Baby Got Bock....

Ok not the best of puns, but it works...sort of.  I decided to create a bock this go around and for all intents and purposes, I failed.  I still made beer mind you, but this was a lesson in going with your first instincts and sticking with it.

My ingredients were perfect, style wise, to a spring Maibock, and I had every intention of enjoying this Maibock I'm calling St. Joe's Billy Goat.  However, I got curious.  And when I get curious I start to tinker with things.  I tried a new thing, first wort hopping, which changed the characteristics of the beer from a nice spring bock to and American IPA.  Still a drinkable beer I know, but not what I was wanting.  My Wife gave this new beer a name, Hop-tastic, in honor of Easter.

Brew Day came and was a warm one, I ended up spending 4 hours in the sun, 90 degrees.  And what will 4 hours in the sun do for you?  Make you want to take on another project, like say building a draft beer jockey box.  But thats for another Blog post on another day.

The first wort hop process involves adding an amount of hops to the brew kettle as the sparging process is taking place.  As you see above, or can't see, I have an ounce of hops steeping in the brew kettle as the wort is running off the grains. 
By the way:
10 lbs. 2 Row
4 lbs. Crystal 10
1 oz. Northern Brewer (first wort hops)
1 oz. Cascade (bittering 75 min)
1 oz. Hallertaur  (aroma 10 min)
White Labs German Bock Yeast
(added on package Fermentis Dry Ale yeast after unsure the German Bock yeast was working, I'm impatient)

Only boiled over twice.  I may need to get a bigger brew kettle.

I was having some of my BST Amber Ale, a picture of the old with the new.

Thought this was a cool picture.
Lagering is a unique process that involves keeping the tempurature of the beer between 50 and 55 degrees during the fermentation process.  Bocks are traditional German lagers that tend to be higher in the alcohol content.  If you want more of a description, just ask and I'll make a better attempt.