Blending. Again.

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I have a bunch of Double-Bock that is far too sweet and not nearly bitter enough. It’s not really drinkable if only one glass is enough, right? :frowning: I’ve been blending this cloying nightmare with Miller Lite at 8:1 or 1/4 cup per 16oz can. I can’t think of a blanker canvas…

Great taste. And less filling.

A nice passable amber lager with a light feel. Actually quite good.

Roughly estimating at the above ratio, I’ll need a little over five hundred 16oz cans of Lite to get rid of the Double-Bock. Any ideas? I’m considering raising the bitterness somehow…

2

How about a German Pils hopped to the high end of the range? That might blend down to Maerzen range with the doppelbock.

3

Is it kegged?  Would you want to de-gas it and blend it into an actively fermenting beer?

I imagine you could ferment out some of that sweetness, but this may be too much handling.

Use it for sauce when you cook.  I bet it would be great cooked down into a glaze.

4

Makes great bread. Might do some sort of sauce or even a carbonade.

Blending wise, I’m considering an over-attenuated small beer with a considerable hop-profile- maybe just an extreme bittering charge…?

Or a massive keg dry hop? A referment makes me uneasy. This was brewed 01/02/14 and has been lagering since.

The Lite is tolerating a 2:1 blend but the sweetness starts showing and it tastes a bit like malt-liquor at that point. ::slight_smile:

5

I had a barley wine that was a bit too much and it was all I had on tap for a while. I blended with plain ol’ soda water 1:1 or 2:1 beer to water for a decent ordinary bitter experience.

6

I’ve tried the 1:1 with club soda and am tasting it right now. Kinda soda-pop-ish-esque result. Interesting. Hard carbonation but the sweet finish lingers on and on. I can almost taste the discrete malts and some esters reveal themselves.

The 2:1 is next.

7

I suggest blue food coloring, calling it Romulan Ale and selling it on eBay for two strips gold pressed latinum.

8

Make a saison with just base malt and add some dopplebock as a substitute for Munich to the fermenting saison?

9

It would be a great candidate for making a sour doppelbock.

Otherwise I would brew the same recipe with a lower gravity, mashed very low and higher bittering and blend it in.

10

The 2:1 club soda blend didn’t please me either. :-\

The Saison idea is interesting and so is the concept of turning it into a bugged beer. I could do that in the keg right? Don’t own any carboys and no plans to invest in them!

There’s lot’s of possibilities. I could add some to a batch of hefe and get a dunkel perhaps?

11

I’d make an extra bitter dunkel and blend together into a smaller bock, but I’m crazy like that.

12

Or blended into a hefe, it’d have to be in the neighborhood of weizenbock.

13

Or I could try the roeselare yeast… :wink:

14

Have you considered just boiling up a hop tea using water and hops to get a super bitter concentrate and adding that directly to the keg?

15

I’d buy that.

16

That’s a delicious idea, all smileys aside.  Defridge & degas keg and pitch a fat starter.  Don’t taste for 6 months.  Some amazing sours have come from last-ditch pitches.

17

I like some of the suggestions of brewing a complimentary style on the dry side and blending the two.  I think that could work really well.

Otherwise, I think souring it could be a great way to go.  If you already ferment in your kegs, leave it in the keg and degas it/let it go flat, then reinoculate it and put on whatever CO2 relief you use.  I’d try Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend or WLP 655, 665, or 675.  On the downside, these all take some time to really mature.  You’ll just have to brew something else to tide you over.