Maibock recipe help

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MBasile

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Hello all, I'm wanting to brew a maibock next but I've been having trouble finding extract recipes to work with. I've pieced this one together but would like some input on it.



Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM)
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
67.21 gm Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min)
21.50 gm Tettnang [4.50 %] (10 min)
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) Yeast-Lager
 
It looks good but I would eliminate the Crystal, maybe sub some more Munich. But I rarely use Crystal in most German brews so maybe I'm biased there.

And make a big starter, stepped up if possible. Very, very important imo.
 
I would skip the crystal.

Munich malt needs to be mashed, but there is munich extract (and more munich wouldn't hurt).

I would use German hops.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone.

It looks good but I would eliminate the Crystal, maybe sub some more Munich. But I rarely use Crystal in most German brews so maybe I'm biased there.

And make a big starter, stepped up if possible. Very, very important imo.

I decided to throw the crystal in there after looking at a few Dead Guy Ale clones. The hop varieties also are influenced by the DGA clones.

I used a little crystal 20L in my first extract maibock. It came out really good, and I ended up making that same recipe several times.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f61/my-bock-americanized-maibock-extract-25036/

I looked at your recipe, but I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "americanized." Could you explain?

I would skip the crystal.

Munich malt needs to be mashed, but there is munich extract (and more munich wouldn't hurt).

I would use German hops.

By steeping the munich, wont I still get flavor without extracting any sugars? Unfortunately my LHBS doesn't have munich extract.
 
By steeping the munich, wont I still get flavor without extracting any sugars? Unfortunately my LHBS doesn't have munich extract.

You will get starch in your beer and it will be hazy. Do a mini mash with Munich and no crystal malts. Maibock should not have any caramel flavor, it should have melanoidin flavor.

Rogue Dead Guy is not a maibock. It is an American Amber ale. Saaz does not belong in Maibock, use Tettnanger instead for something close but German. Maibocks also normally do not have aroma hops. Even flavoring hops is pushing it but I put a small amount in mine.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone.

I looked at your recipe, but I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "americanized." Could you explain?



By steeping the munich, wont I still get flavor without extracting any sugars? Unfortunately my LHBS doesn't have munich extract.

Well, it's "Americanized" because some recipe gurus pointed out that it really isn't an authentic German maibock. I like it, though, and didn't really care if it was authentic. BYO had a similar recipe a couple of years ago, and I've seen others that use crystal malt (just a tad) and non-German hops. I've done more authentic maibocks, but still like this original one.

If you "steep" the Munich malt in the correct amount of water, and at the correct temperature, it's a mash. It can convert itself just fine!
 
I heard Rouge Dead Guy "used to" be a maibock. Rouge still classifies it as one, but I hear they are using their Pacman yeast for it, so it wouldn't be a maibock technically anymore.

I think it looks great, but I would go noble with hops. Hallertau or Tettnanger.

I would lean more to leaving the crystal out, but its your beer. or maybe dropping it to a 20L
 
Maibocks also normally do not have aroma hops. Even flavoring hops is pushing it but I put a small amount in mine.

That is something else I was wondering about. I've seen quite a few recipes with a small amount of flavor/aroma hops, but the style theoretically should be aged for many months, meaning what little aroma there was would have faded away :confused:

Hop selection though will really depend on what morebeer has in stock.

I've altered the recipe now to be 86% pilsner extract, 14% munich malt (steep/"mashed" at 154˚ for 30 minutes) and adjusted the hops a bit. Can't wait until I have a kettle big enough to do full boils so I don't need a butt load of hops for low IBU's!
 
So, incase this thread pops up later, I ended up going with a slightly altered Maibock kit.

The kit was the Mia Wallace MaiBock from More Beer. The kit, assuming full volume boil, would have ended with a bitterness level in the high 50's. Since I'm doing partial boils I used all of the hops provided, which ended up being in upper range of the MaiBock style. I also added enough top off water to get 5.5 gallons and lower the recipe's 1.071 OG to 1.069.

Fermenting with the kind of stinky WLP833 German Bock yeast.
 
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