Johann Sebastian Bock Sampling

So Old Johann has only been lagering for two weeks, but I sneaked a sample. It's very good! F.G. is 1.023, a little higher than I wanted, so it's a little sweet, but oh that malty goodness. It's a dark copper color, with a thick creamy cream-colored head. Slightly toasty, with just a bit too much hop bitterness, which hopefully will mellow with more lager time. There is also a hint of sulfur, I hope this will dissapate with some more lagering. Clarity is excellent, crystal clear.

I definitely plan to let this lager for another 2 to 4 weeks, but I know it will be hard not to sample more while I'm waiting. I have 10 gallons of it, so a few samples won't hurt. I think this will be one to enter in contests, although the high F.G. might hurt me a little.

"How's your bock doing?"

Ben asked about my bock in the comment section of the last post, like he was asking about a member of my family. That's the great thing about the homebrewing community, it's like one big happy family.

Well Ben, and the four other readers of this blog, my bock is doing just fine. I brought it upstairs to the brew closet yesterday for a diacetyl rest. Probably a little late for that, since it has been sitting in primary for 30 days, but who knows, maybe there's a little fermentation to finish out at higher temps. I roused the yeast just by jostling the carboy as I carried it up the stairs. Note to self, find a way to not carry 11 gallons of beer in heavy glass carboys up stairs.

Once I free up some kegs, probably today at my Superbowl party, I'll rack it to the kegs, and lager it in the kegerator for 6 weeks. That means my Johann Sebastian Bock will be ready in time for the birthdate of its namesake.

Johann Sebastian Bock

That's what I calling this one, Johann Sebastian Bock. And here's the recipe:

Batch size: 11.5 gallons

Malt:

10 lbs vienna malt
10 lbs dark munich malt
2 lbs 2-row (just use 12 lbs vienna if you have it, I did not)
2 lbs caramel 10L
1 lb melanoidin malt
6 oz chocolate malt

Hops:
1 oz galena 13.1% 60 minutes (use perle if you have it)
1 oz hallertau 3.9% 15 minutes
1.1 oz Saaz (mine was homegrown) 15 minutes

Yeast:

Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager
Make a 1.5 gallon starter with 3 lbs DME ahead of time

Mash type: decoction (a double infusion would work too)
30 minutes 144F
30 minutes 154F

O.G. of 10 gallons wort: 1.062
O.G. of 1.5 gallons starter: 1.084 (I fermented the starter cool, and used the liquid)
estimated total O.G. 1.065

primary fermentation: 2 weeks at 50F

secondary: lager at 33F for 7 weeks

The bock is done!

I said right in the title that one purpose of this blog is to learn from my mistakes, so instead of describing the whole brewday in detail, I'll just tell you what I did wrong.

1. Didn't have the right ingredients on hand. I ended up brewing something different than I had planned. (Traditional bock vs. Maibock)
2. Didn't stir the mash well enough before attempting to adjust the temperature. I checked the mash temp and it was around 160F--I panicked because I thought all my enzymes were starting to denature! I knew my strike water was a little warm, but the mash tun ws coming up from the 50F basement, and I wanted to mash fairly high, so I thought I would be fine. I added cold water to the mash to compensate. Once I did this, I stirred thoroughly and came up with 144F. There was no way I dropped it 16 degrees, meaning that my original temperature wasn't 160F--I just measured a hotspot. Since the mash tun was full, I couldn't add more hot water and I ended up doing a decoction to bring the mash temperature up, which is what you're actually supposed to do for this style. My efficiency was a bit higher than normal with this method too--85%, so it worked out ok.
3. Didn't have my fermenters cleaned and sanitized by the time I was ready to fill them. I usually do this during the mash or boil, but with the decoction going on, I didn't have time to do it during the mash. Also, I thought a friend was coming over to help brew, so I wasn't that concerned that I only had one fermenter ready to go. I had to rack my superbowl stout from a carboy to a keg, and clean and sanitize it. It added a lot of time to my brewday.
4. I didn't want to have frozen hozens, so I didn't use my immersion chiller outside. I figured there is an almost unlimited snow on the ground now, so I would draw off about 4 gallons of wort in another pot, and chill it in a snowbank. I would then bring the brewpot with the rest of wort inside, and chill it with the chiller hooked up to the kitchen sink. Well, the snowbank chilling method isn't very fast, and bringing up hoses and connecting up the adapters to the kitchen sink is a big pain in the ass. Also, my brew pot with 8 gallons of wort in it is still very heavy. More work and more time added to the brewday.
5. I didn't use hopsocks, so of course I clogged the screen on my brewpot. More PITA, more time.

But it's all done now. I've got about 11.5 gallons of bock fermenting. Plus I made about 4 gallons of an ale on the stove with the 3rd runnings from the lauter tun with some malt extract added to up the O.G. (I didn't want to wait 3 months for the lager to be done).

I'm beat now, and have to get ready for a potluck dinner. (I'm bringing homebrew). I'll post the recipe(s) tomorrow.

Change of plans

OK, so the LHBS was out of pilsner malt. Can you believe it? It's a brewing staple and they were out. Oh well, they say necessity is the mother of invention. In this case it was scarcity, but regardless, I improvised. I bought up a bunch of vienna and munich malt and am now making a traditional bock instead of the maibock I made the shopping list for below.

I like to prep stuff ahead of time, hence the starter already going. I also ground the grain tonight, and have my hot liquor tun full of water that I've already treated with a half of campdem tab to clear up any chlorine or chloramine. It's got an electric heater in it set up to a timer to go off at 5am, so the water will be at strike temperature when I start the mash about 8am. Speaking of the HLT, why is it called that? You never put liquor in it. I think it should be called the hot water tun.

Also, Ben Spiegel asked for some photos in his last comment, so here they are:


Mill with Drill attached





Hot Liquor Tank




Closeup of the electric heater