Sam Adams Double Bock

[Kugel]

Many years ago, I was in Connecticut for training and the trainer took us out to dinner at a local Pub. They happened to have Sam Adams Double Bock on tap and we were encouraged to try a pint, because it was, supposedly, a limited seasonal beer and supposed to be very good. Well, let me tell you, IT WAS AWESOME! Very malty and kinda sweet with low IBU's, very smooth and easy to drink. May be the best beer that I've ever had!

BUT, this brew was dangerous! It must have had a very high ABV, but you could not tell it by the taste. It was like a lightly sweet malt candy.

Anyway, I had a pint before dinner, another one during dinner and a third after dinner... Oh my!! I've only been really drunk about 3-4 times in my entire life (60+ years), and this was one of them. At the pub, I had been feeling nice and warm and a little fuzzy - it was cold weather for me - but after we we left the pub, all that alcohol seemed to hit my system all at one time. I was lucky to make up the stairs to my hotel room. And then my bed was spinning around and I had to sleep sitting up in a chair for half the night.

However!! That's a long story to ask if there is a recipe for something like that Sam Adams Double Bock. It was very tasty and I did enjoy it - at least before we left the pub - and I would like to enjoy it again... albeit in much greater moderation!

Good Brewing and God Bless!!

Kugel

 

[doogie]

I remember when that was a good beer. I'd pick up a case or two each year until it became meh.
Fun fact - My college buddy tried to make my daughter's first word be Doublebock - but it was dog.
Following to see if someone has a recipe.

 

[day_trippr]

Check out this pdf from Austin Home Brew for their Sam Adams Double Bock clone...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0618/5005/9011/files/04231.pdf
Cheers!

 

[Kugel]

Check out this pdf from Austin Home Brew for their Sam Adams Double Bock clone...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0618/5005/9011/files/04231.pdf
Cheers!

Thank you sir!

I read through those instructions... Very thorough!

At this point I don't have the equipment to use the method that they describe. Any suggestions on how I might closely approximate that "flavor/taste" using a DME or mixture thereof? Obviously a "High Gravity" beer, yes?

Many Thanks, Good Brewing and God Bless!!

Kugel

 

[lumpher]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0620/0862/3325/files/03776.pdf
If you go for building a recipe rather than get the kit, you can use a neutral hop for the bittering.

 

[day_trippr]

^Assist noted^

Cheers!

 

[Kugel]

Vielen Dank wieder, Meine Herren und BrauMeisters!!

Good Brewing and God Bless!!

Kugel

 

[Civilian]

Check out this pdf from Austin Home Brew for their Sam Adams Double Bock clone...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0618/5005/9011/files/04231.pdf
Cheers!

Anyone made this yet? I am thinking it would be a good candidate for a warm fermented lager.

 

[HM-2]

Anyone made this yet? I am thinking it would be a good candidate for a warm fermented lager.

I've not done this recipe but I have done warm fermented doppelbocks in the past. With 10PSI and a decent Bavarian yeast strain you can get something nearly as good as Triumphator.

It still needs like, 3 months conditioning time though.

 

[danb35]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0618/5005/9011/files/04231.pdf

Just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly--this seems to call for 14 "HBU" of bittering hops. From what I can find, HBU are calculated as wt in oz x AA%--so 14 HBU would be 1 oz of 14% AA hops, or 2 oz of 7% AA, etc. Right so far? So assuming 12%AA for Magnum (which is what Brewfather notes in its ingredient library), that would be 1.17 oz, which results in 38.7 IBU from that, and 44 IBU total (edit: actually, 49 IBU; I'd neglected to enter the Saaz). Again according to Brewfather, that's significantly above the style guidelines (09A, Doppelbock), which top out at 26 IBU. Is there an error somewhere (my thinking, Brewfather's calculations, its copy of the style guidelines, somewhere else)? Or is this beer just more bitter than the guidelines call for?

 

[doogie]

From what I can find, HBU are calculated as wt in oz x AA%--

You missed the utilization rate in the calculation - I don't have access to my formulas right now, but the utilization rate maxes out around .33 when you are boiling for 45 minutes or so. At boil times less than that utilization will decrease.

