Style Of The Week 14/6/06 - Bock

[pmolou]

this is gonna sound real stupid but i was wondering if you could brew a bock with an ale yeast if so which one,
if not whats the best dried lager yeast to use???

I'd prefer to use an ale yeast because i'm not racking beer and temperature and i already have ale yeasts and another question if i did use a yeast such as us-56 or abbey II i know i wouldnt produce a bock but what would i produce

eg. on say 1.5kg pale coopers malt
1.5kg dark coopers malt
1.5kg munich partial mash
IBU 25 hallertua

this might be in the wrong section now, started off asking a small question and got carried away haha

advice would be appreciated cheers

 

[oldbugman]

I used to make pseduo lagers using WLP029 during the winter months(16degC) before I had a fermentation fridge.
Results being lager like......debatable.

 

[newguy]

this is gonna sound real stupid but i was wondering if you could brew a bock with an ale yeast if so which one,
if not whats the best dried lager yeast to use???

I'd prefer to use an ale yeast because i'm not racking beer and temperature and i already have ale yeasts and another question if i did use a yeast such as us-56 or abbey II i know i wouldnt produce a bock but what would i produce

You can actually produce very good lagers using lager yeast but at high temperatures. I just brewed 6 of them this spring, 3 using wyeast 2308 munich lager and 3 using wyeast 2112 california lager. For the first week, I kept them all at ~13-15.5C, then I let them warm up to my normal basement temperature of ~19C. I don't transfer any of my beers to secondary either. I just don't like the risk that brings (infection, oxidation). Almost all of the lagers I entered in the AHA's NHC 1st round ended up with a medal except for my vienna. That beer scored 40 but I didn't get a medal. Tough class.

Other lager yeasts that I've heard perform well at ale temperatures (but not actually tried myself) are 2124 Bohemian and 2278 Czech Pils.

As for a clean ale yeast to use, that really depends on the temperature. If you can keep the temperature below ~19-20C, then you have a few options. Wyeast 1056 american, 1007 german, and 1338 european will all work. The kolsch strain, 2565, should also work too, but definitely only if the temperature never gets above 20C. Above 20C, and the only yeast I'd trust would be the 1056 american.

You'll have to find a wyeast/white labs cross reference if you want to use a white labs strain. I'm most familiar with wyeast strains at the moment. Hope this helps.