Dunkles Bock Traditional Bock

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SpanishCastleAle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
4,339
Reaction score
47
Location
Central Florida
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast Bohemian Lager #2124
Yeast Starter
Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.75
Original Gravity
1.067
Final Gravity
1.015
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
26
Color
19
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
11 @ 48 F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
30 @ 48 F
Additional Fermentation
60 @ 34 F
Tasting Notes
Malty with some toasty and caramel flavors, no roasted flavor. Clean and balanced.
This brew was about 82% brewhouse efficiency.

All the German malts were Weyermann, Special B was Castle IIRC.
6# German Pils
3# German Light Munich
3# German Dark Munich
.75# German Caramunich II
.25# Belgian Special B
.125# German Carafa Special II

All whole hops from Hops Direct.
.5 oz. Hallertau 4.5% FWH
.25 oz. Magnum 14% 60 min.
.75 oz. Hallertau 4.5% 60 min.
.5 oz. Hallertau 4.5% 10 min.

Single-infusion mash @ ~149 F for 1 hour.

The short primary fermentation time is only because I rack it to a corny before it's done and then let it naturally carbonate during the next month. Then to the cold conditioning phase which lasts...as long as you can stand it! At least a month though. Any good lager fermentation schedule should be fine just give it more time conditioning than a typical low-gravity lager.

Also, I added ~1 tsp. of Calcium Carbonate (chalk) to the mash (not to the sparge water). I used approx. 20 qt. mash water.
 
This beer scored 44 in the first round of the 2009 HBT Competition and took first for the Lager category. Good for a sweet mash paddle.:rockin:
 
Hey Spanish: I was going to brew a bock this winter and whom do I see in the recipe section....Spanish!!! I have chosen your recipe for my Bock. Last winter you and I were clone brewers. Seems you have surged ahead. I can't lager during the warmer months. My "green cold room" (old basement oil tank room) is holding 45F(8C) thanks to mother nature. This wknd I am brewing an Oktoberfest, then a Bock onto the trub in a few weeks. If I keep the bock @ 45F how long do you think I will need to keep it in the primary. When the bock is done I hope to brew another Boh Pils while the winter is still here.
Glad to see you are still cranking out the brews. I still haven't brewed the Belgian Dubel. I was gonna do it late Spring but time slipped away. On schedule for this coming late Spring. Later, Charlie
 
Okay so here are the taste results from a long ago brewed beer just carbonated and tapped today. It is not quite carbonated but couldn't wait. I got to say this is one of the best brews I have ever made. Malt is strong with a nice smooth alcohol finish. When this is properly carbed it will be perfect.
I brewed this over our huge(5 ft. snowfall) period in early February. I couldn't do anything else so I brewed. I used my cellar temps to primary ferment(an old coal room @ 45-50F) then moved near a cellar door @ temps closer to 40F. The beer is crystal clear, no diacetyl, and won't last long.
Spanish thanks for a great recipe:mug::mug::mug: Charlie
Your Belgian Dub. is up next
 
Glad you like it! I still have 3 bottles from that batch but I'll prob wait until winter to drink them. And thanks for reminding me, I need to start planning for another to be ready for winter.:mug:
 
I transferred to a corny keg last night and tasted the sample...no diacetyl so far as I can tell.

Another question:

I assume you are not transferring again after you rack to the keg and naturally carbonate. How much crud do you get when you first start serving this one? Also, do you cut off or bend your dip tube at all? Seems like there's be a lot of sediment on this, at least at first.
 
I transferred to a corny keg last night and tasted the sample...no diacetyl so far as I can tell.

Another question:

I assume you are not transferring again after you rack to the keg and naturally carbonate. How much crud do you get when you first start serving this one? Also, do you cut off or bend your dip tube at all? Seems like there's be a lot of sediment on this, at least at first.
I do a closed keg-to-keg transfer after it carbonates. I carbonate in pin-locks (I designated my only 2 pin-locks to carbonating lagers) and I did cut the diptubes a little. I serve from ball-locks and genarally don't cut/bend the diptube in those.
 
