Batch 13 - Weizenbock

This is based on a BYO recipe. I have a 63 degree basement right now, so I chose my yeast based on this temperature (I chose Wyeast 3333, but a few others work as well) and searched the Internet for a recipe that uses it. I've never tried a Weizenbock, but I like dark German beers.

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs. wheat malt extract (I used 6 instead of 5 lbs because my local brew shop sells extract in 6 lb tubs, so this was just easier)


• 4 lbs. British light malt extract (they were out of regular light)


• 0.3 lb. chocolate malt


• 2 oz Hallertauer hop plugs (3.5% alpha acid) (this recipe has such a low number of hops, I thought I'd use the whole 2 oz package)
  
  • 1 oz. for 60min
  • .75 oz at end of boil
  • .25 oz. dry hopped


• Wyeast 3333 German wheat yeast

Steps:
This is a simple beer, except for the last few instructions of chilling the beer before pitching.

I started off with grinding my chocolate malt and seeping it in a few gallons of hot water set on medium-high while I went to sanitize my primary container (about 20 min). I then removed the chocolate malt and added 6 pounds of wheat extract and 4 pounds of British light. I raised the temperature to high, and stirred occasionally.

I added the hops in the proper schedule.

This is where I strayed from the BYO's directions. I really should have read them before starting, but what can you do? I don't have a refrigerator set up for controlling brew temperature, and didn't realize this was basically a very dark lager. Luckily, looking around I found that many Weizenbock recipies don't treat it as a lager.

When it was done boiling, I cooled it in an ice bath in my sink, then poured it into my primary bucket along with enough cold water to make 5 gallons. I then aerated using my wonderful vacuum cleaner aeration technique (see description in previous post), pitched (at about 73F), and cleaned up.

7/11/05: It's bubbling away nicely, about a bubble per second.

7/12/05: I'm quite glad I chose a yeast with a wide temperature range starting at 63. It's been warm and my basement is up to 66F, with my beer still bubbling (once per 2 seconds or so).

7/20/05: It's up to nearly 70F in the basement, but it's done bubbling now. Transfered to secondary container, and added .25 oz hop plug tied in a fine mesh bag on a fishing line for dry hopping. I cleaned and sanitized 3 bottles, and filled each 1/2 full of the yeast casting slurry in the bottom of the primary container when finished. I labeled these and placed them in my refrigerator to use as yeast in future batches.

9/19/05: I hadn't transferred to secondary because I overbrewed and had my bottling bucket filled with another beer. It was suggested that I put sugar in the bottles and bottle straight from the carboy. This was a bit tricky, but went well. Since I had a 2/3 full 5 gallon carboy of beer, I boiled a small amount of water with 8 tsp of sugar. I sterilized a graduated measuring cup and determined there were 5 Tbsp of sugar water. I converted this to cc's and divided by 35 (the number of bottles I expected to fill). I then used a sterilized syringe to measure this much sugar water into each bottle, then filled and capped.

Status: 2/3 bottled, 1/3 was bottled in my Tap-a-Draft and was enjoyed during a camping trip
Pitched: 7/10/05
Bottled: 9/18/05
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.020
ABV: 5.7%
Result: Very interesting beer. It has a dark carmel color, and a lot of flavor. Fruit and clove flavors are strong. A bit of alcohol flavor if you let it warm up to room temperature.