🍺 Top-down Brew: Festbier

Enter the desired original gravity as specific gravity (1.0XX) or degrees plato (°P).

Style specification: 1.054 to 1.057; 13.3 to 14.0 °P

Enter the desired volume at the end of the boil. The volume units can be either liters, gallons, or US barrels.

Select the preferred unit of measurement for the inputs and outputs. Metric uses liters, grams, and kilograms. US uses gallons, ounces, and pounds. US Barrels (31 gallons = 1 barrel) is in barrels, pounds, and ounces.

Enter the anticipated mash efficiency percentage. If this is not known, try the following values based on the sparge method: Steeping (50%), No-sparge or brew-in-a-bag (65 to 75%), Batch sparge (80%), or Continuous (fly) sparge (85 to 90%).

Enter the name, fermentable %, Lovibond, and yield (SG or percent) with comma separations.

Continental pilsner malt like Weyermann is essential. Jamil Zainasheff suggests a malt composition of 1/3 Vienna, 1/3 Munich, and 1/3 Pilsner. Gordon Strong suggests 60% to 80% pilsener malt, with the rest being Vienna and/or Munich. Small amounts of crystal malt like CaraPils, CaraVienna, or CaraMunich are possible, but some experts feel that these are "out of place."

• Beer-analytics.com festbier analysis
• Brew United's grain database
• BYO magazine grain and adjunct resource

Enter the name, fermentable %, Lovibond, and yield (SG or percent) with comma separations. The grain and sugar percentages must add to 100%.

Sugars are inappropriate. Extract brewers could try mixing 25 to 50% Munich malt extract with Pilsner malt extract.

• BYO magazine sugar resource

Enter the desired bitterness in international bittering units (IBUs).

Style specification: 18 to 25 IBU. The beer-analytics.com averages suggest a BU/GU of .39.

Enter the hop name, IBU %, AA %, and boil minutes with comma separations.

The hops should be German or continental European varieties. Hallertau is the most recommended in the reviewed recipes followed by Tettnang. Using Magnum for bittering and Hallertau for aroma and flavor is a possibility. Saaz is sometimes included as a noble hop possibility, but one source feels that it is too spicy for this style. Most recipes have small amounts of late hop additions.

• Beer-analytics.com festbier analysis
• Brew United hop database
• BYO magazine's hop resources

Enter late boil additions like spices with the name and dosage (grams/liter), with a comma separation.

Spices are not needed for this style.

Enter dry hops with name and dosage (grams/liter), with a comma separation.

Dry hopping is not needed.

Select the yeast type, ale or lager.

Use a clean fermenting lager yeast that produces low diacetyl. Fermentation practices that minimize diacetyl should be used, such as a diacetyl rest.