It has been a few years since I made a beer like this. And I am sorry I waited so long. Dopplebocks are, according to the BJCP, deep golden to dark brown, intense malty aroma, virtually no hops and fairly high gravity. All of these are A-O-K in my book. Supposedly, beers of this style would sustain monks during their time of (relative) fasting. Sounds like splitting hairs to me, but they are delicious (the beer, not the monks and one of my favorite styles. Also what’s cool about them is that traditionally, commercially produced Dopplebocks are often named ending in -ator. Celebrator, Liberator, Consecrator etc. I’ll have to think of something worthy for mine I guess.
The recipe I am following for the most part is posted on Ratebeer.com and when I made it last time, it turned out really well. The fact that I turned it into an Eisbock had something to do with that, I’m sure. I’ll be doing the same to this one and that process will be another post.
Today I am starting the starter, 1l of 1.035 wort and a Wyeast “smack-pack of 2308 “Munich Lager” I chilled the wort in a growler and broke the inner packet and after about an hour, poured the contents into the growler only to find that the inner yest capsule never broke. So I popped it, while still inside the foil packet and poured that in as well. I just have horrible luck with those things. Whenever a recipe calls for a WY strain, I immediately consult the converter chart for a White Labs equivalent. This time the only HB shop I could get to in time had WY. Anyway, everything was about 60F and I put the growler with an airlock in my kegorater set for 58F and I’ll watch for activity. It’s still live yeast…and it’s still nutrients and it’s still a liter of wort. It should be fine, right?
We’ll see I guess.
