Quick & Easy Authentic German Bock

Source: Darin Smith
Recipe added: 05/21/97
Email: NYDarinJay @AOL.COM

Morgans Master Blend Dark Crystal Malt makes this recipe both possible and extremely easy. It's actually a blend of 60% dark crystal malt and 40% Vienna malt. When combined with the double sized can of Ireks Munich Light Malt Extract (light Munich malt is essentially Vienna malt) it makes the perfect ingredients for a German style Bock Beer. Throw in the German Hallertau hops and Bavarian lager yeast from Wyeast and this recipe is very authentic. Hop plugs make the 30 minute boiling time possible. This is probably best for an extract brew anyway. Hop pellets also lend themselves to short boiling times but they are impossible to remove with a strainer. Whole leaf hops could be used but the boiling time would have to be increased. The original gravity is a little short of the 1.066 required by German law to call a beer "bock". If this is important to you, a 1.4 lb. "kicker" of Alexander's pale malt extract added to the boil will bring the gravity into the legal limit but it will also decrease the hop utilization.

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.060
Finishing Gravity: 1.010
Time in Boil: 30 minutes
Primary Fermentation: about 10 days
Secondary Fermentation: none
Additional Fermentation: bottle age for 4 weeks

Ingredients:

6.6 lb. can Ireks Munich Light Malt Extract
2.2 lb. can Morgan's Dark Crystal Malt Extract
9 HBU German Hallertau hop plugs
1 sachet Wyeast Bavarian Lager yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

Procedure:

Pop Wyeast sachet (according to directions on packet) 3 days before brew day (this starin seems to be a slow starter.) If you need to boil your brewing water, boil 3 gallons at least 1 day before you brew and place it in the refrigerator. On brew day, place 1/2 gallon water in your brewpot and an additional 1 gallon of water in a separate pot; bring both to a boil. Remove brewpot from heat and add contents of both cans of extract. Use the additional gallon of boiling water to rinse the residual extract from the cans and add rinsings to brewpot. Stir the wort until the extract syrup is completely dissolved. Then return the brewpot to full heat and bring the wort back to a boil. Add hop plugs and boil for 30 minutes. Pour boiling wort through a strainer (to remove hop plugs) into 3 gallons of cold water. (If the water is not cold enough, you may have to wait to let the wort cool to about 70 degrees F.) Open yeast packet and pour contents into bottom of glass carboy. Pour wort through a funnel into the carboy (the fall down the carboy will aerate the wort.) Top the carboy off with cold water and fit it with a rubber stopper and blowoff tube. After the foam stops blowing off (3 to 4 days) replace the blowoff tube with an air lock. Ferment beer in a cool, dark place.

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