Article

Maibock

by the numbers
OG: 1.064–1.072 (15.7–17.5 °P)
FG: 1.011–1.018 (2.8–4.6 °P)
SRM: 6–11
IBU: 23–35
ABV: 6.3–7.4%

I have always been a fan of German-style lagers. In fact, my love of the always-present clean malt character in these beers is what made me choose the nickname Mr. Malty. Everything from the crisp Pilsners to the rich bocks relies on clean, bready malt character (not necessarily malt sweetness) as a critical component of these styles.

Maibock (also known as Helles bock) is in the middle of the German style pack. It has that rich continental malt character, both in flavor and aroma, but it is never overly sweet. It has a moderately dry finish, leaving an impression of dough-like, grainy or even slightly toasty malt character. There is a hint of malt sweetness, but it is often balanced with light hop bitterness and enough attenuation to make it easy to drink a liter. A Maibock should always be brilliantly clear with a golden hue and the body should be medium. Any alcohol should be smooth and slightly warming, never hot or solvent-like. The fermentation character is clean, and very low in esters.

Maibock is also somewhat in the middle when it comes to hop bittering and character. The bittering is more balanced than in the other bock styles, which tend to have a sweeter balance. The hop flavor and aroma is higher in Maibock than the other bock styles as well, but not as high as you might find in a German Pilsner. The hop aroma, if present, is subtle and has a spicy or sometimes floral quality. In the past some people believed that there was a difference between Helles bock and Maibock, with one being slightly hoppier and higher alcohol than the other. Today most people consider the names to be synonymous.

A great recipe is relatively simple, but many brewers try to make it much more complex in an effort to increase malt character. The best way to achieve that great German lager malt character is with high-quality, full-flavored base malts and excellent fermentation practices. I would never attempt to make a Maibock without using continental Pilsner malt. In addition, a good portion of the grist should be Vienna or Munich malt, which adds to the rich malt character. Anywhere from 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 of the grist can be Vienna or Munich — but don’t go overboard . . . too much Munich can cause the color to lean more toward orange than golden. With those basic malts you should be able to make an excellent example of the style, but if you must, you can add other malts as well, such as head and body forming dextrin malts. I have seen some recipes calling for crystal malts, but those are inappropriate in this style. Unlike the other bock beers, this style is best brewed without caramel malt. Caramel malt adds the wrong flavor and sweetness. You want some residual sweetness, but more of a base malt sweetness than a caramelized sweetness. Trust that the higher starting gravity and mash technique will leave just the right touch of sweetness, which will not be nearly as heavy as adding caramel malt.

Extract brewers will need to use some Munich extract or do a partial mash with Munich or Vienna malt. Most Munich malt extract is sold as a blend of Munich and Pilsner (or other pale malts) in different percentages. I specify 100% Munich liquid malt extract (LME) in my recipes so you will know which blend to use for your brew. If you use a blend with a higher percentage of Munich than the recipe you are brewing, you can always add some Pilsner extract to reduce the overall amount of Munich in the beer. That said, most Munich extract blends are often close enough for a decent Maibock without any adjustment. The only supplier of 100% Munich extract that I am awareof is Weyermann.

I like to avoid any work that I don’t feel improves the beer, so I prefer a single infusion mash. Perhaps, historically, a brewer would use a decoction mash when brewing most German-style beers, but I find that high quality continental malts, a single infusion mash and excellent fermentation practices will produce beer every bit as good as the best commercial examples. It is far more important to invest time and effort in fermentation, sanitation, and post fermentation handling than decoction. If you have ensured that all of those other aspects of your process are flawless, then decoction might be something of interest. For a single infusion mash, target a mash temperature range of 152 to 156 °F (67 to 69 °C).

