Das Hund Maibock

I brewed this beer in January 2022 on my Dad's brewing setup. The recipe is posted here, tasting notes and cellaring notes from late in the process are below. A pretty simple recipe overall with ~60% pils and 40% vienna malt, a decent bittering charge of Magnum plus some small Hallertau Mittelfrüh additions late in the boil, fermented with a classic Munich lager yeast.

I can't seem to find any of the notes or photos from the brewday and have just one photo showing a temp reading a couple weeks later so I've included what process and tasting notes I do have below

Tasting Notes:

Appearance: Bright gold in color, certainly darker than the average Helles but not to the amber of a Vienna lager. Not as clear as I would like for the style but not a "hazy" beer by any means. Large white fluffy head fades slowly and looks very appealing. Overall it is maybe more of a "keller" Maibock than a traditional one but looks appetizing none the less.

Smell: Lightly earthy/grassy/leafy hop and malt character quickly gives way to sweet/cookie/caramel aromas. There's a touch of cider-like/apple fruitiness that may just be a combination of the hops and malt or may be yeast derived.

Taste: Starts off with a smooth enjoyable grainy/pilsner malt sweet malt character before transitioning to a much heavier caramel, cider, and vegetal finish which lingers with caramel/cookie/vanilla and some earthy hop character.

Mouthfeel: The booziness is only slightly apparent with a thinness that underlies the otherwise relatively sweet and thick body. Carbonation is moderate but seems about right for the style. The lingering sweet finish seems to be more due to the flavors than any astringency or specific mouthfeel character.

Overall: For a first attempt at the style I'm not unhappy but I don't think this would be considered a very good Maibock. The caramel and cider characters are much too high though I'm not entirely sure where they're coming from as the fermentation was kept cool for at least a decent amount of time during the early fermentation of the beer (though an unexpected hot streak in early February may have played a part?) and the malt bill doesn't contain any caramel malt. It's possible there was some caramelization due to the high burner heat and extended boil time and the fermentation was done in a cold basement, not controlled temperature conditions, which could have fluctuated more than expected and allowed some of the fruity/apple characters to come out of the yeast. Overall the beer is perfectly drinkable, maybe even too much so given the ABV, but it's not exactly what I was going for. I'm not sure I will re-brew this style any time soon as I find a lower ABV pale lager is often what people want and a more robust and characterful doppelbock is often what I want. If I do make another Maibock I'll increase the late hop additions to balance the malt sweetness and look to control the fermentation temperature better.

Kegged on 3/2/22 and Munich Lager yeast saved in mason jars for future use. Tastes a lot like my helles recipe which I guess makes sense given it's a helles bock, but it’s thinner and less malty than I had expected. Will see how it changes with carbonation.

3/12/22
Set in chest freezer at 32F.

3/26/22
Connected CO2 at 10PSI

3/27/22
Increased pressure to 15PSI and temperature to 45F. Poured a sample. Tasting stronger/boozier and thinner than expected. Hopefully some more time and more pressure will help round it out but doubt it will change too much.

4/2/22
Probably the most popular of the 4 styles I have on tap for my housewarming. Multiple people just described it as an enjoyable German lager though some pointed out some of the sweetness and "vanilla wafer" type qualities. To my taste it is more on the sweet and caramel-y side than I would like but no major off flavors, will need to do a deeper tasting soon.

4/10/22
Tasting date (tasting notes above).