Debacle “De-Bock-Ale”
Specialty Beer category…. Passing resemblance to a Dopplebock brewed as an Ale.

Note: Warning, the process is as critical as the ingredients to this beer, and some of this process appears to violate “the rules” and may fly in the face of conventional wisdom….. and as such may not be appropriate for all brewers, brewer discretion is advised…..

I have received some very good reviews about this beer. One buddy, who has always been brutally honest….. said in an e-mail: “The Debacle is literally a work of art!!!! Amazing! Well balanced, just plain old good. Great work“.
I suck at tasting notes…. So I will not attempt to give any…. I’ll just say I really, really like this Beer…. A great deal of thought (and head scratching), as well as over 20-years of brewing experience went into the formulation of this Brew, and I was very pleased with the outcome.

Per my calculations:

(Original Gravity) O.G. = 1.076
(Final Gravity) F.G. = 1.019
(Bitterness) IBU = 28
(Color) SRM = 23
(Alcohol) APV = 7.4%
Calories per 12-oz bottle =247

For a 5-gallon batch:

9.5-pounds Munich Malt (7L)

5.5-pounds Vienna Malt

0.3125-pounds Carafa III

0.25-pounds Caramunich

1-oz. Mount Hood Hops 90-minutes
1-oz. Mount Hood Hops 5-minutes

S-05 yeast.

Be prepared for a very long brew day…. Start early! I am going into a great deal of detail regarding the mash and fermentation, much more so than normal… some of it may sound crazy to you…. But if you brew this beer…. Follow it.

Mash at 157-degrees at 1.2855 quarts per pound. My grain was right at 70-degrees so I heated 5-gallons of strike water to 173.3 degrees. Stir well and allow to mash for 1-hour. Stir well every 15-min. or so.
At the 1-hour mark, pull 1.5-gallons of the mash. Pull a thick decoction, you want a lot of grain in it. Boil the decoction hard for 30-min. Stir this a lot to keep from scorching.
Add the decoction back to the main mash, stir well and allow for a 1-hour rest. (no, not 15-min.). Drain the first runnings and put on to boil.
Add 2.25-gallons of sparge water heated to 170-degrees to the mash tun, stir well, and allow for a 30-min. rest. (no, not 15) Drain into first runnings, and place back on the heat.
Add 2.25 gallons of second sparge water also at 170-degrees, and again allow for a 30-min. rest.

(Note: I used water from an aquifer in Lower Ordovician Limestone, no iron, no sulphates, high in carbonates. Adjust your water accordingly if necessary.)
I stopped obsessing about efficiency a long time ago, I fret about what’s important now…. I mash for flavor, and this is my “patented” flavor mash.

Bring to a full boil for about 5-min. and then turn down the heat. You want it to just barely boil. This takes a lot of playing around with the heat sometimes. The last thing you want right now is for any thermal loading. Once you achieve the right heat level, add the bittering hops. Boil for an additional 90-minutes. Add the late addition Hops just before flame-out. Chill, and POUR it into the fermenter (or otherwise oxygenate well). Pitch rehydrated S-05 yeast and stir well (read as stir it to a froth).

Allow to ferment between 65 and 68 degrees for 36 days (minimum, but can go up to 40-days). No secondary, do not rack. Gently rouse the yeast once after the first and second weeks, and every other day or so for the remainder of fermentation.

Transfer to a bottling bucket, make sure you get some of the yeast in there with it. Prime with 3.5-oz of plain old table sugar, and bottle. If you keg, either naturally carb with the same priming sugar, or, force carb. (if you force carb, don’t over-do it… hhhmmmmm…. I bet this would be awesome on nitrogen).

Allow to age for at least 2-months, preferable 3, at room temp. Don’t drink it too cold.