Traditional Bock

Since I purchased a freezer and temp controller, I’ve been wanting to do a lager. This in addition to the hop shortage led me to a traditional German Bock, since it requires only a small amount of bittering hops. I already have a lot of magnum, so hops are not an issue for this beer.

I began by measuring the grain, and I made a mistake that changed the beer from this point on. I measured out the grain, and the last one was supposed to be a 300L dark grain that I used Chocolate malt for. I needed 8 oz, but mistakenly poured several pounds on top of my grain (the bucket I was measuring from, as opposed to the scoop). I realized it after I poured it in, when it was already too late. To solve the problem, I scooped off as much as I could that wasn’t mixed and put it back. Then I created a mix bag of grains, reducing it to the lowest ratio possible of chocolate malt to the base malt. The end result was I had a little too much chocolate malt making it more of a chocolate bock.

I made a five liter starter using my home made stir plate pictured on the left. Once it reached maximum concentration (nice foam on top), I cooled it in the fridge. This makes the yeast go to the bottom creating a white band at the bottom of the vase. I stirred it up again to get all the yeast back into suspension before pitching it.

Although I knew the grain bill wasn’t perfect, I went ahead with the 10 gallon batch. My son Aaron is shown here helping me scoop grain out and put it in my grain mill as I crush it using a drill. I mashed for an hour, and since I didn’t hit the target temperature I did a small decoction by taking out a pound or so of grain, and boiled it and added it back to the mash. I eventually got it up to about 153F before I mashed out. I transferred about 14 gallons to the boil pot, and boiled for 90 minutes. I lost about 2 gallons due to evaporation, putting the final amount at around 12 gallons. The picture shows the counter-flow chiller being gravity fed. I believe this is far more efficient than immersion chilling, since the wort goes from boiling to the temperature of tap water as the wort siphons out.

It took a while to ferment at 50F–four weeks until it hit 1.022. I let it raise up to about 65F to help it finish, and it just continued to ferment very slowly. I eventually got it down to 1.018.

The finished product was great–a bock with a chocolate flavor in it. I have actually enjoyed it in three forms–the first keg that I chilled after 5 weeks, another keg that it fermented in for several weeks later, and a third keg (2-3 gallons), that I let it sit in a carboy for more time. The best was the second keg, and the worst was the third. I think the third sat for too long at too high of a temperature without a lot of yeast activity, and it tastes oxidized. It is drinkable, but just not as good as the first two kegs. I’ll have to pay attention to oxygen contact when dealing with less than 5 gallon transfers.

Next on deck: Smoked Sour and Cream Ale split batch between two different yeasts.

Filed under: Brew Log, Equipment