This beer's clarity is definitely reflected in its crisp taste
Coming off of the Bavarian Bronze, I am feeling pretty good about making recipes that end up stronger than your average beer. I wanted to be a little seasonal with my next batch, and the easy decision was to brew up a Maibock. The style of beer is a bit on the strong side (mine clocked in at approximately 5.8% ABV), with a crisp yet sweet finish that was designed to give you that little bit of extra warmth on cool spring evenings. I'm telling you, the Germans are spot on yet again!
Honing MaiBrau - brewed on 1/23/2010 - 1 can Mr Beer High Country Canadian Draft - 1 lb. of Golden Light DME - 1 cup of honey - 1/4 oz. of Tettnager pellet hops
I added about a 1/4 lb. of the DME to about 5 cups of water for the hop boil (the non-scientific reason is that it gives the hops something to "cling to" and thus they are more fully utilized than if they were boiled in water alone), and tossed the majority of the hops in for a 17 minute bath. This time I "commando hopped" and did not use a muslin sack. Based on the advice of some people from MB Fans, I realized that the hop particles were just going to sink into the trub at the bottom of the keg anyway...I've been commando hopping during the boil ever since. Anyway, with 7 minutes left, I threw in the remaining few hop pellets to add just a hint more of aroma.
So after flameout, mixed in the rest of the ingredients as per usual, cooled the wort down (ice bath in the sink works nicely for me), and pitched the regular MB yeast in the low 70s.
fermented through 2/6/2010 then bottled carbonation period through 2/20/2010 room temperature condition through 4/2/2010 Chilled a few bottles and poped the 1st on on 4/7/2010
My sample notes were that it had a nice hop nose right after the pour, went down smooth, and finished a little on the dry side (due to the honey I presume). My lovely wife thought that this one was a "little beer-y" (don't you just love that description!) at this stage. However, fast-forward to the end of May/early June, and this beer became VERY drinkable for the entire family. Quite smooth and the hops had mellowed a bit, both in aroma and flavor. Again, allowing the beer a little time to mature yielded great results, and this Maibock lived up to its name and style.