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This is a challenging style to brew, thanks to the freezing process. The moral is that practice makes perfect, and eisbock is the type of pinnacle we ought to be clambering to reach.
For more detailed tips on brewing the style, see Make Your Best Eisbock.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.082 (post-boil, pre-freeze)
FG: 1.020
IBUs: 20
ABV: 8.3% (pre-freeze)
MALT/GRAIN BILL
15.5 lb (7 kg) Munich 9L
HOPS SCHEDULE
1 oz (28 g) Tettnang at 60 minutes [12 IBUs]
1 oz (28 g) Tettnang at 20 minutes [8 IBUs]
YEAST
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, chill to about 50°F (10°C), aerate well, and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 50°F (10°C) to start, slowly ramping up by 1°F (0.6°C) per day until you reach 60°F (16°C), then hold there until fermentation is complete.
Upon reaching terminal gravity, transfer to a keg and drop to freezing temperature—about 25°F (-4°C) if possible, or lower. Occasionally jostle the keg to check the ice content; when you estimate that the mixture is about 25 percent slush/ice, rack the liquid out from beneath the ice. Package and carbonate to about 2.25 volumes.
BREWER’S NOTES
To calculate the final ABV, multiply the pre-freeze ABV by the pre-freeze volume, then divide by the post-freeze volume. So if your 5 gallons (19 liters) of beer were 8 percent ABV before freezing and your post-freeze volume is 3.75 gallons (14.2 liters), then your post-freeze ABV is about 10.7 percent.