Helles Bock HBT BJCP comp winning Maibock

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Tonedef131

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
1,891
Reaction score
39
Location
Fort Wayne
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
German Bock Lager
Yeast Starter
huge
Batch Size (Gallons)
6
Original Gravity
1.066
Final Gravity
1.015
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
29
Color
6.5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 Days @ 50F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
nope
Tasting Notes
Super malty with a bit of booze.
This recipe won 3rd place of all Lagers in the 2009 HBT BJCP competition. The best way to do this style is to brew it in like January or February and lager it till the grass is green again. I didn't know it before brewing this beer, but Maibock is one of my favorite beers to drink. I entered this in the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup and it won first place in Bock category by beating out the Eisbock that took 1st place at nationals.

Maibock
Mailbock/Helles Bock

Type: All Grain
Date: 1/13/2009
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Brewer: Kyle Alberda
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 40.00 %
6.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 40.00 %
3.00 lb Light Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 20.00 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.90 %] (60 min) Hops 20.9 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer [3.90 %] (30 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) Yeast-Lager

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.066 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.66 %
Bitterness: 29.0 IBU
Calories: 298 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.5 SRM

Single Infusion
60 min Mash at 156.0 F
 
What was your fermentation schedule like for this? Temps?? Definitely want to add this to my week off for Christmas brew schedule!!
 
I pitched at 45 and fermented at 50, it ended up being one of the fastest lager fermentations I have had. I believe it was done in about a week or so, so then I warmed it up a few degrees and racked to a keg after a total of about 2 weeks in the primary. I then lagered it for 3-4 months before carbonating and drinking, but honestly it peaked at about 6 months.
 
I bought my ingredients and am brewing this tomorrow morning. One change, I am fermenting with Wyeast 2000 Budvar Lager. I have it on hand, so I'll give that a shot and save some scratch...

I'll update this thread as I get more info.

Tap handle:
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Scannable QR code:
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I hit my numbers head on and now have 4.25 gallons of 1.069 OG Maibock happily fermenting away at 50º. The wort tasted great with a strong malty backbone and a good push of bittering that has my hopes high.
 
brewed this as an ale using Nottingham (still working on tempcontrol:( )
tasted it at bottling time. tastes pretty damn good! can't wait to try it carbonated, should be fantastic. thanks for the recipe!
 
Well after proper lagering, this has turned out to be a very nice Maibock. Rich, amber, and just dry enough to drink by the maß. I'll get a full review up sometime this week.
 
Did this with Wyeast October fest blend back on the 5th and just finished the D-rest.

Lost my notes on the OG but I think it was upper 60s, FG at 1.017 which is a little disappointing, I mashed at 153, now I wish I would of done a 90 minute at 150 mash. Live and learn.
 
Nice to see people are using this recipe. I think I'm going to brew it again this winter but with a decoction mash and a touch of aroma hops.
 
Brewing this today. Hoping it will be ready by May. Super Excited! One change I am making is mashing at 150 for 90 minutes. Will report back a full review once complete.
 
This is an awesome Maibock recipe!

I just won first place in the Bock/Dunkel category of the 2012 Dominion Cup (Virginia's State-wide HB competition) with this recipe. And it was the first lager I have ever brewed!

Many thanks for the recipe. And to all those considering this one - BREW IT!
 
I don't really recall if I vented the keg at all. I did a primary and secondary ferm. before kegging so the amount of CO2 produced by then would be minimal. I did try to keep the keg pressurized during lagering so the seals stayed tight. Didn't keep it on gas all the time but hit it with some CO2 every once in a while.
 
Did a double decoction for this today with a huge starter. I used 11 gallons RO water treated with 10 grams CaCl (treated strike and sparge water together). Will probably only use 10 gallons next time and 9 grams CaCl in order to get a grist/water ratio closter to 1.5quarts/pound. PH was right on the money at 5.32. Came in at 1.071 with 5 gal into the fermenter. Now sitting in the ferm chamber at 50F. Very good brew day! Cant wait to see how it comes along.
 
Well, its been 17 days this has been in the primary and it hasnt even dropped clear yet. It's got a huge malty smell right now and I'm having a heck of a time keeping myself from sampling it. I'm going to bring it up to ale temps for a D-Rest this weekend, keg it, and then slowly start the degree-per-day drop in the temp down to 34 degrees and let it go for a few months and see how it gets.
 
Just kegged this bad boy today. It sat at ale temps ~68 degrees for 5 days and the final gravity came in at 1.011 or 1.012 (you can see the bubbles) and there is still quite a bit of yeast in suspension. Tasted the hydrometer sample and it's yeasty but OMG. Huge malty flavor without being sweet. The malt flavor lingers in the mouth long after its gone. Its got a bit of alcohol flavor too right now as its so young but man this one is going to be good. Here's a pic of the hydro sample.

