Bock Recipe Check Please!

[SJW]

Before i go out and buy the ingredients could i just run this Bock recipre by all you fellas for a quick check, so i dont have to go back into town, like i did when all the extra grain was sugested for my Porter.

1.00 KG Pale 2 Row Malt
1.00 KG Munich Malt
0.30 KG Caramunich
0.20 KG Chocolate Malt
3.00 KG Liquid Light Malt Extract
Hallertauer or Tettnanger Hops to 25 IBU\'s
15 Gm SAAZ
Whirlfloc
Saflager 34/70

In a 15 litre boil about how much hops will i need?

 

[jayse]

One suggestion, I'll throw your way is why not leave out the 1kg pale malt and use 2 kg's of munich malt for a bock.

Cheers Jayse

 

[GMK]

Here are a couple of suggestions improvements:
sub 200gms choc malt with 200gms of Cara Special III dehusked and a more mellow rounded falvour than choc.
sub 1 kg of pale with an extra kg of munich or vienna
add 50gms of dark compound cooking choc from the Pantry...
45 gms of hellartaue for bitering
34/70 is allright - but i think S189 is better or go for a liquid lager yeast.

Hope this helps.

I have made this recipe before - it is good both with and without the dark compound cooking choc.
i think th echoc adds a greater depth and mouth feel.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I second the Munich substitution, kilo each light and dark
No specialty grain, do a 4-5 hour boil (or overnight simmer) to get the color and flavor from melanoidins

my 11% doppelbock was Pils, Light Munich & Dark Munich, double decoction and long boil

smoof as a babies bum after 5 months lagering, very very tasty!

Jovial Monk

 

[Trough Lolly]

1.00 KG Pale 2 Row Malt
1.00 KG Munich Malt
0.30 KG Caramunich
0.20 KG Chocolate Malt
3.00 KG Liquid Light Malt Extract
Hallertauer or Tettnanger Hops to 25 IBU\'s
15 Gm SAAZ
Whirlfloc
Saflager 34/70

IMHO you need more Munich Malt - Bocks need this malt and you should make the Munich Malt the major contributor to your grist bill. As Jayse and Ken (edit: and JM!) suggest, add more munich and I would drop some of the LME - I would leave the pale malt in to ensure that you have plenty of diastatic power in the mash although the munich malt should be fine anyway. If you want to go really full on, ditch the malt extract and replace with an equivalent quantity (points per kilo per litre) of munich malt. Traditional Bocks use plenty of Munich Malt and have OG's of 1.064 - 1.072 (Source: BJCP).

If you must use crystal malts, then the Choc malt will give a roasted complexity and you need to be sure that you want that sort of strong finish to your bock - 200g is fine - no more or you are going expresso with the beer!
You might prefer Caramunich - but its also worth considering using some Crystal malt in lieu of the Caramunich (once again, if you have to use specialty grains). I'm not so sure that the caramunich is going to stand out in amongst a fair bit of Munich - if you keep to only 1kg of Munich, then fine, go for the Caramunich, but if you up the Munich malt, you might want to dial down the Caramunich. (Its not a hard and fast rule, its just my preference - I'm sure others will suggest otherwise and recommend heaps of crystal malt - thats the fun part of making your own beer!)

34/70 is fine - or get some munich or bohemian lager liquid yeast. I'm about to do a bock using #2124 based on a recommendation given by a Wyeast guru in a "Brewing Techniques" article on German Lagers. His recommendation was based on the temperature tolerance and attenuation qualities of the #2124 strain.

Personally, I would bitter with Northern Brewer and then do the aroma and flavouring additions with Hallertau or Tettnanger. I plan on using about 25g of Northern Brewer - I don't want high IBUs for a Bock - its out of style.

Cheers,
TL

 

[SJW]

I second the Munich substitution, kilo each light and dark
No specialty grain, do a 4-5 hour boil (or overnight simmer) to get the color and flavor from melanoidins

Jovial Monk

Whats the go here. I thought the deal was a 1 hour boil/steep @ 68 deg in the ol esky?
4-5 hours that does not sound good if u want to limit tanin extraction.

 

[Trough Lolly]

What tannins? You didn't extract any when you mashed!
I'm stingy - I save the power/gas bills and use Pale Choc Malt!
Cheers,
TL

 

[PostModern]

I second the Munich substitution, kilo each light and dark
No specialty grain, do a 4-5 hour boil (or overnight simmer) to get the color and flavor from melanoidins

Jovial Monk

Whats the go here. I thought the deal was a 1 hour boil/steep @ 68 deg in the ol esky?
4-5 hours that does not sound good if u want to limit tanin extraction.

Sounds to me like SJW here thinks you lauter straight to the fermenter!

Mash the grains for an hour, then lauter into your boiler. Boil for 4-5 hours (seems a lot, but I guess caramelisation is good for a bock) if you have the time. Don't worry about decoctions yet. Get your first mash down well, then look at improving your brews, i reckon.

 

[SJW]

I see da light,
I got the 1 hour mash bit @ 67 deg C,
So for the boil it is 1 hour minimum, i don't think i will have the gas reserves to do a 5 hour boil (full volume)

 

[Jovial_Monk]

simmer it overnight on the kitchen stove, then turn up the heat, add the hops and do a one hour vigorous boil

Jovial Monk