Since there are a few regular lagers hanging out taking up keg space, I thought it was time to brew up a nice winter bock that can sit in some glass carboys (1G each) until the weather turns and the nights come early. "Snowfall" was inspired by the outstanding winter bock that Gordon Biersch brews up as a seasonal release. I had it a few years ago, and have not been able to stop thinking about it. My recipe uses a combo of info from the GB website and what I had readily available on brew day.
- Best Malz Light Munich: 4 lbs 8 oz - Canadian Malting Pale: 3 lbs 8 oz - Weyermann Caramunich III: 12 oz - Weyermann De-husked Carafa III: 2.1 oz - Hallertau pellets: 1 oz @ 60, 0.5 oz @ 15 - 34/70 yeast cake from Fiddy Fiddy
OG 1.068 - FG 1.010 - IBU 24 - ABV 7.6%
Dumped the wort right on top of my yeast cake (never did this before, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!) that was left over from Fiddy Fiddy, and this beer took off like a rocket! the airlock was bubbling like a machine gun within like 8 hours. So I don't know if this is good or bad yet, but there was DEFINITELY plenty of yeast in that cake for this bock wort. based on the other lagers, I see no reason for this not to be done (or darn near it) within about 3 weeks, at which point I will transfer the beer into (3) 1 gallon mini carboys which will live in the fridge for several months before they get blended into a keg. if there is enough clean beer left, I might try to squeeze out a few bottles and see how that goes as far as naturally carbonating them. if that works, I'll sample them in the fall (because I'm impatient!)
Had a little mishap transferring into the carboys, so I've got about 2 3/4 gallons in them. They will just be chillin' in the fridge for a few weeks until I've got a keg I can pour them into OR we need the fridge space ;-) the color is a beautiful, it smelled great, and tasted pretty darn good as well. Vague? for now...stay tuned!
update 1/30/2014 this beer sat in those 3 mini carboys until TODAY (filled up my 2.5 gal corny and force carbed 2 bottles with a carbonater cap). lagered the s#!t out of this bock... turned out to be a great move on my part. it is, without question, the absolute smoothest beer I've made. the 7.6% alcohol is completely lost behind a strong malt presence that comes across like delicate chocolate candy, despite the fact that no chocolate malt was used. I had to pull this recipe up just to double check that fact, so I guess the grain bill simply played nice together. I can't wait to have this fully carbed and on tap in about a week. granted I am all of 1 glass into this beer, but I don't know what I would change at this point (other than make more!)