I'm about to attempt this recipe tomorrow and I've got a question for you regarding fermentation. This is my first lager so I'm not sure how the process works...I plan on fermenting in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy placed inside a keezer with temperature control. So, I understand that it first needs to ferment at ~45-50. Then, at some point I realize that I need to lager it at colder temperatures for (as you stated) as long as I can stand it. What do I do with it after that? Is it safe to bottle after that period? I plan on bottle conditioning it. Do you let it carbonate before you lager it? I'm just a bit confused on the process. Thanks for your help in advance!
 
I serve in kegs so I carbonate it before cold-conditioning (or rather as I'm conditioning).

For bottling; I would ferment it fully, bottle it, then cold-condition. There is more than one way to do it.

Check out Kaiser's Fermenting Lagers. It shows some different ways to do it. I'd try to keep it relatively simple at first.
 
I have this recipe fermenting in my keezer now. Its hopefully going to be ready for lagering in the next couple of days.
 
BTW, for anyone following this thread...I have a couple of questions. I'm basically following the same fermentation schedule as the author above. I left the beer in the primary until the gravity was 1.019 (expected FG 1.017?). I then racked to a corny and I'm allowing it to carbonate naturally now. I don't quite have enough time to leave it in there for a full 30 days as the recipe says (I want to enter it in a contest that's due on 2/25), so I was wondering when it would be okay to go ahead and start the lagering phase? I think its been in the corny for about 8 days now.

Update: I went ahead and checked my gravity tonight and it looks like I'm sitting right around 1.016. Should I go ahead and start lagering it now? Is there any reason I need to let it keep fermenting at 48 deg.? Thanks for your help, this is my first lager!
 
Well, the good thing is that I can let it lager up until the day I bottle it and hand deliver it to the drop off location on the last day (2/25). So, that will give it about 6 weeks of lagering time. Hopefully that will give it enough time to become a decent beer? The sample I tasted while checking gravity was already quite nice.
 
I bottled a case if this beer this weekend and started "tasting" it last night...All I can say is WOW! This is an excellent Bock! Just in time for Cincinnati's bockfest weekend the first weekend in March, I can't wait to share this with everybody. I wish I would have made more than just 5 gallons.
 
Anyone got a pic of this in a glass? I'd sure love to see it! Got a helles and a German pils goin right now but this might be next!
 
I brewed up a batch of this over the weekend. Made a few mistakes. I missed the fact that it's supposed to be a 90 minute boil. I got an O.G. of 1.058 mostly because of the shortened boil. Had to sub Tettnang for the Hallertau as my LHBS was out. I also went with Wyeast 2112 as I can't ferment at 48 F and I plan on doing an actual steam beer later this winter.

I have a question about the IBUs. I used pellets instead of whole hops and my AA levels were slightly different from the recipe (but not much.) I put the hops in the Hopville calculator http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe and get 34.8 IBUs. Even with leaf hops and the AA levels from the recipe here, I'm way over 26 IBUs. So my question is how was this number reached? I assume it has a lot to do with the first wort hop calculation, but that's just a guess. It's not going to be the award winning beer it should be, but I'm still excited to see how it turns out. Leaves me plenty of room for improvement :)
 
This brew was about 82% brewhouse efficiency.

All the German malts were Weyermann, Special B was Castle IIRC.
6# German Pils
3# German Light Munich
3# German Dark Munich
.75# German Caramunich II
.25# Belgian Special B
.125# German Carafa Special II

All whole hops from Hops Direct.
.5 oz. Hallertau 4.5% FWH
.25 oz. Magnum 14% 60 min.
.75 oz. Hallertau 4.5% 60 min.
.5 oz. Hallertau 4.5% 10 min.

Single-infusion mash @ ~149 F for 1 hour.

The short primary fermentation time is only because I rack it to a corny before it's done and then let it naturally carbonate during the next month. Then to the cold conditioning phase which lasts...as long as you can stand it! At least a month though. Any good lager fermentation schedule should be fine just give it more time conditioning than a typical low-gravity lager.

Also, I added ~1 tsp. of Calcium Carbonate (chalk) to the mash (not to the sparge water). I used approx. 20 qt. mash water.


Sorry if this is a total noob question, Im new to the boards but not to brewing. What does FWH stand for listed next to the first Hallertau addition? Thanks

Edit: I figured out what the abbreviation is, just couldnt put the words together.
 
I'm brewing it today as my first lager....had a request for a bock, fermentation chamber is ready to go!
 
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