Hops can be a bit more apparent in Maibock than other bock styles, but it is still fairly restrained with the hop flavor and aroma acting as subtle background notes. Hop bitterness is also slightly higher in this style, but again it requires restraint — just enough to balance the malt sweetness. I really like using German-grown Hallertau hops for flavor and aroma, though sometimes they are hard to source. Other German-grown hops, such as Tettnang, Perle or Tradition, work well also. These hops, when grown outside of Germany, can still work well but you should check with your supplier first if you are not sure how closely they match the German grown hops. If you cannot get any of those varieties of hops, you do have some flexibility.

The trick is to select hops with that same flowery or spicy noble hop character. You do not want to use anything fruity or citrusy. Some decent substitutions are Liberty and Mt. Hood. You can also try Crystal, Ultra and Vanguard. It is really the overall impression that matters. The big picture is that you want very low hop character and just a balancing bitterness, with both complementing and integrating with the malt. The balance of bittering versus malt sweetness should always be close to even. The bitterness to starting gravity ratio (IBU divided by the decimal portion of the specific gravity) ranges from 0.3 to 0.6, but I like to target around 0.4. Restrict your late hops to small additions. In general, 0.5 oz. (14 g) during the last 10 minutes of the boil for a 5 gallon (19 L) batch is the most you can use without overdoing the hop character. If the beer is going to lager for a long time before drinking, then you might get away with a little more.

You can ferment Maibock with almost any lager yeast, though my favorites are White Labs WLP833 (German Bock Lager) and Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager). You will find that each lager yeast will emphasize different aspects of the beer. Some will have more malt character and some more hop character, but all can produce an excellent bock with proper fermentation.

While this style is a bit higher in alcohol than most lagers, the beer should never be hot or solvent-like. A gentle warming when you drink the beer is OK, but anything more is considered a flaw. It is important to control the fermentation temperature and to pitch plenty of clean, healthy yeast.

When making lagers, I like to chill the wort down to 44 °F (7 °C), oxygenate, and then pitch my yeast. I let the beer slowly warm over the first 36 hours to 50 °F (10 °C) and then I hold this temperature for the remainder of fermentation. If fermentation seems sluggish at all after the first 24 hours, I am not afraid to raise the temperature a couple degrees more. The idea is to reduce the diacetyl precursor alpha-acetolactate, which the yeast create during the early phase of fermentation. Once the growth phase of fermentation is complete, it is important that fermentation be as vigorous as possible. It may never be as robust as fermentation at ale temperatures, but it is important to have enough activity to blow off aromatic sulfurs and other unpleasant compounds. Vigorous yeast activity at the end of fermentation also improves reduction of compounds such as diacetyl. Starting fermentation colder only works well if you are pitching enough clean, healthy yeast at the start. If not, you will need to start warmer (perhaps 55 °F/
13 °C) to encourage more yeast growth. Even if you start fermentation warmer, you can still raise the temperature toward the latter part of fermentation.

Since diacetyl reduction is slower at colder temperatures, a cold fermented lager may require a diacetyl rest. To perform a diacetyl rest, simply raise the temperature into the 65 to 68 °F (18 to 20 °C) range for a two-day period near the end of the fermentation. While you can do a diacetyl rest after the fermentation reaches terminal gravity, a good time for a diacetyl rest is when fermentation is 2 to 5 specific gravity points (0.5 to 1 °P) prior to reaching terminal gravity. Brewers often ask how they should know when fermentation has reached that stage — my advice is to raise the fermentation temperature for a diacetyl rest as soon as you see fermentation activity significantly slowing. It will not hurt the beer and it should help the yeast reach complete attenuation as well.

This beer improves with some period of cold conditioning. Traditional lager conditioning utilizes a slow temperature reduction before fermentation reaches terminal gravity. The purpose of the slow cooling rate is to avoid sending the yeast into dormancy. After a few days, the beer reaches a temperature close to 40 °F (4 °C) and the brewer transfers the beer into lagering tanks. If you want to use this technique, you will need precise temperature control so that fermentation slowly continues and the yeast remains active. Rapidly chilling the beer near the end of fermentation can cause yeast to excrete a greater amount of ester compounds instead of retaining them.

