yes a bock is strong but you shouldnt notice the alcohol
until the next morniing. Must be careful
2 Likes
So when I get to Miabock… use the same OG?..
Boy, the home brewers are all over the place about decoction… Some agree, others don’t… Some don’t have the dark malts in, but rather cap the mash before sparging…Steeping (mini-mash) dark malts… Malliard occurs at 280*F and above and so on and so forth… There are some die-hards that swear the method does enhance the brew…
Even a Brulosophy X-beerment found the general peeps couldn’t confirm it works… BUT… that was a hoppy Pils… I think the method adds a delicate malt enhancement… 
I’ll stay on decocting through my lager series… I’ll come up with my own conclusion… I have a head ache from so much computer time reading… Time fer a brew! 
Sneezles61
I know that a beer in 2019 that was judged by some to be the best lager was from a small brewery in Germany, with ironically an American Brewer, and they decocted their Pilsner. It was basically the only beer they made at the brewery. It was an article in craft beer and brewing I believe.
1 Like
earlier in my brewing i would add dark malt to my doppel just for color but not anymore. I never carred for the end result. doing a longer harder boil and a decoction will darken it a bit.
Oh geez… now I shouldn’t use some chocolate malt? 
Well, do I stir less then and let it buck for an hour … or something like that?
I like an adventure… 
Sneezles61
carafa special II if anything. Some of the mass produced Bocks used to just add caramel coloring and called it a bock.
I’ve never used any of the carafa’s before… And I will brew before it could show up… If I can’t darken it up by decoction boiling at the end of the mash… I can have a mini mash of chocolate malt ready to be employed…
Sneezles61
why are you so hung up on the color? What are you looking for co;lor wise? I was told you dont add an ingredient just for color.
To me, in the deep throws of winter, a dark bock (ruby) is synonymous… I’m not trying for a flavored amber… porter or the such… There is a balancing act to getting some dark color and not being able to taste it…
Thats what drives my taste buds"… 
Sneezles61
2 Likes
the video is quite funny. I love the tasting guy. “need to work a bit on me timing”. Personally i think he went to dark on the color.
Yes… a bit too brown… "I’ve gotta work on my technique " too… I’ve slowed down quite a bit…
I’ve got noble hops… and 34/70 will be employed…
Sneezles61
I guess I did add midnight wheat primarily for color in my last bock…but it came out well. here it is for your consideration:
The attached pic shows the ruby color desired.
1 Like
i dont see the picture just the recipe. I think the bit of midnight wheat works. Hows it taste? Was 52 your mash temperatue?
1 Like
152* was mash temp. The picture is toward the bottom of the linked page.
It was a very drinkable Bock, I was aiming for traditional/malty but no chocolate or coffee taste.
1 Like
Yes, very nice ruby color… Grainbill looks good too… I wonder ifn cutting off a pound of Munich and sub in a pound of wheat… only for a long head retention…
Here I am… romanticizing about a frothy head all the way to the end of a slowly sipped schooner… full of a ruby red elixir! (alarm clock goes here)!!!
Sneezles61
1 Like
Today is brew day for my Bock… I saved yeast from my first lager… its about 7 days in a jar, with a Saran Wrap cover over it… I looked a few minutes ago… seems it was not sealed up well… BUT… there is about 1" cap of Apple Joose covering it… I don’t see anything funky growing on it either… Should I not use it? I do have more lager dry yeast I can use… which I think I should do and not risk it…
Sneezles61
EDIT: mashed in for a beta rest @ 144F… After about 1/2 hour, pulled out some and decocted it… I boiled that portion for 1/2 hour…Dumped this in… I’ll let this rest for 1/2 hour, now at 158F…
EDIT…again: Well, I screwed up… 4.5 gallons into the fermenter… 1.074… More of an amber… I did a mash out decoction… boiled until the wort was gone… I could not get it to get really dark… I did a mini-mash with 2 oz chocolate malt… I bet it will be… BEER! I better call it “ol’ squinty eye”…
Cipherin’ up a doppelbock recipe today.
Using barke Munich Malt for the majority but I have some Weyermann Munich malt to use up also.
Of interest is that with Munich heavy recipes like this you have to be aware of the diastatic power of the malt. I recently found out that Munich malt is a de facto crystal malt…
… And that at the somewhat lower mash pH’s I typically use, there may not be conversion. So I’m going with 5.4 on this one.
1 Like
I’ve not done a full Munich base malt… brew… But like you Voodoo, I’m of the same understanding… I wonder how going 50/50 would do? Since its going to be a wee bit stronger… you may end up with the Munich malt character?
My “bock” didn’t turn out as I had hoped… So I boiled up half gallon of water… added 2 oz of Cascades… cooled and added to this big brew I recently made… (It was clocking in a 9%… and thats about 3% more than I care for…) Hope to get it a bit more hoppy and call it… MiaBock? It can go into the snow bank till it melts…
Next week I’ll go for a ruby “up north bock”…
Sneezles61
1 Like
Revised version of my Doppelbock, sports a respectable 71 diastatic power. Added 2 pounds German pils in place of a like amount of Munich malt. Now I just need to order it from our host.
1 Like
