Sam Adams Chocolate Bock

[Brett3rThanU]

SWMBO has spoken, my next batch of beer has to be something similar to Sam Adams Chocolate Bock. Here's the information from the website:

Flavor: Distinct aroma of chocolate, toffee and malt. Tastes slightly sweet, full bodied with a finish of fine chocolate.
Color: Deep rich brown
Original Gravity: 17.1° Plato
Alcohol by Vol/Wt: 5.8%ABV – 4.5%ABW
Calories/12 oz.: 237
Malt Varieties: Two-row Harrington, Metcalfe, and Copeland pale malts, Caramel 60, and and Munich 10
Hop Varieties: Tettnang Tettnanger and Spalt Spalter Noble hops
Yeast Strain: Samuel Adams lager yeast

The flavor of the chocolate is developed by aging the beer on a bed of rare dark cocoa nibs. The cocoa nibs, a primary ingredient in chocolate, impart an aroma and flavor of fine chocolate to the beer. As the beer matures, the flavors are released into the liquid to give the brew a complex, full bodied taste and velvety finish. A hint of vanilla is added, also used in making chocolate, to meld the combination of flavors together. This combination of flavors results in a malty, chocolaty, and wonderfully complex bock beer.

So I don't have any experience with Bocks or lagers for that matter, but using Beersmith this is what I have come up with:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 74.07 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 14.81 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.25 oz Spalter [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.0 IBU
0.75 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Lager



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.59 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.06 %
Bitterness: 24.6 IBU Calories: 312 cal/pint
Est Color: 13.9 SRM Color:

I plan to put the chocolate nibs in my secondary with 1 vanilla bean and age it for 2 - 3 weeks on those. Please offer any suggestions, thanks!

 

[BigEd]

It looks like a good start. I'd choose more Munich and less crystal. If the chocolate turns out too light you could add some chocolate extract at the end to give it a boost.

 

[Newton]

I'd add a bunch of prune juice. Thats what that beer tastes like to me, atleast.

 

[RitsiGators]

I just had this at the brewery today and I'm pretty sure it is darker than 13.9 SRM. Even in the tasting glass it was almost black.

They said that they did dry hop with cocoa nibs, so you are definitely going the right direction with that.

 

[k2zr2]

Brewed this on Black Friday 2010. It came out really, really nice.

Check Time Step
11/26/2010 Clean and prepare equipment.
-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.
-- Prepare 4.39 gal water for brewing
-- Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain

-- WARNING: Preheat Mash Tun - No equipment adjustments made!
2 min Mash Ingredients
Mash In: Add 2.50 qt of water at 170.5 F
45 min - Hold mash at 158.0 F for 45 min
2 min Mash Out: Add 1.00 qt of water at 196.6 F
10 min - Hold mash at 168.0 F for 10 min
-- Sparge with 3.52 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 3.90 gal
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.060 SG with all grains/extracts added
Boil for 90 min Boil Ingredients
Boil Amount Item Type
90 min 1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract
90 min 2.75 lb Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM) Dry Extract
90 min 0.75 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (90 min) Hops
10 min 0.25 oz Spalter [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature
-- Add water (as needed) to achieve volume of 3.00 gal
-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.
-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter
Amount Item Type
1 Pkgs Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2124) Yeast-Lager

11/26/2010 Measure Original Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.072 SG)
11/26/2010 Measure Batch Volume: ________ (Estimate: 3.00 gal)
14 days Ferment in primary for 14 days at 55.0 F
12/10/2010 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter
56 days Ferment in secondary for 56 days at 40.0 F
-- Add Ingredients to Secondary
Amount Item Type
3.00 oz Chocolate Nibs (Secondary 4.0 weeks) Misc

2/4/2011 Measure Final Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.020 SG)
-- Bottle beer at 52.0 F with 2.8 oz of dried malt extract.
4.0 Weeks Age for 4.0 Weeks at 52.0 F
3/4/2011 Sample and enjoy!

 

[Brett3rThanU]

Where did you get your chocolate nibs? Also, I'm debating on throwing some cocoa powder at flameout, what do you think?

 

[k2zr2]

Amazon.com actually lol.

 

[Kieran]

On the bottle it says Ecuadorian Cacao Nibs, which I've heard from an Ecuadorian I work with is the darker (Trinitario) variety of cacao. There's also a "rare" nacional cacao that is only grown in Ecuador. It would be interesting to split up a batch like this and try different varieties to see which the SWMBO likes the best.

 

[Brett3rThanU]

I found some ecuadorian cocoa nibs, but now I'm wondering about sanitizing them. How should I go about this if even required?

 

[k2zr2]

I soaked mine in vodka for a day or so.