My Bock

[CrealCritter]

It's well know amongst family and friends, when it comes to beer. German Lagers are my favorites and at the top of my favorites list is perhaps the most simple German Lager ever, called Bock. For some odd reason Bock beer has been associated to a billy goat. How this came about I'm not sure, but none the less Bock Beer is my favorite beer.

Bock beer is perhaps the most simple beer to brew, according to German purity law of 1516. A beer can contain only 3 ingredients (4 if you count yeast added to the law later). Only water, barley, hops can be contained in every Stein. So strictly following "the law" and sticking to tradition of the Billy Goat. I came up with the start of a label and what I hope will be a malty sweet Traditional German Bock beer that I like so much.

Here is the beginnings of "My Bock" label, I made it simple and left lots of real estate for stats and ingredients.

Here is my super complex recipe of course it has to be high in alcohol content or it's simply no fun... This beer is no coors lite, you'll actually be able to taste it.

Here are my ingredients 9 lbs of barley, 1/2 ounce of hops and a harvested lager yeast starter. Geeze there's so many of them, however will I manage? -lol

Sometimes simple is the best, who needs all those fancy ingredients in today's beers? Lemons are for lemonade, rice is for stirr fry, corn is for eating and corn syrup and corn sugar is just plain nasty.

Das Reinheitsgebot of the year 1516, it's the German way and who can argue that Germans don't know beer? No one!

I plan on brewing this up Sunday, now that it's gotten colder and I can primary ferment at around 50 degrees in my root cellar. I'll post more then.

 

[CrealCritter]

Five O’Bock Somewhere probably is the best for me. having your own root cellar sounds like a lot of hard work hahahaha!! I think I just lack patience fermenting my own bock..

I'll drink this Bock for you then. It's spicy on the front end, from the Hallertau hops but finishes sweet, with enough alcohol to be warming on a cold winter's night. The best description I can come up with is, a spicy malt candy liqueur. It's very unique for me, I've not ever had beer that tasted quite like this Bock before.

It has just a very slight hop and barely aroma because I didn't add any aroma hops near the end of the boil, so you can detect the scent of barley. As of right now, I don't think I would change a thing about it. It's highly drinkable as is.

 

[CrealCritter]

1st racking.

The starting gravity was 1.070, now it's 1.016 which puts the beer at 7.05% ABV so far. Now it's off to lager at 35 degrees for 6 weeks. But It was good green, cloudy and flat. I like the taste of Munich and Pilsen malts with just a little bit of Hallertau hops. It makes for a malty sweet beer.

the nasty part of brewing beer... the trub was a good inch thick in the bottom of the primary fermenting bucket. You can also see a ring around the top where it krausened. Lager yeast take their job seriously. More yeast for the septic tank. I bet my septic tanks is pretty clean with all the live wine and beer yeast, I've dumped down the drain.

Now I have the true color of the beer. I can finish my label and make the Billy the color of the beer

 

[CrealCritter]

all that good stuff from the bottom of the bucket is prime worm food! bury it in a garden!

Drunk worms are better for fishing 😂

 

[CrealCritter]

I pulled My Bock out of largering to prime it. I didn't rack it into a new clean and sterile keg. I want to see how it will taste without racking after lagering.

The final gravity is 1.014 which is on the lower end of the final gravity for this beer style (1.013 ~ 1.019). This puts My Bock at right around 7.35% ABV and it'll pick up an additional 1/2% due to adding dry malt extract primer for natural carbonating.

So far so good. It's smooth and finishes a little dry, with a mild spicy malty sweet taste. I taste no bittering hops what so ever and it has just a slight hint of aroma hop. I personally think even ladies would enjoy a cold glass of My Bock.

I experimented a little and crossed two different commerical strains of German lager yeasts to create my own lager yeast strain. I always feel the need to push the envelope in most everything I do. I can really tell the difference when I drank it also. It has a unique mild spicy malty sweet kind of flavor, that I find very intriguing. I really hope the spicyness carries through during the two week carbonation phase @ 55 degrees. I plan on keeping my yeast strain alive for future batches of My Bock.

Here's it's true color, it's quite clear for beer also.

So far I'm really happy with the way My Bock has turned out. Fingers crossed... only a couple more weeks and I'll be drinking some frosty cold mugs from the tap

 

[CrealCritter]

Found a new filter in GIMP called cartoon, I kind of like it. Since my bock beer is Amber colored, I decided to go with a amber colored theme for the label. Still a work in progress but getting closer to complete. I also cleaned it up and sharpened it some more.

I tried hard to show eye contact between the two and a bit of a fond look between them. Thoughts on any changes?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I would make the BOCK bigger, it is lost in the picture. The "amber" billy goat is great! But I like her better as a blond - but, being a natural blond myself that is understandable.

 

[CrealCritter]

y.w. hard to resist... if you want a more general term for the squeamish who might object to the idea of fungi being responsible for their yummy libations you could use the more general term microbes.

Single celled sugar microbes, to be even more specific... But whatever you call them, lager yeast strains are nothing short of amazing.

 

[CrealCritter]

the what was a full quart My Bock finally dropped clear in the refrigerator. I wanted to save the quart for priming and topping off after lagering but I keep sneaking sips. It's a beautiful colored Bock and is really delicious even non carbonated. Looks like the Billy on my label is going to be red. Maybe I should color her dress the color of the beer instead??? A red Billy goat, yeah I don't know about all that!

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

It's well know amongst family and friends, when it comes to beer. German Lagers are my favorites and at the top of my favorites list is perhaps the most simple German Lager ever, called Bock. For some odd reason Bock beer has been associated to a billy goat. How this came about I'm not sure, but none the less Bock Beer is my favorite beer.

Bock beer is perhaps the most simple beer to brew, according to German purity law of 1516. A beer can contain only 3 ingredients (4 if you count yeast added to the law later). Only water, barley, hops can be contained in every Stein. So strictly following "the law" and sticking to tradition of the Billy Goat. I came up with the start of a label and what I hope will be a malty sweet Traditional German Bock beer that I like so much.

Here is the beginnings of "My Bock" label, I made it simple and left lots of real estate for stats and ingredients.
View attachment 12623

Here is my super complex recipe of course it has to be high in alcohol content or it's simply no fun... This beer is no coors lite, you'll actually be able to taste it.
View attachment 12622

Here are my ingredients 9 lbs of barley, 1/2 ounce of hops and a harvested lager yeast starter. Geeze there's so many of them, however will I manage? -lol
View attachment 12624

Sometimes simple is the best, who needs all those fancy ingredients in today's beers? Lemons are for lemonade, rice is for stirr fry, corn is for eating and corn syrup and corn sugar is just plain nasty.

Das Reinheitsgebot of the year 1516, it's the German way and who can argue that Germans don't know beer? No one!

I plan on brewing this up Sunday, now that it's gotten colder and I can primary ferment at around 50 degrees in my root cellar. I'll post more then.
View attachment 12625

Five O’Bock Somewhere probably is the best for me. having your own root cellar sounds like a lot of hard work hahahaha!! I think I just lack patience fermenting my own bock..