Brew # 60 RCE #5 - Bock

[Trollby]

December 27, 2013

Bock / Altbier
--------------
Brewer: Foothiller / Trollby
Style: Traditional Bock
Batch: 2.40 galAll Grain

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.052 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 26 IBU
Recipe Color: 15° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 3.9%

Ingredients
-----------
Aromatic Malt (Belgian) - [Aromatic, malty, nutty]0.12 lb, Grain, Mashed
Melanoidin - [Aromatic, Malty]0.12 lb, Grain, Mashed
Munich (US) - [Amber to dark] [Malty, robust, sweet, nutty]2.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
Vienna (US) - [Amber to deep orange, some body] [Rich, aromatic, malty, slight biscuit]2.50 lb, Grain, Mashed

Hallertauer (Germany) - Noble aroma and flavor very floral, earthy with a little spice (4.4%)0.25 oz, Pellet, 20 minutes
Perle - Flavor hop green minty and spicy0.38 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes

Irish Moss 0.50 unit, Fining, 1/2 tsp for last 10 minutes of boil
Saflager W-34/70 Weihenstephan1.00 unit, Yeast, Temperature Range: 48°-59° F 11.5 GRAMS

Notes
-----
Recipe Notes:
Bock Recipe:
In a 20qt pot add 3 gallons filtered water bring to 165*F
In the Bag add the grains and mix to make sure no lumps.
In second pot had extra water and added 2 quarts more 165* to top off pot.
Maintain 152*F for 60 minutes, stir grains every 15 minutes
Turn heat on stiring grains raise temp to 168*F (Mash-out)
In a second pot have 1 gallon of water ready at 168*F
Remove grains and drain off liquid.
Rinse grains with secondary pot with 168*F waterand add to mash water
Boil Mash for 20 minutes
Add Bittering Hops and boil for 40 min
Add Flavor Hops boil for 10min
Irish Moss and Wort-chiller then Boil last 10 min.
Remove from heat.
Place pot in sink and turn on wort chiller, cool to 64-68*F
Pour into LBK and make sure over top of "Quart" mark on Keg
Sample OG, and aerate wort
Pitch yeast and turn wait 30 min.
Aerate againl
Place keg in cooling device and maintain 48-52*F temp for 16-21 days
Raise temp of devive to 62-66*F for 3 days for the D-rest.
After D-rest lower temp to 48-52*F for 7-10 days then bottle

Batch Notes:
Fall 2013 Recipe Collaboration Exchange: This recipe is for Traditional Bock and Northern German Altbier, by varying the yeast.
Foothiller will do this as two batch, using the different yeasts. (Nottingham and S-23)

Alternatives for hops (AA% / cohumulone %): Hallertauer (4.1-4.6% / 23-26%), Mt Hood (3-8% / 22-27%), Perle (7-9% / 27-35%), Spalt (2.6-6% / 22-29%), Tettnang (3.5-5.5% / 23-29%); alternatively Willamette or Goldings but these are less common for these styles.

Not included this time, but consider for next time if needed: steep 1/4 lb CaraPils & 1/4 lb CaraMunich.

OG = 1.061 @ 65*F

[Inkleg]

YUM! I can't wait to see what changes the different yeast make in theses beers. Looking forward to the follow ups.

[philm00x]

Looking forward to how this turns out for you. I've been developing a recipe not too different from this, but going to use Cali Common yeast to ferment (and will also follow Cali Common lagering profile), with Northern Brewer hops to bitter and Saaz for aroma.

[Foothiller]

Thanks for getting this posted, Trollby. I was just waiting until I could sample the result, which will be this coming week for the Altbier.

As Trollby mentioned, I have done this as two separate batches. That's since my equipment from the kitchen works fine for a single LBK but not larger, and because the temperature in my workroom wasn't ideal for the S-23 yeast yet for the Bock when I wanted to get the Altbier going. My Altbier with the Nottingham yeast had OG=1.061 and FG=1.013, and Bock, which is approaching bottling had OG=1.059. The Bock has been in the LBK for 3 weeks, and its FG has been stable at about 1.013 for 10 days, but from my refractometer samples, I can still taste some diacetyl and acetaldehyde that the yeast is still cleaning up - not surprising given the lager yeast and 60F temperature. So, I'm waiting another week before bottling, at a slightly higher temperature.

I'm looking forward to the results, both from my own tasting and probably entering these in a competition.

[Trollby]

Since I Got busy and every weekend I had a chance to brew was raining in the fall I missed the window to use my propane burner and had to do a 3 gallon batch just the bock.

My kitchen also only allows 3 gallon ag only, so may do a 5 gallon batch next spring

[Foothiller]

I had my first, early sample of the Altbier version last night (a trub bottle). This style will probably need a couple of months of conditioning, but this showed good promise for its final results. I will bottle the Bock version this weekend.

[Trollby]

With these beers I think we will need 2-3 month condition time to bring them to their true flavors.

I plan on the bock bottled The first week Feb since I will be busy until then, D-Rest will be either Jan 20 or 27th then cold crash to 40* until bottle

[Trollby]

01/25/2014

Bottled 23 12oz bottles and had about 5oz to drink left over.
Used 75g booster for about 2.8 CO2

Taste was good, but I may have to do another D-rest in bottles, since was so cold I think the temp was not warm enough at 60*F

FG = 1.018 @ 52*F
ABV = 5.9%

[Foothiller]

As Trollby noted on Jan. 7, these two styles can take 2-3 months of conditioning to develop their flavors. I had a sample of each earlier this week, with 6 weeks of conditioning for my Altbier and 3 weeks for my Bock. It's not surprising that the Bock needed more conditioning. The flavors in the Altbier have been blending over time, with conditioning still in progress. I note in the BJCP guidelines that Altbier typically has extended conditioning. I still detected a flavor similar to acetaldehyde (i.e., cidery), and a Google search told me that this is common with the Nottingham yeast, although it does eventually condition out.

Both samples did seem like they have a lot of promise to be great tasting beers.

[Trollby]

April 16, 2014
RCE Bock first pour from Fall 2013

[Foothiller]

I have been enjoying mine too: an interesting experiment with the same basic recipe for both the Bock and an Altbier, with different yeasts, S-23 and Nottingham, seeking different characteristics. I'm already planning a different experiment next winter when my work room's temperature supports the S-23 yeast for both styles, using the same hops in each, but next varying the mix of grains. Lots of fun to be had in this hobby!