Skip to main content

In the Fermentor: Prohibition Bock

The Pre-Prohibition American Lager (a.k.a. Classic American Pilsner) has made a comeback. However, back before Prohibition, many American breweries were also producing Bock beers in addition to their pale offerings. With that in mind, I'm attempting to make a Pre-Prohibition Bock. I have no idea how true to form my beer will be, but I think the outcome should be pretty tasty.

Although corn is now used as a cheap adjunct that lightens a beer's body and flavor, it was originally brewed with out of necessity. This is because the six-row barley native to America is harder to work with than European two-row. Unlike two-row, six-row barley is too high in protein to make stable beer. Using 20-30% Corn in the mash dilutes the protein and solves the stability problem. 

Unlike my Classic American Pils, I'm doing a multi-step mash for this beer. The flaked corn is added after the Protein Rest. The Saccharification Rest is done at a fairly high temp to help give the beer greater body.

If you read my Bohemian Kölsch blog, you'll know that I'm not equipped to lager. To that end, I've pressed a German Ale yeast into service yet again. It's worked brilliantly in my first pseudo-lagers, so I hope it works well here too. Like I did with my Oktoberfest, I'm doing a cold bottle conditioning for a month before I pop one open. If the yeast behaves like it did before, the beer should have a bit of lager-like smoothness and clarity.

Here's the recipe for five gallons:

Grains:
9 lbs Rahr Six-Row
2.5 lbs Briess Flaked Corn
8 oz Weyermann CaraMunich III
4 oz Weyermann Dehusked Carafa II

Hops:
0.5 oz Cluster (6.8% a.a.): 90 min
1 oz Spalt Select (5.3% a.a.): 5 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
Wyeast 1007 - German Ale

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 126F for 20 min (Barley only)
Saccharification Rest: 155F for 60 min (Barley and Flaked Corn)
Mashout: 168F for 15 min

Original Gravity:
1.062
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.012

IBU: 19
SRM Color: 14

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
4 Weeks Secondary
4 Weeks Cold Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $15 per case
Commercial Equivalent: Shiner Bock: $25
Savings: $10
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Out of the Bottle: Insert clever use of the word Wit here

My latest Wit was a hit at my friend's birthday party. He especially liked the beer's citrus components. Others found it to be light and refreshing. I heard no Blue Moon comparisons, which actually made me quite happy. Compared to My Wit's End , this beer is much closer to style. Unmalted Wheat is part of the reason, as there's much less grainy sweetness at work. Instead, the beer is crisp and dry. The bitter orange peel really does its thing. The peel's sharp flavor melds nicely with the sweet orange peel I also used. Coriander pushes the beer's spicy character along. If I were to change anything, it would be to dial it back a notch or two. Some light sourdough aromas round out the flavor and aroma. Despite the relatively low ABV of right around 5.0%, the beer sports a fairly hefty body. Overall, I'm quite happy with this Wit. Next time, I'll hold back on the coriander. Maybe I will even take a shot at a Turbid Mash, which sounds like a great sub...
Post a Comment
Read more

In the Fermentor: Wood Aged Quadrupel-Imperial-Doppel-Barley-Weizen-Wee-Sour

Who says you can't have everything? Well, I'm doing just that by creating a beer that combines the best aspects of eight big beer styles: Quadrupel, Imperial Stout, Doppelbock, Barleywine, Weizenbock and Wee Heavy. But wait, there's more! The beer will be aged for year with everyone's favorite bacterias to make a Sour. On top of that, Sherry infused oak cubes will provide that little extra something. A massive grain-bill, plus a healthy dollop of Candi Sugar should push the alcohol content up over 11%. Compensating for the strength is a biting combination of Noble, English and American hops. A Decoction Mash gives the beer an extra bit of German character. Heavily caramelizing the First Runnings provides more depth of flavor than a standard boil. For that extra push over the cliff, 11 malts are working to make the beer one louder. I'm giving this one at least a year of fermentation before I even touch it. Here's the five gallon recipe: Grains: 4 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

In the Fermentor: If at first you don't succeed....

...take another stab at making a Dunkelweizen. My first attempt didn't turn out so great . It actually improved as it aged, but things never quite jelled. I've decided to start over from scratch. I'm hopeful that one of the magic ingredients will be German Dark Wheat. Since my local store doesn't carry it, I ordered some online, because I'm just that insane dedicated when it comes to brewing good beer. The other trick is dehusked roasted malt. In this case, I'm using Dehusked Carafa II. Removing the the husk is supposed to let the malt give your beer a brown hue, without the astringent notes traditional roasted malts can bring. To be safe, I'm using just enough to give me the color I want. My boil time has also been increased to 90 minutes to minimize the risk of DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide) odors in the finished beer that Pilsener malts can sometimes impart. As a final comment, you'll notice below that my Dunkelweizen is a very inexpensive beer to ...
Post a Comment
Read more