Bock Beer

This was an article I wrote for the Autumn 2000 issue of Scum (the newsletter for the AEthelmearc brewer's guild). A number of spelling corrections have been made for this post.

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Bring That Beer Bock to Me

In the first quarter of the fourteenth century a medium sized town called Einbeck, in Lower Saxony, became the epicenter of a beer that was so different that it managed not only to outlive its place of birth, but to remain one of the most popular styles of beer even up to today. Ainpöck'schen Bier, as it was known, was exported all over Northern Europe. The Bavarians eventually shortened the name to Bock, which we know it as today. The Historian Heinrich Knaust once wrote:

"Of all summer beers, light and hoppy barley beers, the Einbeck beer is the most famed and deserves the preference. Each third grain to this beer is wheat; hence, too, it is of all barley beers the best . . . People do not fatten too much from its use; it is also very useful in fever cases."

In other words; one third of the bock was made up of malt from wheat which smoothed out the strong taste of the barley while adding its own flavor. We also know that the original bocks were top-fermented and heavily hopped.

This is different than the contemporary method of bock production. The original bock style beer enjoyed great notoriety but in the end, disappeared. In fact, the term "bock" was coined by Munich brewers as they attempted to copy the Einbeck style. Einbeck style bock beer died in part to three reasons: The sacking of Einbeck and the destruction of its beer industry during the Thirty Years's War; the rise of mass produced beer in Munich; and the introduction of the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law adopted in 1516.

For those who do not know what the Reinheitsgebot is, and I say "is" because parts of it is still enforced, a series of regulations that controlled how much beer could be priced and what ingredients could be used. Karl Eden's 1993 translation includes the following regulation:

Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, market-towns and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities' confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail.

Yeast was not considered an ingredient, apparently. The current version of the law does include yeast as one of the four ingredients that are allowed to be used to make beer. Any grain-based, fermented beverage that included other ingredients, such as spices, fruit, wheat or rye, could not have been called, or sold as, beer. This was an issue with taverns that had licence to sell only beer.

Around 1610 a brewer from Einbeck traveled to Munich to try to duplicate the Einbeck success. Of course wheat malt could not be used for beer due to the purity laws and the Malts available in Munich were much darker than those available in Einbeck. The water in Munich also had significantly higher levels of carbonates which produces a harsh bitterness in highly hopped beers. The only way around that problem was to substantially reduce the amount of hops used. Another item to consider was that Munich's beer industry predominantly used the bottom fermenting yeast which were introduced by Bavarian monks around 1420. That strain of yeast required lower temperatures to ferment and Munich had already instituted its own purity laws which dictated that beer could only be brewed in the winter months, which meant this new bock was lagered, and from records of the time, it was probably lagered (fermented) from eight to ten weeks.

Although the Munich copy of the Einbeck beer was nothing like the original, difficulties in producing and shipping Einbeck's bock due to the purity laws meant that more and more drinking houses were substituting the new for the old. If people complained about the difference, history did not pay any attention. Just like in modern times, when the soda pop giant switched from "old coke" to "classic coke" people eventually learned to enjoy the new flavor not because they enjoyed it more, but because with the absence of the original, people eventually forgot what it tasted like. However, the legacy of Ainpöck'schen lives on in Einbeck. Even today, the Einbecker Brauhaus still bears the logo placed there after the Thrity Years's War: "Ohne Einbeck gäb's kein Bock-Bier" (Without Einbeck there'd be no Bock Beer).

I will include two recipes from my collection, one for new bock and one for the old. The recipes will assume that the brewer will know how to brew with whole grains. For each, you will need the standard equipment: stainless steel pots, stirring sticks, thermometers and the like. Sterilize everything.

"NEW BOCK"

Ingredients (for 5 gallons):

8 pounds, Munich malt, 2 row
2 pounds, Vienna malt, 2 row
2 pounds, Klages malt, 2 row
1/2 pound, 80L Crystal malt
2 ounces, Perle Hops pellets (bittering) alpha=7.6%
Bavarian style lager yeast
1/2 cup, Amber spray malt (for priming)
6 grams, Calcium Bicarbonate

Procedure:

Treat 5 gallons of medium hard water with 6 grams of Calcium Bicarbonate. Mash in grain. Follow a mash program of 50 minutes at 122F, 20 minutes at 136F, 40 minutes at 149F, 90 minutes at 158F, and a mash off for 15 minutes at 171F. Sparge for about an hour and a half. This will yield about 9 gallons at the end. (runoff gravity of about 1.010). Boil down to a volume of 5 gallons (this will take about 2 hours). Add Hops pellets about 90 minutes into the boil. Cool and pitch yeast. Prime with spray malt when you are ready to bottle.

Primary Ferment: 3 weeks at 48F degrees
Secondary Ferment: 6 weeks at 36F degrees

"CLASSIC BOCK"

Ingredients (for 5 gallons):

3.3 pounds, M&F light extract
3 pounds, Red wheat malt
4 ounces, Hallertauer hops (boiling) alpha=3%
2 ounces, Hallertauer hops (finishing) alpha=5%
1 teaspoon, Irish Moss
Wyeast English Ale Culture
1/2 cup, amber spray malt (for priming)

Procedure:

Add the wheat malt to 2 quarts of 100F water and hold for 1 hour. Raise the temperature to 167F degrees and hold for 2 hours. Add 6 quarts of boiling water and bring the wort to a roiling boil. Sparge with 3 gallons of 170F water. Bring the runoff back up to a roiling boil before adding the extract and the boiling hops. Boil for one hour. Add in the Irish moss for the last ten minutes and the finishing hops for the last two.Cool and pitch yeast. Prime with spray malt when you are ready to bottle. Ferment at room temperature.

Primary Ferment: 3 weeks
Secondary Ferment: 2 weeks.

References:

James Burke, Connections, Boston: Little Brown, 1978.

H. S. Corran, A History of Brewing, London: David & Charles, 1975.

Lord Corwin of Darkwater, Brewing on the Dark Side, Scum Vol. 1, Number 6.

Ray Daniels, Homebrewing Digest, BrewStyles: Traditional Bock. (do not have the issue
number).

John Dornberg, The Medieval Heart of Northern Germany, German Life. Zeitgeist, Publishing, Inc. October/November 1996 Issue.

Eden, Karl J. History of German Brewing, Zymurgy. 16 (4). 1993.

Michael Jackson, The Beer Hunter Online Resources.

Oscar A. Mendelsohn, The Dictionary of Drink and Drinking, New York: Hawthorn
Books, Inc.,1965.

Charlie Papazian, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, New York: Avon Books, 1984.

Handbook of Brewing, #5 of the Compleat Anachronist, Alcoholic Drinks of the Middle
Ages, #60 of the Compleat Anachronist, Society for Creative Anachronism, Milpitas,
CA, 1983