Helles Bock 35th Birthday Maibock

10 lbs German 2-row Pils
3 lbs German Light Munich
1 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L

.5 oz Cluster (Pellets, 7.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.75 oz Cluster (Pellets, 7.00 %AA) boiled 30 min.

1 vial +starter White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager

Mashed at 154F for 60 mins. 1.25 qt/lb



This beer was a big hit at my 35th birthday party. Served it on tap.

Going to make it again this year for birthday #36!!!

I'm going to brew this over the holidays. I'd like to order from BMW, but they don't specifically carry German 2 Row Pilsner Malt. Is Belgian Pilsner the same thing and a good substitute? Either that or Weyermann Pilsners is the closest I can find on BMW. Thanks for posting the recipe. And, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Weyerman is a German Maltster

is it correct that you fermented this at 65?

It seemed a bit high to me, too. I started it at 65 for 2 days and then fermented between 48 - 55 (in a cold garage) for another couple weeks. It's currently lagering so I won't know how it turns out for a couple months. Tasted good going into the secondary, though.

Yeah, I did this schedule:

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 days @ 65F
Additional Fermentation: 3 day diacetyl rest @ 70
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 8 weeks @ 40F

I have batch 2 almost ready to keg, which will be ready for 36th birthday!

Finally got around to kegging, carbing, and tapping this. After only a week on gas @ serving pressure this is by far the best brew I have ever made. Maybe I just finally did everything right, or maybe it's because this is my first lager and they're somehow harder to screw up? Maybe because this being a lager forced me to wait nearly 3 months before tasting it?

Super smooth with some decent lacing after only 7 days carbing up. I'm going to rig a way to counter-pressure bottle some of this and bring it down to the Three Floyd's Brewery's Dark Lord Day Festival near the end of this month. Thanks for posting this recipe. I couldn't be happier with it.

I am almost finished with my second batch of this... I will be brewing this for my birthday until the day I die. I love it! Second batch was as good as the first.

Is it realy important to get it at 40 for the sec fermentation?!

Cant get that low temp in my house, Best place for it will be in the freezer but maybe at 35?!

Beerbuck said:

Is it realy important to get it at 40 for the sec fermentation?!

Cant get that low temp in my house, Best place for it will be in the freezer but maybe at 35?!

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40 is probably on the high end for lagering... You're good at 35F. I've seen 30-35 for good lagering.

Would secondary fermentation be viable in a keg? I haven't lagered before, so I don't know how yeast growth works during the cold fermentation stage.

Brewed this today in anticipation for my dad's birthday. He loves German lagers and not so much American and English ales. I like the ales so that is what I brew most of the time. This should be good and ready by Memorial day to give him 2 cases which will translate into a years+ supply of beer. He will have a beer once every couple of weeks.

The only issue I had was that my LHBS did not have the liquid yeast so I had to go with Saflager 34/70. Not crazy about using dry on my FIRST lager but I am hoping for the best.

pbarning said:

Would secondary fermentation be viable in a keg? I haven't lagered before, so I don't know how yeast growth works during the cold fermentation stage.

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I am going to ask this one again. I just brewed this recipe and I know I will rack to a secondary 10 days in, should I leave it in the secondary for the entire 8 weeks of lagering?

I haven't kegged but I believe lagering in a keg is perfectly fine. But you might want to check in the kegging area of the forum or do a search for lagering in a keg. If your FG is not as low as expected you might want to burp the keg every few days although that might not really be necessary...like I said I haven't kegged yet.

I am a little worried about the 7 days @ 65 degrees. I keep reading that I should be around 45 degrees raise temp to 70 for 3 days then drop to 35 for 8 weeks. Any rational for the higher temp

excaptn said:

I am a little worried about the 7 days @ 65 degrees. I keep reading that I should be around 45 degrees raise temp to 70 for 3 days then drop to 35 for 8 weeks. Any rational for the higher temp

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Environment initially.... It's all I had. But the first two batches were good, so I just kept going with it.

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I just had a bottle of this that was aged 8 months in the bottle. AMAZING. So good this recipe is going to be one of the 3 I make most often. I could not believe how much better it was after a long time in the bottle.