Bocking an IPA

[chivelegs]

Afternoon.

I need to free up some fridge space for a big beef delivery (stop tittering at the back please) so I'm planning a hoppy IPA using up the rest of my homegrown Cascade and Hallertau. Problem is my cellar where I ferment has got a little cold (showing 8-11 on the max/min thermometer over the last 24 hours)

A mate has provided a vial of Whitelabs WLP833 Bock Yeast which he split and used very successfully so this is, I think, the better option than keeping the water bath at 18c for a week or so which could turn out quite costly.

Anyone ever tried this and what was the result?


Recipe will be along the lines of

Maris Otter 90%
Caramalt 5%
Torrified Wheat 5%

20g Magnum for 60 minutes
100g Cascade for 60 minutes (FWH)

then pile in all the bags of Cascade and Hallertau for the last 20 minutes in 5 minute intervals. This should add up to about 600/700 grams or so, but bear in mind the homegrowns don''t have anywhere near the citrus honk of shop-bought, in fact they are closer to a British hop in character.

[seymour]

It could be nice, but remember to account for the fact lager yeast will ferment much drier than you're used to, with almost none of the bready body and fruit-flavored esters you're used to. In other words, there will be very little malty sweetness balanced against the hops, thus the same quantity of hops will be perceived as MUCH hoppier than you'd predict.

[chivelegs]

I hear you, maybe a little more sweetness in the grain? I have some Crystal which could help...

[seymour]

I hear you, maybe a little more sweetness in the grain? I have some Crystal which could help...

Yeah, maybe, but careful with that too. Many drinkers dislike more than 5% caramel/crystal in IPAs. You could create a masterpiece, it's just a much more difficult balancing act when crafting a hoppy lager. Too much dry hopping and it will be a one-dimensional, mouth-puckering hop bomb. Don't let me scare you off trying, though!

[Belter]

http://www.williamsbrosbrew.com/beerboa ... r-augustus

[chivelegs]

Yup, that kind of inspired me. It's a good beer that.

[Jocky]

Funnily enough this is something I want to brew as soon as I have a temperature control system in place. Possibly my favourite beer I drank last year was an Imperially Hopped Lager called 'Rude Boy'. 68 IBUs.

http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/limite ... /rude-boy/

It had a very clean taste apart from the hops, so I'd be really careful about using crystal malt in it.

[chivelegs]

Didn't bother with Crystal in the end as my bag was fairly out of date (I haven't used it since I discovered the joys of Caramalt and Caragold)

Totals were

6kg Maris Otter
300g Caramalt
300g Torrified Wheat

30g Magnum@14%
100g Cascade @ ? % both 60 minutes

200g Cascade for 20 mins
200g cascade for 5 mins
100g Cascade at flameout/90c

Planning on dry hopping with the last 100g of Cascade

All those hops sucked up a huge amount of wort but hey-ho.

Weighing out (shovelling out) the hops



New patent pending PVC hose holder. No slippages here



Ended up with 20l which I'm going to do with lager/bock yeast with another 5l to be fermented separately with Nottingham

[seymour]

Sounds like a really tasty recipe. Good thinking fermenting two separate batches like that, I can't wait to hear how they compare!

[chivelegs]

Quick update on this. Nottingham yeast batch is nearly ready to bottle, just settling out a bit after dry-hopping with about 50g whole hops. The Bock version is so much slower, after 3 weeks only down to 1025 so have put into secondary with about 250g of homegrown hops (I found another bag in the freezer!) which have been whizzed in a food processor to a fine powder. I can't for the life of me remember where I stole this idea from but let's see how it goes. As regards a side-by-side test, this could be tricky as the bock still has a way to go as far as fermenting and lagering goes so by the time it's done the English yeast version may be quite old.