Dopple Boze Bock

[Brickhouse]

I've been brewing lagers since January.  First was a Helles, then my "Nobgobler"- a roasty Vienna lager and two weeks ago a Dopplebock.  Here’s the formulation:

Vol. 9 gallons
OG 22
FG 5.5
IBU 30
SRM 18
ABV 9.5%

Malt Bill: 55.00% Pilsner Malt, 30.00% Munich, 5.00% Aromatic Malt, 10.00% Sugar
Other: 10gms Calcium Carbonate in mash

Mash Schedule: 30 mins at 95F, 120 mins at 140F, 30 mins at 150, 10 mins at 168

Hops: 60 mins 25 IBUs Mt. Hood, 10 mins  5 IBU’s Mt. Hood

Fermentation: WYeast 2024 (repitch of 2qt slurry from Vienna lager) at 50F for first 48hours and 54F for next 48hours, and 58F to completion.

Special procedures: Separate 4 gallons of first runnings and boil for an hour, before combining with remaining boil volume then start 90 min boil.

I hit my OG perfectly.  Boil went well, although I had a few boil overs.  I used one of those light timers to control an aquarium pump to aerate my wert for 30 mins prior to pitch, then again 2 hours later, then again 6 hours later. 

Boy did I have one heck of a fermentation!  I used my conical and a blow off tube into a jar of water.  I could see a stream of Co2 bubbles at about 3 sec duration at 24 hours, and at 48 the stream was continuous.  Primary fermentation continued for 10 days and I got down to 8B pretty easily.  I increased the fermentation chamber’s temp to 55 and the yeast took it up to 58 and finished at 5B over the course of 3 days. 

I’ll keep it on the yeast for another two weeks or so to clean up after themselves while I slowly drop the temp down to lager temps.  Taste is yeasty but can tell it is malt forward with a clean ferment w/o diacetyl, still too yeasty to tell if the yeast threw out too much fruit, and hop bitterness is still aggressive at the moment.

My problem with these big beers; you never really know how they are going to turn out until 3 or 4 months after brewing it.

Next beer: Milk Stout Recipe Formulation No. 3.  This has been fun trying to perfect a milk stout recipe to my taste.  I’ve bumped up the roasted malts sooooo much it’s crazy - 21% of the malt bill!

Here’s a question for you guys: How many of you brew to style first then adjust the recipe to your tastes and it ends up really out of style?

[Brickhouse]

Last night I was working in the garage doing some sanding on a project and pulled a little of the Bock for a taste.  Significant melanoidins, very malty, with a pronounced alcohol aroma and 'legs'.  I only had about 8 oz and I had to stop working on my project - sanding while impaired!

[BrewerDano]

Sounds good.  Only 5 gallons?  or 10 gallons?  And consider doing an eisbock?