permo

Recipes 

When I first started homebrewing I made the decision to brew ales only, and I am holding to this decision. However, I do have an affinity for rich, malty, German bock style ales. I have drank my share of dead guy ale, so I know this can surely be accomplished with ale yeast. I have come up with a recipe:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 69.84 %
3.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 19.05 %
1.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 9.52 %
0.25 lb Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) Grain 1.59 %
1.00 oz Magnum [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 26.8 IBU

Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.50 %
Est Color: 18.7 SRM
Mash Temp = 155


Now comes the hard part, I am trying to decide on yeast. I have narrowed the yeast down to to options. WLP029 (german ale/kolsch) or pacman. I am leaning quite heavily towards WLP029 pitched at about 50 degrees and allowed to rise to 67 during the course of fermentation. I think this would yield an ale that could easily be passed for a lager. However, pacman does a nice job too. WHichever yeast gets the call I will be using a 4 liter starter and pitching quite cold with tons of O2 and nutrient.
I will give the beer at least 2 weeks in primary, then transfer to a keg and lager for at least two months near freezing.

Any advice on yeast or protocol would be very appreciated. Thanks

Soperbrew

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Looks like you have it figured out pretty well. What advice are you looking for?

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permo

Recipes 

Well, I have never made a bock so I am hoping my recipe is OK, and I am also looking for input on which yeast I should use. I know pacman fermented cold can be super neutral, as can WLP029. If anybody tried something similar I would love to hear about the results.

glockentalk

Recipes 

I did a BrewHouse Dunkel kit with a blend of pacman and English ale yeasts. Tastes great.

CreekBrewery

Recipes 

I would definitely recommend the pacman yeast, it's a super clean yeast when done cold. I did a maibock with it that turned out great.

permo

Recipes 

I am huge fan of pacman, I use it for probably %50 of my ales, I love it. I suppose I could pitch a much larger than usual starter at 50 degrees and let it rise to 60 and hold it there. I think that is the protocol I will use regardless of yeast strain. Luckily bock is quite a malty, strongly flavored beer because I do get a little mineral/earthy/vegatal type of ester from pacman...IPA's and other strongly flavored beers completely hide it though. I just brewed a 1.070 OG american stout with pacman, mashed at 154 and pitched a 1 gallon starter at 55 degrees.....it rose to 61 and was finished at 1.010 in 3 days. Heckuva yeast.

nilo

Recipes 

Would wy1007 German ale be a good option too?

permo

Recipes 

Yes it sure would be....

I have WLP029 and Pacman in my fridge though!