What is the best way to age a Doppelbock?

[Sleepy_D]

I want to make a Doppelbock and age it for the next 6-8 months but I’m not sure the best way to do this. Options I’m considering are:
1: bottle conditioning after primary ferm and then aging/lagering in the bottle
2: bulk aging and then doing option 1
3: keg conditioning and then bulk aging in the keg
Issues are that I don’t have the space to cold store/lager a whole keg for that entire time. I don’t have space to do an entire batch worth of bottles at lagering temps either but I could at least cold store several of the bottles. Would keg conditioning or bottle conditioning followed with storage in the 60s for most of the aging time defeat the purpose of the aging? Does it really need to be lagering temps the whole time to see the benefit?

 

[Beernik]

Is there a reason you need 6 - 8 months of storage other than it is traditional?

A lot of traditional lagering schedules are overkill. You can probably shorten it to a 4 - 12 week range if you want to depending on your OG.

 

[Sleepy_D]

Is there a reason you need 6 - 8 months of storage other than it is traditional?

A lot of traditional lagering schedules are overkill. You can probably shorten it to a 4 - 12 week range if you want to depending on your OG.

I just heard it peaks in that timeframe quality wise, but I typically use cold side finings and much shorter lagering times on my lager. Just haven’t made one this big before

 

[Beernik]

The thing to remember is traditional schedules revolve around seasonal brewing before refrigeration.

The other thing to remember is the point of lagering is that it’s cold. So if you can do cold for shorter, I think you are better off than going warmer for longer.

The general rules of thumb for laggering are:
- divide the GU / 8 = # weeks
- 1 week per degree Plato.

So for a 1.080 (20 Plato) beer the range would be:
- 80 / 8 = 10 weeks (2.5 months)
- 20P = 20 weeks (5 months)

If it was me bottle carbing, I’d lager in the fermentor for a maximum of 6 weeks. Bottle & let it carb for 4 weeks. Lager it another 4 - 6 weeks before serving.

 

[Sleepy_D]

The thing to remember is traditional schedules revolve around seasonal brewing before refrigeration.

The other thing to remember is the point of lagering is that it’s cold. So if you can do cold for shorter, I think you are better off than going warmer for longer.

The general rules of thumb for laggering are:
- divide the GU / 8 = # weeks
- 1 week per degree Plato.

So for a 1.080 (20 Plato) beer the range would be:
- 80 / 8 = 10 weeks (2.5 months)
- 20P = 20 weeks (5 months)

If it was me bottle carbing, I’d lager in the fermentor for a maximum of 6 weeks. Bottle & let it carb for 4 weeks. Lager it another 4 - 6 weeks before serving.

After lagering in the fermentor for 6 weeks would you think you’d need to add more yeast to bottle condition it?

 

[Beernik]

Depends on how flocculating your yeast is & how high your ABV is.

For most yeast, 6 weeks is fine but 8 is pushing it. If your yeast describes itself as high flocculating, you’ll want to cut that down to 2 - 4 weeks.

It’s also my experience that bottle carbing becomes significantly slower for beers over 8% ABV. If you’re over 8%, you might want to consider a shorter bulk lagering phase and longer carb and post-carb phases.

 

[mac_1103]

Well, if you really want traditional, package it in an oak cask and send it to Rome on the back of a donkey.

 

[SFC Rudy]

Bottle it. If it’s high ABV use Lallemand CBC-1.

 

[Sleepy_D]

Bottle it. If it’s high ABV use Lallemand CBC-1.

Maybe my best bet would be to add biofine or gelatin in the fermentor and then use this yeast to bottle condition afterwards

 

[SFC Rudy]

Maybe my best bet would be to add biofine or gelatin in the fermentor and then use this yeast to bottle condition afterwards

How do you calculate how much of that yeast to use?

 

[Sleepy_D]

How do you calculate how much of that yeast to use?

Good question, I have no idea. I don’t think it should matter too terribly much. Maybe someone on here that has experience with it can chime in

 

[mac_1103]

How do you calculate how much of that yeast to use?

You read the manufacturer's recommendations posted on the internet.

"Measure 0.1g of CBC-1 per liter of beer and rehydrate the yeast in 10x its weight of sterile water
for 30 minutes at 30-35°C"

 

[SFC Rudy]

Good question, I have no idea. I don’t think it should matter too terribly much. Maybe someone on here that has experience with it can chime in

CBC-1 works, you only have to add about 2 grams to help the old tired yeast carbonate the bottles. It’s good insurance, I had a batch not carbonate on me once.