When I brew this style I prefer to wait until fermentation is complete, including any steps such as a diacetyl rest, before lowering the beer temperature. The yeast is far more active and able to reduce fermentation byproducts at higher temperatures. Once I am certain the yeast have completed every job needed, I use a period of cold storage near freezing. This time in storage allows very fine particulates to settle out and the beer flavors to mature.

Maibock

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.070 (17.1 °P)
FG = 1.017 (4.3 °P)
IBU = 27 SRM = 7 ABV = 7.1%

Ingredients

9.3 lb. (4.2 kg) Best Malz Pilsen or similar continental Pilsner malt(2 °L)
5.1 lb. (2.3 kg) Best Malz Munich malt (8 °L) (or similar)
5.85 AAU Magnum hops (0.45 oz./13 g at 13% alpha acids) (60 min.)
White Labs WLP833 (German Bock Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) yeast

Step by Step

Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts of water to 1 pound of grain (a liquor-to-grist ratio of about 3:1 by weight) and a temperature of 154 °F (68 °C). Hold the mash at 154 °F (68 °C) until enzymatic conversion is complete, which may take 90 minutes or more at this low temperature. Infuse the mash with near boiling water while stirring or with a recirculating mash system raise the temperature to mash out at 168 °F (76 °C). Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting wort until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 6.5 gallons (25 L) and the gravity is 1.054 (13.4 °P).

The total wort boil time is 90 minutes, which helps reduce the S-methyl methionine (SMM) present in the lightly kilned Pilsner malt and results in less dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in the finished beer. Add the first hop addition with 60 minutes remaining in the boil. Add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. While the recipe does not call for it, you can optionally add another 0.42 oz (12 g) of Hallertau hops at 10 minutes left in the boil to enhance the hop character. Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is nearly 500 billion cells, which is 5 packages of liquid yeast or one package of liquid yeast in a 15-liter starter.

Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in two weeks or less, but do not rush it. Cold fermented lagers take longer to ferment than ales or lagers fermented at warmer temperatures. If desired, perform a diacetyl rest during the last few days of active fermentation. Rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle. Target a carbonation level of 2 to 2.5 volumes. A month or more of cold conditioning at near freezing temperatures will improve the beer. Serve at 43 to 46 °F (6 to 8 °C).

 

Maibock

(5 gallons/19 L, extract)
OG = 1.070 (17.1 °P)
FG = 1.017 (4.3 °P) IBU = 27
SRM = 7 ABV = 7.1%

Ingredients

6.6 lb. (3 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract (2 °L)
3.3 lb. (1.5 kg) Munich liquid malt extract (9 °L)
5.85 AAU Magnum hops (0.45 oz./13 g at 13% alpha acids) (60 min.)
White Labs WLP833 (German Bock Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) yeast

Step by Step

Always choose the freshest extract that fits the beer style. If you can’t get fresh liquid malt extract, it is better to use an appropriate amount and variety of dried malt extract instead. Add enough water to the malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of 5.9 gallons (22.3 L) and the gravity is 1.059 (14.6 °P). Stir thoroughly to help dissolve the extract and bring to a boil.

Once the wort is boiling, add the bittering hops. The total wort boil time is 1 hour after adding the first hops. Add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. While the recipe does not call for it, you can optionally add another 0.42 oz (12 g) of Hallertau at 10 minutes left in the boil to enhance the hop character. Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is nearly 500 billion cells, which is 5 packages of liquid yeast or one package of liquid yeast in a 15-liter starter.
Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in two weeks or less, but do not rush it. Cold fermented lagers take longer to ferment than ales or lagers fermented at warmer temperatures. If desired, perform a diacetyl rest during the last few days of active fermentation. Rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle. Target a carbonation level of 2 to 2.5 volumes. A month or more of cold conditioning at near freezing temperatures will improve the beer. Serve at 43 to 46 °F (6 to 8 °C).

Issue: Special Issue: 30 Great Beer Styles