Maibock FG 19 November 12.jpg
 
Went to pull a sample of this one after two weeks in the keg at 12 psi and 33F and guess what? It's flat! :( My keg obviously had a leak in it so I took it apart, sanatized the bejeezus out of everything, re-applied my keg lube to the seals, and then pressured it back up and bled off the oxygen (did this last night). Checked it again this morning and now it's holding pressure just fine. I'll keep checking it over the course of the rest of the week and see if it maintains. I've never had a problem with it before though so I'm not sure what happened. Really pisses me off. My OCD hates it when things don't go as planned.
 
Brewing this, but gonna use .5oz Magnum @ 60 and 1oz Hallertauer Mit(4.9AA) at 30 to hopefully end up at 32ish IBU..

The beer is for someone who likes Maibocks, and he let me pick his Magnum and Cascade plants this year since he had no time and they were gigantic.
Promised i'd make him a beer with the hops so here we are...but not knowing the AA is rough..so im just aiming for the mid/high middle of the IBU range.
 
Finished the brew, when i bought the ingredients i didnt realize this was for a 6 gallon batch..

So i ended up @ 1.08 with 5 gallons in the fermenter...made a big ass starter so hopefully this will take off!
My temperature monitor puts my garage in the mid to low 40's, hopefully that will work ok for this yeast, i may have to wrap it up in a blanket or something?

https://cosm.com/feeds/83208
 
Just finished brewing this recipe with a double decoction.

20 minute protein rest at 122

4.5 gallon decoction to bring it to 152 (only hit 149).

40 minute sac rest at 149

4.4 gallon decoction to mash out to 170.
 
Mine will be three months old on the 28th and it is still tasting way young but getting better over time. It came in at 1.071 and you can still really taste the alcohol even though it fermented at 50F for three weeks and then a week at 68. Going to be really good though in another three months or so. Got it sitting in the keg at 40 degrees. I'll get a picture of it in a glass so you guys can see how it's coming along.
 
Just poured this today, sorry about the crappy glass. Turning out really well though! Cant wait to sample it in another three months or so.

Maibock.jpg
 
Is there any advantage to boiling for 90 min when you are adding hops as 60? Will you get better carmelization with that volume? Asking in pure ignorance.
 
The main reason for boiling 90 minutes with this recipe is because it uses Pilsner malt and the 90 minute boil will get rid of DMS which will cause your beer to taste like you brewed it with cream corn. It will add some carelization as well and it also helps when you end up with 8 or so gallons that you have to boil down.
 
brewed this as an ale using Nottingham (still working on tempcontrol:( )
tasted it at bottling time. tastes pretty damn good! can't wait to try it carbonated, should be fantastic. thanks for the recipe!



might try this, let me know how it worked out (I don't have lagering equipment)
 
cooper said:
The main reason for boiling 90 minutes with this recipe is because it uses Pilsner malt and the 90 minute boil will get rid of DMS which will cause your beer to taste like you brewed it with cream corn. It will add some carelization as well and it also helps when you end up with 8 or so gallons that you have to boil down.

I wonder how this is compared to Dead Guy and I wonder how it would work with pacman yeast
 
I'm just curious about the fermentation. The lowest I can go is probably about 68 - 70 degrees. Is that a no no for this beer? I can't get any lower than that right now in the house.
 
i think to be true to style you have to get this down to lagering temps jflongo. my understanding is that you could do it without the proper temps but it wouldn't be the same beer. still drinkable though (but then, what isn't?)
 
I'm just curious about the fermentation. The lowest I can go is probably about 68 - 70 degrees. Is that a no no for this beer? I can't get any lower than that right now in the house.

I think this could be worked out as a German Alt or something like that. Might give Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast a shot and ferment as low as you can.

You can alway buy a plastic blue bin and fill it up about half way with water and rotate frozen water bottles in and out of the water. Wrap an old towl around it to help wick up the cold water. That'll definitely keep it down around 65 at least. Also, another trick is to put a cap full of bleach in the water to keep anything from growing in it while your beer is fermenting.
 
What's the classification for this when you add adjuncts? I've got a very similar brew (lower abv) but it uses rice and wheat. I can't figure out how to class it? Dark lager? Altbier? Cream ale? I'd post the recipe but my notes are on an sd card I don't have a card reader for it
 
This will be my first attempt at making a lager. I plan to brew it this upcoming weekend. A local brewery is hooking me up with some yeast (They make an excellent Maibock)
 
Well i mashed a bit lower about 152 and the yeast did a good job went from 1.070 to 1.013 in about 11 days and tastes great already. Thanks for the recipe op. Will report back in a few months when it's been lagered and is ready :)
 
Looks and sounds great. I'm going to maybe brew this up in a month and pitch onto a munich helles cake.
 

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