Brewing Dopplebock
What stormy day.. a sign that spring is here! Today we are brewing up a batch of yummy dopplebock. This is for the limited release 20th Anniversary beer that we are planning. It is a big beer, and not something we have ever done here before. My first runnings were not as high as I predicted, so some extended boiling was in order to achieve our target gravity. The first batch was boiled for three hours! That brought it to a Plato reading of 19 degrees. It was pretty tasty, with a base malt of 30% Pale ale, and 60% Munich malt. The hop rate is low, as is traditional with bocks. We ended up with only 12 barrels downstairs, and I think we will only have about ten barrels by the time its bottled and kegged. This is beer is going to be about Quality and not Quantity!
When will it be done? Thats a good question. I know some dopplebocks are aged up to 120 days. Taking that as a reference, this beer should not be done until about June. At that time we are planning on krausening the beer, hand bottling it into 22 ounce bombers, hand labeling them, and putting a wax seal on top. They should be something special indeed!
I have a small correction. In the Newsletter that went out this week, I listed a Beer Class and Tasting that I will doing in Coralville next week, but I ommited the store name. The store is the New Pioneer Coop. It will be on April 7th at 6pm, and there is still plenty of room to sign up.
Also, I’m desperate to find a new hosting solution for this site.. I’m very unhappy with the one we current have (Interlan). So far, I haven’t found anything I really like.. If anyone out there has a recommendation, i’m all ears!