bottle conditioning weizen bock with lager yeast

michaelcalvin · 03-11-2009, 03:43 PM

I have a weizen bock sitting in the primary fermenter (sg = 1070). The yeast I used was white labs Heff IV (wlp 380 i think). I was thinking that I would put this into secondary for a few days, then cool it down and use gelatin or something to drop as much yeast out as possible. Then when I bottle it, I would put a little lager yeast in as well as corn sugar to bottle condition. I thought the lager yeast would be good because they might give the beer a bit more of the lager feel for the bock aspect and probably not acculate to such a large amount in the bottle. Is this a sound idea?

**Edcculus** · 03-11-2009, 03:51 PM

WLP 380 is an ale yeast. You didn't make a bock. You need to use lager yeast and ferment at lower temperatures for the beer to be a lager. Using a lager strain to bottle will not significantly change the flavor of the beer. This is actually the reason why some breweries filter then bottle with a lager strain.

EDIT: underlined smaller text is wrong. I'm keeping it so this post makes sense, but pointing it out so mis-information isn't spread.

michaelcalvin · 03-11-2009, 06:25 PM

style technicalities aside, my question is: if I use gelatin or pvpp or whatever to drop the ale yeast out of my beer in secondary, and then add lager yeast before bottling, is this a good idea? Am i just going to end up with way to much yeast, both ale and lager, or am I going to get a nice small amount of lager yeast that I can cold condition my bottles with. Also, I do believe Rougue uses an ale yeast to make Dead Guy, which they call a Maibock.

**Edcculus** · 03-12-2009, 01:42 AM

I think it would be a lot easier to bottle condition using the existing yeast. I'm almost positive that the reason some breweries bottle with lager yeast is that its more stable for long term aging.

**Malticulous** · 03-12-2009, 02:06 PM

Weizenbock is an ale. Bock simply means it's over 1.066 OG. Germans never use wheat in a lager. Traditionally it's served cloudy, "mit hefe." I would not use a secondary with one.

You can add a gram or two of any dry yeast. It will carb faster and the flavor will not be noticeably changed.

**Edcculus** · 03-13-2009, 12:20 AM

I retract my prior statement (about the style). I saw "bock" and assumed lager. I forgot Weizenbock is just a strong wheat ale. I still say there is no real need to condition with different yeast.