Another Doppelbock

 8/21/21

About 3 years ago I brewed my take on a doppelbock: Tranquility Base Bock a beer designed to ride the line between a standard dunkles bock and a doppelbock while having more noticeable chocolate character than is typical of either. While I've been planning to rebrew it for quite some time, between life and pandemics I hadn't gotten around to it until today. While I had originally planned to repeat the recipe without any changes, a few differences had to be made to accommodate both a smaller batch size and some variations in ingredients available.

The resulting recipe I designed is intended to be as similar as possible despite these modifications. One of the main differences that I expect will change this beer is the type of Munich malt used. Munich is available from a variety of maltsters and their definitions of "munich" vs "dark munich" and in some cases "light munich" seem to vary pretty heavily. On my previous batch I had used a dark munich that I have listed as being 34°L which is darker than any I currently see available on the market. Edit: It was likely Briess Dark Munich which is listed at 30 SRM and is documented as being launched at the Homebrew Con in Portland that I attended. It's possible there was some confusion between EBC and Lovibond, which would put that version of dark munich actually around 13°L, which is much closer to the norm. It will be interesting to see the differences the malt changes make, especially in how dark this version comes out after the last one was a very dark brown.

I missed my target gravity again for this batch, despite lowering my expected efficiency after missing on the last few. Part of the reason for that may be not using the actual PPG numbers for the Viking malts, part may be due to the general difficulties associated with higher gravity beers, and part may be due to the boil just not being as strong, leading to less evaporation and a touch more wort than planned. In the end the lower gravity should push it into the upper end of bock category, which should still be plenty enjoyable and alcoholic.

After chilling below 70, the wort was run into a carboy in the chest freezer at 48°F that still held the yeast cake from a pilsner I had kegged the day before.

8/22/21

Already fermenting heavily with a healthy krausen. Increased temp to 50°F.

8/25/21

Still fermenting heavily but appears to be slowing some. Increased chest freezer temp to 54°F.

8/26/21

Appears to still be fermenting but very little signs of action in the airlock so I took a sample. Gravity reading shows it's down to 1.020 so it's nearing FG already. Removed from the chest freezer and plan to leave at room temperature in the 60's for a few days for a diacetyl rest. Taste is good, similar to what I remember though a touch harsher on the roast and more boozy, hopefully it just needs some more time to clean up.

9/1/21

Moved to chest freezer at 50F to begin lagering.

10/8/21

This one has turned out very nicely. The harshness and booziness has calmed down and it’s now fairly well rounded and subtle for its’ size. Not quite as chocolatey or interesting as the last batch but still a very enjoyable dark malty lager.