Loosely translated, the above saying means "God Save Hops and Malt". A good transition to discuss my next brewing ideas.
First off is a "mocktoberfest"; yes, an Oktoberfest or Märzen style beer fermented with ale yeast instead of lager yeast. I will be brewing it with a combination of Munich and Pilsner malt, for an orange-amber hue. Only hop additions will be modest bittering, and I will ferment it at a cool 60° F with the aid of a brewing refrigerator thermostat. I'll be using Fermentis K-97 yeast, which is derived from the German alt yeasts, known for a clean, crisp profile with few esters. I plan on lagering this post-fermentation until October, when hopefully I will have my draft system up and running, and can celebrate Oktoberfest thousands of miles away from Munich.
Secondly I plan to take the cake of alt yeast and ferment what is known as a "sticke altbier". These are special seasonal brews from alt breweries in Northern Germany, and they have a similar malty profile to altbier but with much higher gravity. 12lbs of Munich malt, 2lbs of wheat, some Caramunich, and some Carafa malt, and it should be a dark, malty, tasty beer, perfect for when weather cools down around here.
Lastly, and this is just me considering some random brew ideas, I may have to try Charlie Papazian's method for sour mash brewing. My idea is as follows:
First, mash a simple pale beer, with about 6 pounds of pale malt, 3 pounds of wheat malt, and 1 pound of crystal or caramel malt. Mash for the standard period until conversion takes place, and then lauter into the kettle. Then I will take maybe 1/2 pound of extra uncrushed barley malt, and put it in a disposable muslin straining bag, tied off loosely at the end to keep the grain in the bag. This I will add to the wort when it has cooled to about 90° F. Then I cover it and leave it for a day or so, at room temperature, and allow the bugs on the unmashed malt to go wild. All kinds of nasties will start swimming around...lactic acid bacteria, particularly...and the wort will get funky and soured. Nothing you would ever want to drink. However, pinch your nose, pull the grain bag out and put the kettle on the stove. Now, open the windows, get the heat going, and boil the soured wort like it was any other brew, adding hops as needed. This will drive off a lot of the worst smells. What will remain in the brew is the sourness, which will give a refreshing tartness to the final beer. I think Fermentis T-58 would make a great estery Belgian yeast for this sort of beer. A sour Belgian style, without the post-fermentation wild yeast/bacteria still hanging around.
