Hybrid Maibock

[eaverycale]

SHMBO is working tomorrow, which means I shall be supremely bored. But I do have two nice yeastcakes which are ready to be used. And, as it happens, the homebrew club here in Central Arkansas is having a Maibock/Helles Bock contest next month. So to sip the nonsense and get to business, this is what I am thinking of brewing. Feedback from Bock brewers greatly appreciated:

Batch size: 2gallon, split
Vienna 2lb 42.1%
Munich, dark (L15.5) 1.75lb 36.8%
Pilsner .5lb 10.5%
Maris Otter .5lb 10.5%

Boil 90 minutes

Northern Brewer 9.9AA (Whole Leaf) 60min
Low Alpha Acid Noble Hop (Hallertau? Saaz? I typicall use NZ or English hops, but I know I like Styrian Goldings) 20min

Yeast:
Split into two one-gallon batches.
WLP810- Hybrid Maibock
WLP037- Old Ale? British Strong Ale?

These are my ideas so far, but as I have never brewed a bock I supposed they are likely quite bad, and so comments are requested.

Logic Behind My Choices:
Vienna and Munich- I have used Vienna and like. The Munich I admit to be an experiment. But I deliberately choose to try for a Maibock at the darker end of the scale, to hide somewhat my lack of fining or filtering (I do not fine because for personal drinking the clarity is irrelevant to me, and I hear yeast is high in vitamins and proteins, which makes drinking healthy!)
Mari Otter and Pilsner- to add a bit on the light end of the tongue. Pilsner because it is traditional, MO because I have used it for almost every brew so fair so it leaves wrong to leave it out now.
Northern Brewer- I have it on hand, and it is high AA so I can use little for my bittering
Aroma/Flavour hops- No idea here. Any ideas?
Yeasts- I currently have two Ordinary Bitters, brewed about a week ago, that will be racked to secondary for dry-hopping tomorrow, leaving behind two yeastcakes, one of WLP10 and one of WLP037. My goal is to take the two-gallon wort and split it between these two, making one Hybrid-Maibock and one Old Ale-ish malty British Ale.

Primary Questions: How is my malt bill? Will my yeasts be clean enough? And what hop should I use for flavour/aroma?

And, of last note, I plan to use the enhanced double decoction mash as described on Braukaiser (http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Decoction_Mashing). Any thoughts for or against? I am trying to hit the lower ends of the Helles Bock range, meaning the closer my FG is to 1.011 the better, and the site suggests this method will increase ferment-ability, But, teh golden question, will it increase fermentation overmuch? I do not want an Imperial Kolsch.

 

[giraffe]

810 isnt a great attenuator, and there is pretty much nothing worse than an under attenuated maibock. So treat it kindly, Let it take its time, give it o2 and nutrient. I double decoct, but there are arguments that it is not necessary. Id use a step mash with a split 145-155 sac rest, its easier to ensure fermentability that way.

Some maibocks have little to no hop flavor, some like ayinger, it is pretty noticable. I like something spicy like santiam or tettnager or saaz, but styrian goldings are a lovely hop and wouldnt be bad too.

As for the malt bill, i personally would use more pils. and less darker base malts, but thats preference it should be fine. (though id be worried the dark munich may be too dark, you may wish to use a 6-8L munich or cut the amount a bit) Just use high quality continental ones.

Give the beer alot of cold conditioning after fermentation(~2 months), and it will drop brilliantly clear without finings. For a good maibock you want tannins to fall out too, so the beer is smooth.

 

[eaverycale]

I ended up using the above recipe, except I switched dark Munich for plain old Munich. It may be a bit dark, but not so much as a dopplebock I think. I did a step mash or decoction, I am not entirely sure what to call it: one hour at 140, then pulled 40% and boiled for half an hour and returned to mash. Hops were Northern Brewer at one hour, Domestic Hallertau at 10 minutes, IBUs came out at about 27 I believe (my notes are not in front of me at the moment), then I cooled and pitched one gallon with yeastcake from 810 and one gallon to yeastcake from 037, to see what happens. Original Gravity was only 1.05, though. I believe this is because I did not sparge, maybe? I simply took the first runnings after raising mash to 171.

It smelled tasty, at least, though I am not sure if it is a proper Maibock. Currently the 810 gallon is fermenting at a steady temp of 50-54, the 037 was kept at 60 for a week and I am now raising to 68.