
Our most popular beer, Märzen is a smooth, mildly sweet, auburn colored lager. This beer originates from Barvaria where it was brewed in March ("Märzen" in German) and stored in caves to be enjoyed during warmer weather. At the end of September, any remaining kegs of Märzen were consumed during the two week celebration which became known as Oktoberfest.
This beer pours with a beautiful amber hue and a nice head that sticks around. The taste is accented by a wonderfully sweet caramel flavor and a mild hop presence. It rings in at 5.7% ABV.
My attempt back in January to brew this style was only minimally successful. My color was way off and the flavor profile is a little too much on the roasted side. The beer tastes good, but it doesn't fit this profile like I wanted it to. I'm going to make another attempt at it sometime in the future, probably in March just for nostalgic purposes. Märzen is traditionally a lager, but since I'm not equipped to ferment a lager properly, I will be making an ale version once again. I think my switch to the all-grain brewing format will help me properly brew this style in the future...
Homebrew – January Marzen
My January Marzen that I made back in January is finally coming of age. This beer has a really nice head and a very dark copper color. The color is actually darker than I intended it to be, probably because I didn't pay enough attention to measurements of my dark malts that went into this brew. The flavor is very rich and the combination of dark malt extract with the roasted barley and crystal malt gives this beer a nice caramel flavor with a toasty finish. This beer took a lot longer than I estimated to carbonate, but as you can see in the photo, that finally came around and looks really good. The flavor and body is excellent also, but it will still mature into more than it is right now. I plan to let this beer sit for several more weeks before I try another one, and I hope to save quite a bit of it to drink in October :)
January Marzen
Today was brew day! I finally, after nearly 8 years of absence from this hobby, brewed 5 gallons of Märzen/Oktoberfest.
Everything went well and all the equipment is working fine with no hitches. I don't like brewing on the stove top, but I don't have my outdoor cooking rig ready to go yet. I still have to build my immersion chiller and get a propane tank. Does anyone have a 20lb propane cylinder that you want to donate to a great cause?!
This is how you have to cool your wort when you are cooking partial batches on the stove top rather than cooking full batches outdoors and using an immersion chiller.
This is my hydrometer test jar and the yeast starter I used in this batch. The yeast was going nicely when I pitched it to the fermenter and my original gravity reading was 1.054, which was just a tad higher than my estimated 1.051.
CLICK HERE to view my brewing log. It contains the details of this brew...
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