Oak-toberfest?

[Thirsty Mallard]

In October I have been invited to an Oktoberfest held by some friends whose family is all German (real Germans... from Germany). I told them I would brew an Oktoberfest beer for them for the event.

I was thinking of another beer to brew, when I started thinking about maybe making a 10 gallon batch of oktoberfest, fermenting it, then lagering 5 in a keg, and 5 in an oak barrel. I can think of nothing better than coming to an authentic Oktoberfest celebration with a wooden barrel full of Oktoberfest beer!

Does this sound like a good idea, or do you all think that Oktoberfest would be a bad beer for the barrel?

[Chris_J]

Take this with a grain of salt as I have done zero research into the historical aspects of this style. Hell I'm not even sure if that's what you're going for. Maybe just oak 1 gallon? But I was always under the impression that these oak casks were somehow treated on the inside to ensure the contents were not flavoured. I've heard this about English IPAs which were shipped in oak barrels for long periods and can only assume the same is true for German beers. Good luck!

[Bugeater]

It has been my understanding that the inside of those casks were coated with brewers pitch, so there would be virtually no oak flavor added to the IPA's being shipped to India. However, that would not mean that the oak octoberfest wouldn't be tasty. I would try to keep it at just a hint of oak as I think it would be easy to overpower the other flavors.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company