Greetings to all.
As I write this on May 7, all the airlocks should be popping happily on the Big Brew Maibocks; mine is slow but steady. As we experiment with the various yeast strains on this high gravity recipe, I'm sure that we will all gain some insights into how certain strains behave under these conditions. My strain is Bohemian Lager, and I think I may very well see a flare-up in the yeast activity when it has fermented out some of the sugars. In my personal brewing of bock recipes, I have used a couple of German strains that have generated copious, thick, rocky krausen pretty much from the beginning of the fermentation.
Please all remember to express our gratitude to Jamie, Kevin, Mike and all the other folks at the Titanic for the support they have given us in the Big Brew and in all our club endeavors. If you are not aware, the balance of the brew being fermented at the Titanic is the first lager that Jamie is brewing on that equipment; Jamie is using a traditional German high-gravity lager yeast.
We will be scheduling our second annual Summer Solstice Party some time in June. As at last year's party, we will be sampling the various finished beers from the Big Brew. You all need to make sure that there is an ample amount left from your batch that we can all try each of them (this is especially important for those who went with an ale yeast and will therefore be finished earlier than the lagers). I have no doubt that the food, beer and especially the company will be wonderful as always. We should be formalizing the details of the party at the next meeting.
Our members continue to take ribbons/medals at competitions, congratulations. Obviously, most of us are doing many things right in our brewing; chances are, we also have done some things wrong. One of the purposes of the club is to share our expertise and experiences in brewing. I invite all to bring questions and experiences to present to the membership at our meetings. It is often the case that people learn more from mistakes than successes, please be willing to share both types of experience. The presentations and discussions at the meetings do not have to be terribly formal (don't we all realize that!), but bring them forward and we can all benefit from each others' experience.
Keep those airlocks popping!
Pete Buschbaum
Courtesy of the Titanic Brewery and Restaurant and under the watchful eye of Jamie Ray, the usual suspects from M.A.S.H. showed up on or about 4 May to partake in the "Big Brew" (and George Fix memorial brew): Peter & Aviva, Scott & Denise, Augusto & Anna, Bob & Jody, Darryl, Max, Bob F., Mark, Alex, Jake and Chris, and anyone else I may have forgotten about. We want to profusely thank Titanic and Jamie for their hospitality and patience!
Here is a snippet of Maibock history I "borrowed" from Michael Jackson's Beer Companion: the brew Maibock is the seasonal specialty of Einburg, Germany. From the 1300's, Einburg was recognized as a brewing center--they malted their own grain and shipped beer to ports of Hamburg and Bremen as well as Scandanavia and the Netherlands. The city had a mobile brew kettle which they would wheel from house to house for residents to use to make beer. A statue on the market square commemorates a town joker who is sait to have immersed his dog in the brew kettle--the dog's name was Hops. The order in which the kettle went from one house to another was determined by a public lottery in May. The timing of this lottery, coinciding with the celebration of spring and the beginning of the brewing season, is said to be the origin of Maibock. The Einburgians brewed for their own use, and sold the excess to the city for "export. Maibock style beer is now brewed by various brewers in many different countries.
The MAIBOCK style of beer is a pale/amber colored, clear lager beer with strong malt and alcohol aromas and flavors, and has medium body with moderate carbonation. Overall, it is a relatively pale, strong, malty lager beer. Hop bitterness is only high enough to balance the malt flavors to allow moderate sweetness in the finish. OG: 1.064-1.072, IBU's 20-35, FG: 1.011-1.020, SRM: 4-10 and ABV: 6-7.5%. Some commercial examples include: Ayinger Maibock, Hacker-Pschorr Maibock, Wuerzburger Maibock.
RECIPE: Maibock
330 lbs. Weyermann Pilener Malt
55 lbs. Weyermann Vienna Malt
12.5 oz. Vanguard pellet hop (7% AA) 90 min.
12.5 oz. Vanguard pellet hop (7% AA) 30 min.
12.5 oz. Vanguard pellet hop (7% AA) 15 min.
Irish Moss & Yeast Nutrient (15 min to end of boil)
Batch size was 5 bbls. Grain was mashed in at strike temp of 162F, mash was held at 150-151F. After conversion, mash was sparged, boiled and chilled. Target gravity = 17, but final gravity ended up being 17.9 (approx. 1.072). The wort was a beautiful light golden color; perhaps 3-4 SRM, despite a 90 minute boil! M.A.S.H. members appropriated fermenters full to pitch various Wyeast liquid (tube) yeast--distributed as follows:
Peter & Aviva: #2124 Bohemian Lager
Scott & Denise: #2272 N. American Lager
Augusto & Anna: #1338 European Ale
Bob & Jody: #2308 Munich Lager
Darryl: #2633 Oktoberfest
Max: #2035 American Lager
Bob F: #1214 Belgian Ale
Mark: #2206 Bavarian Lager
Chris & Jake: #2112 California Common
Scott R: #1056 American Ale
Participants should ensure they retain enough of their brew to share at the Solstice Party!!!
Chris B.