Maibock....Dead Guy...?

[mdf191]

I just recently found out that Rouges Dead Guy ale is an american (pacman yeast) twist on german maibocks. I have been planning on brewing a maibock, and was excited to try my hand at lagering, which I have never done before. I have the capacity to lager in a fridge, and I was about ready to embark, when I found out about this dead guy issue.

The problem is I like maibocks, and I have had some pretty tasty ones. But the versions I liked the most were mostly done by american brew pubs and micro brewers, havent had as many german versions. ....But I also really like dead guy and I was pleasantly surprised to find out this tasty beer was brewed in the maibock style. After finding that out, I was inspired to get my maibock "dead guy like". As far as I know all the clone dead guy recipes on this forum are calling for ale yeast strains....mostly california ale yeast (which I believe is kind of a lagerish character, ale temp fermenting strain). Rouge's pacman yeast strain is also ale, as far as I know..

So what do I do, brew a maibock traditionally with lager yeast. Or use a lager yeast but tinker the traditional ingredients to more dead guy like ones. Or should I brew with a Cali Ale Yeast? ...Also does california ale yeast ferment well at lager temps? Because in that case, maybe I would use the ale yeast but ferment at lager temps.

Any insight would be great. And if you have experience lagering maibocks, and like dead guy...even better!

 

[Professor Frink]

Pretty much all of Rogue's beers use Pacman which is an ale yeast. I'm a big fan of Dead Guy, and I just did my first maibock last weekend, it's fermenting away right now.

I think you can go any of those directions and still make a beer you'll like. You can make a maibock that is malty with good bitterness that will be similar to Dead Guy. You can make a Dead Guy clone (you can culture your own Pacman yeast) and ferment cool, and you can also use the Cali Common yeast. If you ferment many ale strains cool, you'll get many characteristics similar to lagers.

 

[mdf191]

bump. I think I want to condense my question a bit..

Can/shoud I use cali common , american ale II, american lager, or traditional german lager yeast, for creating a dead guy like maibock? If I was using the ale yeasts I would be fermenting at lager temps. Or at least thats what I am thinking.

just looking for a few more opinions

 

[Chad]

Bumpity bump bump

I'm in the same position. I like Dead Guy, but I'd like to try it as a more traditional, i.e. lager, maibock. The solution?

My interpretation of Yooper's Dead Guy Clone, but with Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager yeast. I figure that will get me pretty close to the Dead Guy flavor profile, but a bit cleaner and more like a traditional lager.

Recipe:

Recipe: Dead Guy Clone AG II
Brewer: Chad Ward
Style: Mailbock/Helles Bock
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.75 gal
Boil Size: 7.63 gal
Estimated OG: 1.066 SG
Estimated Color: 11.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 31.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
8.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
1.25 oz Pearle [7.80 %] (60 min) Hops 28.1 IBU
0.25 oz Pearle [7.80 %] (20 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.25 oz Pearle [7.80 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2124)

Single infusion mash @ 154° for 60 min

 

[Revvy]

I love Yooper's dead guy clone...I brew it as one of my house beers...I've brewed it with 1338 Euro ALe Yeast, Bottle harvested pacman, and plan on brewing it soon with US-05...I entered the version with the pacman in a contest, and though it didn't place in the "specialty beer" category I entered it in (because it was an ale interpretation of a Mai bock lager) one of the judges (Bjcp Master evidently) raved about it on my score sheet...sadly the other judge who was listed as a "pro brewer" seemed not to get that this was a "styled" ale, and a clone of dead guy....he kept saying over and over on the sheet that this "wasn't a maibock"

bump. I think I want to condense my question a bit..

Can/shoud I use cali common , american ale II, american lager, or traditional german lager yeast, for creating a dead guy like maibock? If I was using the ale yeasts I would be fermenting at lager temps. Or at least thats what I am thinking.

just looking for a few more opinions

If you want to brew a clone of dead guy use one of the ALE yeasts I mentioned above...1338 makes for a pretty close clone of it if you don't have any Pac man....

In the case of Dead Guy, Rogue's brewer ferments it at 58-60 degrees btw. So he's pushing the pacman to the low end of it's fermentation range.

If you want to make a true Mai bock...like that judge would have liked, use a lager yeast and lager it....

But Dead guy is called a Maibock "styled" ALE...so if that's what you want then brew it at the low end of the ale temp range...but still with ale yeast.

Or experiment, brew the clone with lager yeast...it may taste great!

 

[brewt00l]

So what do I do, brew a maibock traditionally with lager yeast. Or use a lager yeast but tinker the traditional ingredients to more dead guy like ones. Or should I brew with a Cali Ale Yeast? ...Also does california ale yeast ferment well at lager temps? Because in that case, maybe I would use the ale yeast but ferment at lager temps.

Any insight would be great. And if you have experience lagering maibocks, and like dead guy...even better!

You do what you want based on your prefs. Once you decide on the strain your going to use, your fermentation temps should be selected to bring out (or perhaps in more appropriate terms, suppress) the qualities of that specific strain. As an example of that, I've brewed my own version of Dead Guy and did it with Kolsch yeast, fermented on the low end temp for that strain and then laggered for two weeks after initial fermentation @ 34 degrees.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I'm in the same position. I like Dead Guy, but I'd like to try it as a more traditional, i.e. lager, maibock.

The Bohemian yeast makes a very, very nice beer indeed. Pitch a nice big starter, ferment around 50*F. I didn't even lager my lager with it, since I ferment lagers in my kegerator, and I didn't want to serve my beer at 32*F for six weeks. It still came out very clean. I don't think you will be disappointed!

 

[Saccharomyces]

I've brewed my own version of Dead Guy and did it with Kolsch yeast, fermented on the low end temp for that strain and then laggered for two weeks after initial fermentation @ 34 degrees.

I haven't tried it yet but I have heard that the Kolsch and Alt yeasts fermented at 58-60*F produce some sulfur character so they are very similar to the profile you get from the German lager yeasts. Did you get any noticeable sulfur character when you did this?

 

[brewt00l]

I haven't tried it yet but I have heard that the Kolsch and Alt yeasts fermented at 58-60*F produce some sulfur character so they are very similar to the profile you get from the German lager yeasts. Did you get any noticeable sulfur character when you did this?

I use Wyeast 2565 and found that it can produce the "pseudo" lager profile pretty well if the temps are kept in check. With the two weeks of laggering, the beer clears and that light sulfury note cleans up and is very faint, barely perceptible. With the beers I have used it in, the mouthfeel is pretty spot-on. Fermented too warm and it gets a winey character that I find unpleasant.