Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Hook's Giant Bock - Doppelbock


On The heels of my Vienna lager, Most Interesting Man, I decided to reuse the lager yeast for a nice big doppelbock. 

As of writing this I am interested to see how this turns out with the WLP940 Mexican lager yeast as it is not a typical yeast for this style. I also have no real idea of how much yeast (or how healthy) I pitched as I poured slurry right from the bottom of my 3 gallon better bottle from the vienna.  If you recall the vienna wound up being...not awesome


The wife and I are big fans of the ABC series Once Upon a Time and I can't go an episode without hearing about how sexy Captain Hook is. I thought I would make fun of her by including him in the beer name and label. 






Brewed On: Jan 29, 2016
Kegged On:
Style: Doppelbock 9A (2015 BJCP)
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Length: 90 min
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.073
FG: 1.019
IBU: 24
ABV: 7.1%
Yeast: WLP940 - Mexican Lager Yeast slurr (from vienna)


Grist Mashed at 154.5 for 40 mins
70% - Weyermann Light Munich -11 lb (Acutally was 7.5 lb Weyermann and 3.5 lb Avangard due to my supplies)
20% - Weyermann Bohemian Pils - 3 lb 2 oz
10% - Weyermann Caramunich - 1 lb 8 oz



Hop Additions
.4 oz - Magnum 14.7% AAU - 60 minutes boil- 24 IBUs


Water Adjustments - 7 gal tap and 2 gal distilled

Calcium (Ca ppm)Magnesium (Mg ppm)Sodium (Na ppm)Chloride (Cl ppm)Sulfate (SO4 ppm)
Jan Estimated Tap4110172645
Estimated Final Beer648137735

Heated 7 gallons of tap water with campden and 4 g CaCl. Used 6 gallons for mash 177° lost 8 to mash tun. Dough in mash 155° for 60 min. Estimated mash pH 5.48. Sparged with remain 1 gallon treated tap and 2 gallon distilled



Tasting Notes: Aroma | Moderately low malt aroma of light prune and toffee. Appearance | Deep copper color with light off-white head which fades very quickly. Mouthfeel | Medium carbonation, medium-full body, low-alcohol warmth, moderately low creaminess, no astringency. Flavor | Moderately High malt of sweet toffee, no real hop flavors, moderately low hop bitterness, very low sulfur otherwise clean, balances towards the malt and finishes slightly sweet.

Overall this is a very drinkable doppelbock since it comes in on the low-end of the abv for style. The beer is lacking in Aroma (very one dimensional) and malt complexity. I think it could benefit from a more traditional bock-style yeast or possibly using a flavor addition of a German noble hop. This would probably be in the low 30s on a score sheet.


At the very least I am pleased that replacing my keg lines fixed a lot of my issues. It appears the yeast was not the culprit since it fermented this beer out fine. Yay!