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Has anyone made a Bock style beer? What kit would you recommend and is the result worth it?

From reading Oliver and Geoff's description of what a Bock is (I dont think that I have ever tasted a true Bock beer) I am keen to give it a go.

So any advice out there? What should I go with?

Thanks in advance

Conrad

I would also LOVE to be able to replicate Schofferhofer Hefeweizen. I have fallen in love with this fantastic brew and would love to be able to make a 23ltr brew instead of buying them at $80 a slab.

So what is my best bet for this one?

Cheers,

Conrad

ESB make a straight Bock Kit.

Krout,

Are they any good? You done one? Are there "converter kits" that would make it more authentic?

Cheers,

Conrad

I made a cracking Bock a while back.

1.7kg Gold Rush Australian Lager
1kg Dark LME
1kg Porter Pack (Grain)
12g Mittlefrau
Southern German yeast (White Labs)

If anything I'd go a bit easier on the chocolatey flavours. Maybe substitute the 1kg Dark LME with half light and half dark.

Conrad wrote:Krout,

Are they any good? You done one? Are there "converter kits" that would make it more authentic?

ESB's 3Kgs kits contain all you require, no need to add any converter kits.
http://esbeer.com.au/ for the shop. I know in Melbourne Grain and Grape and that shop next to Vic market sell ESB 3 Kgs kits

http://www.hbkitreviews.com/ for reviews

If you can, do yourself a favor and try the ESB 15 Kgs kits, yummy (grain and grape in Melbourne).

Black Rock also make a Bock. Mine came out pretty good with the addition of 500gm LME, 300 Dextrose, 200 Corn, bottled half with sugar (sucrose), half with dextrose, preferred the former.

peterd

Conrad

Unfortunately I haven't use the ESB Bock kit.
But I'm sure someone here will have.

BK

hey Evo, how many litres did you make yours up to? do you recall the OG?
all this bock talk has gotten to me.. gonna try one after putting down a stout this weekend.

The ESB bock kit is being very good. Add a can of malt extract and make a doppelbock if you wish. Note that Bock is Lager, needs to be fermented with lager yeast cold, then lagered (cold storage) for a genuine taste.

For Hefeweizen, a quick recipe is one can of Coopers Wheat beer, one 1.7Kg can of ESB Wheat Malt extract and pitch White Labs Weizen (WLP300) or Wyeast Bavarian Wiezen yeast. A very big part of weizen taste is from the yeast.

Yeah DB, I made up 18 litres (and a bit to allow for racking). OG 1058, FG 1016, ABV 5.7.

weizens are a pretty simple style. Use enough extract for 1.050 OG, hallertau hops as a bittering addition aiming for about 15-20IBU's. YOu dont need any specialty grains. Flavor and aroma hops arent usually added. It's a great style to try formulating your own recipe, if you dont already, since it isnt a complicated grain and hop bill. Definitely an authentic german wheat yeast.

For 19L it looks like: 100g munich malt, 1.5kg wheat dry extract, 1.25kg dry malt extract, 25-30g hallertau hops at 60 mins.

Bocks need patience and in my opinion, at least some specialty grains to give them that big malty flavor that they are known for. Try something like 250g munich malt, 250g crystal, 100g chocoalte with 4-5 kg of extract for a 19L batch. Pick a german hop for bittering and german lager yeast. They need a good 2-3 months to ferment and lager.

cheers Evo & thehipone..

Cheers for all the info and help guys (and girls?).

I think an attempt at the Schofferhofer will be made first. With the colder weather around now, I think I will be able to keep it at 14-16 pretty easily. While I like the idea of doing a grain beer (rather than a kit) I dont really have the time or facilities at the moment to do large scale boiling and such. I think I will try the recipie that Hrundi mentioned.

Just put another Coopers Pale Ale into bottles with 1kg Dextrose and 500g of LDME. Tastes good after bulk priming (my first attempt at doing it this way) so fingers crossed for a great beer.