Faux Bock | Seasons Of The Brew

Spring came early this year in NC (...already hit 80F during the last week of Feb in Durham!), so I started to crave a nice Helles Bock. Trouble was, I didn't want to wait the usual time it takes to ferment and condition a traditional lager. I posted earlier about how it took a full 8 weeks for my fest lager to clean up in the fall. The way things are going this year, it will be way too hot in 8 weeks to want to drink a Helles Bock!

So...I decided to brew up a "Faux Bock." Nothing fancy other than to ferment quickly with an ale yeast and see what happens. I used pretty much the same recipe posted by Brulosophy (https://brulosophy.com/2020/04/30/short-shoddy-helles-bock/

) with the exception of the change to Fermentis S04 ale yeast and whatever grains were available at my local homebrew store since they didn't have the Mecca Estate malts. By the way, I'm a big fan of the Brulosophy "short and shoddy" methods as they make for a quick brew day - I did a 45 min mash on this one followed by a 30 min boil. Fermentation was finished in around 3-4 days, but I let it go a full week before cold crashing. A couple days later and it was time for a taste test - this just 10 days after brew day! OG of 1.067 and FG of 1.010 for an ABV of around 7.4%.

So...what about the results? I think this turned out really well! It has most of the characteristics of a true Helles Bock. Grainy with moderate sweetness and a bit of alcohol warmth on the finish given the final ABV. Recipe called for a final gravity of around 1.016, and I attribute the overshoot there to the much more attenuating S04 yeast than the traditional lager yeast. Would it have been more true to style had I stuck with the traditional methods? Undoubtedly. Is it still a delicious beer that captures most of the characteristics of the intended style? I think so!

Anyway, let me know if you try a similar method. A proper "exBeeriment" would have been to split the batch in two and ferment half with the ale yeast and half with the lager yeast, but who has time for that? Actually...I do know, and its Martin Keen of the Brulosophy You Tube channel! (https://www.youtube.com/@TheBrulosophyShow) - sounds like a suggestion for a future episode!

Cheers!