Eizbock

[rockitbob]

I dont mind a real cold filtered beer, not like those novilty ice brews like Cold, Millers, Ice....
So has anyone actually tried to brew one?
I am interested to find out how it can be done and a recipe.
I guess i could make a dopplebock and experiment with some.
Also will it be able to be bottle conditioned without adding more yeast?
If I make a dopplebock and cold filter it will the hops become to much in the eizbock or will the alc. content compensate this?

 

[Trent]

Rotknee
To the best of my knowledge (and I am often wrong) eisbock is a regular Bock, or doppelbock, that is more than just cold filtered. It is lagered at extremely cold temps, to increase the alcohol via ice. EG if ya put a 1080 doppelbock into the lagering tank (say, 23L) and you slowly drop it down to below zero, and as alcohol itself doesnt freeze, the water in the beer will start to form ice, and I guess it takes a while, but you could probably freeze up to one third or so of the whole brew, leaving you with 8L worth of ice, and 16L of beer, not the equivalent of 1080 anymore, but 1115. So, you rack it off the ice, and you have your ice bock, or eisbock. As far as bitterness, I would work out what BU:GU ration ya want for your eisbock, and work out the bitterness you would want for a 1115 OG in a 16L batch, if that makes sense, and use those figures for your hop additions. Eg, for a BU:GU of .5, you will want 57IBU. Hit that IBU level, and then when you rack it off the ice, it should still be well balanced, though the original brew will be fairly overhopped.
Hope this helps some
All the best
Trent
PS As far as regular cold filtering, I wouldnt have a scooby doo how they do it, so maybe they just do what I have told you? T.

 

[MHB]

Using a similar process I have made Apple Slaps, take a good cider at around 8-10% ABV, freeze concentrate it up to about 35% ABV hence the name.

What I found to be most important is to control the rate of cooling. If you can get large crystals of ice to form it is relatively easy to separate out the water (as ice) and the remaining liquor, if you cool too quickly you get as you said a slushie.

What I found worked was to put the cider into a plastic bag, put the bag inside an esky, and put the esky into a chest freezer.

After a couple of days , hang the bag by 1 corner in a fridge set as cold as it will go, cut the other corner off and allow the liquor to drain into a jug leaving the ice in the bag. Its a bit rough for the first couple of months but mellows over time into a very respectable warmer.

I never tried to carbonate the result; I did a couple of experiments with beer but in the early ones I used normal beer, remember that the bitterness concentrates (I wont forget) into your final volume, I recall one of my early experiments came out like 300 IBU soy-sauce, I was looking for a beer liqueur.

Have fun, but I think kegging would save you a pile of grief.

MHB

 

[rockitbob]

Thanks for the response Trent.
I understand the process of making an eizbock, I was wanting to know if anyone has actually attempted it and wheather they altered there hop volumes.
What I was planning on doing was a dopplebock and experiment chilling a portion of it so i dont waste a whole batch. If anyone has any tips please help me. Otherwise I guess it will all be trial and error for me.

MHB sounds intresting might give that a go.

 

[ausdb]

What I was planning on doing was a dopplebock and experiment chilling a portion of it so i dont waste a whole batch. If anyone has any tips please help me. Otherwise I guess it will all be trial and error for me.

BYO did an article on it a while back, not sure which issue but here is it from their web site
http://www.byo.com/recipe/1450.html

HTH

 

[Wreck]

I'm about to bottle a bock, but was thinking of freezing a couple of litres for an eisbock.

Carbonation has been mentioned above, but will I be able to carbonate my beer after freezing? Should I keep a small sample of the yeast from secondary to mix with the beer after I thaw it out for bottling?

Thanks,
Wreck.