 

[danb35]

You missed the utilization rate in the calculation

For HBU? Because utilization isn't stated as a factor for calculating HBU in the sources I'm finding on Google, e.g.:
https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/CfPWSONzyd/https://homebrewing.org/pages/what-is-an-hbu-packhttps://www.midwestsupplies.com/blogs/bottled-knowledge/what-are-alpha-acids-aaus-hbus-and-ibushttps://austinhomebrew.com/blogs/austin-homebrew-blog/home-bittering-units
All of those, unless I'm misreading them, define HBU as simply oz * AA%.

 

[doogie]

All of those, unless I'm misreading them, define HBU as simply oz * AA%.

This is what I was referring to IBU Calc

 

[danb35]

Maybe I wasn't very clear with my question. I'm not asking how to calculate IBUs; I have software (Brewfather) for that--if I give it weight, AA%, and the other relevant factors, it'll give me IBUs (which are right in line what what the calculator you linked gives). But the recipe linked up-thread doesn't give weight and AA%; it gives HBUs. And if I convert those, as I understand the links above to instruct, to 1.17 oz of Magnum at 12% AA (which should yield 14 HBU, which is what the recipe calls for) for 60 minutes, Brewfather tells me the overall recipe gives 49 IBU, which is nearly double the maximum for the style.

So, if the recipe as I understand it gives 49 IBUs, and the BJCP guidelines for a Doppelbock top out at 26 IBUs, that makes me wonder what's going on:

• Am I misunderstanding the recipe, specifically in converting the "14 HBU" of bittering hops it calls for?
• Have I selected the wrong style?
• Does Brewfather have an error in the style guidelines?
• Is Sam Adams' beer just twice as bitter as the guidelines call for?
• Or is it something else?

 

[Dr_AculaLXIX]

Maybe add half of the hops? Yet IBU Calc still gives 27 IBUs
Found this thread while planning to brew a Doppelbock, but hopping got me thinking since I'm not planning on buying the kit

 

[Red over White]

This is what Jim K mailed me in the early 90's. As the original brew was 6% (likely due to state restrictions at the time between beer and malt liquor in some states), I would bitter to the high side of the style guidelines, if you have higher attenuation you could back off the bitterness a touch, maybe. Early craft beers were pretty chewy and not as balanced as the European styles they were emulating IMO.

 

[HM-2]

1.084 OG...that FG must be huge.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

Many years ago, I was in Connecticut for training and the trainer took us out to dinner at a local Pub. They happened to have Sam Adams Double Bock on tap and we were encouraged to try a pint, because it was, supposedly, a limited seasonal beer and supposed to be very good. Well, let me tell you, IT WAS AWESOME! Very malty and kinda sweet with low IBU's, very smooth and easy to drink. May be the best beer that I've ever had!

BUT, this brew was dangerous! It must have had a very high ABV, but you could not tell it by the taste. It was like a lightly sweet malt candy.

Anyway, I had a pint before dinner, another one during dinner and a third after dinner... Oh my!! I've only been really drunk about 3-4 times in my entire life (60+ years), and this was one of them. At the pub, I had been feeling nice and warm and a little fuzzy - it was cold weather for me - but after we we left the pub, all that alcohol seemed to hit my system all at one time. I was lucky to make up the stairs to my hotel room. And then my bed was spinning around and I had to sleep sitting up in a chair for half the night.

However!! That's a long story to ask if there is a recipe for something like that Sam Adams Double Bock. It was very tasty and I did enjoy it - at least before we left the pub - and I would like to enjoy it again... albeit in much greater moderation!

Good Brewing and God Bless!!

Kugel

3 pints? That is what we call a cheap date!

 

[Red over White]

1.084 OG...that FG must be huge.

Right! Plugged the numbers into brewers friend, I'm guessing it must have been liquored back to get everything to line up?

 

[doogie]

A quick google and I found ABV x . 8=ABW So, it was 7.5% ABV

 

[HM-2]

1.027ish FG then. Still pretty big! I tend to shoot for 1.018 for my doppelbocks.

 

[danb35]

Brewed this yesterday afternoon, changing the bittering addition to about 18 IBU worth of Magnum, which in my case was .5 oz at 16.2%, otherwise following the recipe from Austin Home Brew. The online calculators called for a massive starter, which I downsized to 4.5L at a gravity of 1.050 (a little high). WY2206 took a long time to start in the starter, but pitching the starter got the beer itself bubbling merrily by the next morning, about 12 hours after pitching.