Homemade Eisbock Beer

With a little secret ingredient

This is the first time I'm trying this.

Ice Ice Baby

The actual Eisbock process is simple. It is all about freezing beer in a plastic bottle and then let the alcohol drip out slowly. Water starts freezing at just a little below zero degrees Celcius. Where as alcohol needs the temperature to drop to about minus 141 degrees Celcius, before it freezes. After approximately 24 hours, at minus 20 degrees Celsius, in the freezer it is time to take the bottle out and turn it upside down. (Check first if the liquid was frozen completely.) For my experiment I did put a measuring cup under it. That way I can see how much Eisbock was produced and more or less calculate the new alcohol percentage.

The beer colored ice will now let the alcohol free first. It will come in drips, so be patient. Also it will still contain a little bit of melted water. Which might not be such a bad thing. The dripping process will be supported by gravity. And slowly but steady the beer colored ice will turn into clear water ice. While the beer colored alcohol slowly will start to go down within the ice mass. Once that last lower part looks like clear water ice you can stop the dripping process. And then it is time to see how much Eisbock is in the measuring cup. If all went well then this will be quite a lot less liquid than you started out with. Now you can calculate the alcohol percentage of the Eisbock.

For my first Homemade Eisbock I used a 6.5 percent Spring [NL: Lente] Bock beer. A total of 1.2 Liters and I added a little secret ingredient. Of which I can not tell you, because of a project I still working on. But the secret ingredient is not needed for creating an Eisbock. It is just adding some extra flavors which I thought would be nice. You can do so yourself of course. Maybe add a little palm sugar? Sure, why not, or add some chocolate. Whatever you think might add an extra dimension to your own Eisbock. Your own secret ingredient mixture. Anyway, I uses the Gerardus beer brand which is made by the Gulpener Brewery in the Province of Limburg. (That's in the South of Nederland.)

Will I save some for the beerketeers?

Well, I have to state that I already have tasted a few drips. And it tasted awesome! Strong, clearly more sweet than the original and no carbondioxide bubbles left. My guess is that it will be about 13% and I'll have 0.6 Liters of my first batch of homemade Eisbock. That will fit into two bottles. So I could take one bottle to Joe's Garage, the tiny pub mancave, on Thirstday, for our beertaste evening. But will it last that long? Can I just have one and leave the other one for the road? Questions, questions questions... It might be time to bottle the Eisbock, as I think the dripping process is almost finished.

Okay, I'll try one, just the one. If and when the Eisbock is completely ready that is. There's about half a liter by now. And it is not going so fast anymore. Guess I have to practice a little more patience. Will let you know when I actually have tasted it. But it may be wise to get something to eat first. The creation of a homemade Eisbock Beer has been pretty easy so far. The toughest part for me is the time that is needed to actually enjoy the result. And how about you, fellow beer lover, have you ever had a go at making your own homemade Eisbock? Did it taste anything like you wanted it to be? Mine will be ready, within an hour or two, I guess. So I'll make some dinner first... (To be continued right away.)

The tastening!

Two bottles filled and capped after dinner. So I did manage to get to 0.6 Liter homemade Eisbock. After 0.6 liter the drips became very watery transparant. While the ice did not look very caramelish anymore. (Of course the bottles were properly cleaned already.) One bottle I will keep for my fellow beerketeers and me to drink during Beer Tasting Thirstday. The other one I popped just now. The color is a beautiful orange amber, almost warm red. It smells sweet and caramelized, with hints of vanilla. No real alcohol smell detectable. But how about the taste?

There's almost a sticky creamy sweetness to it. Going smoothly down the hatch. Tasting caramel vanilla fudge, with a hint of sweet bourbon. Hardly any bitterness, not during nor after drinking my homemade Eisbock. Cannot really detect a dominant alcohol taste. (That might be considered a downside.) It does find its way to my head though and makes me feel warmer inside. Not bad, not bad at all. This one is absolutely worth repeating.

Now I'm going to finish this publication and enjoy the freshly produced homemade Eisbock. And I think my fellow beerketeers will absolutely love this one.

Have a great one!

Some photos of the final stages.

All photos by me.