Great Altbier recipe suggestions

Hey, crew,

I’m looking for a simple 5 -gal all grain recipe for Altbier. It will be my first all-grain so the simpler and less fussy/nuanced the better.

I’ll use Wyeast 1007.

What do you suggest?

Keep it simple if you will…

This is kind of an Americanized version of an alt, but it’s delicious and has won me a lot of awards.

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/MilosAlt

I love my German beers, I brew more of them than any other style. Here is a simple recipe and you have the yeast.

8.5 Lbs. German pilsner malt
2 lbs. Munich malt
1 lbs. Aromatic malt
0.5 lbs. Caramunich
4 oz. Carafa Special 2

Hops
1 oz. Magnum 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Tettnang

Mash 149/ 152 for 90 minutes

Batch sparge for 6.5 gallons
boil for 90 minutes
Put 5.5 gallons in fermenter
Ferment 60 degrees
OG 1.050
FG 1.013

[quote=“masquelle”]Hey, crew,

I’m looking for a simple 5 -gal all grain recipe for Altbier. It will be my first all-grain so the simpler and less fussy/nuanced the better.

I’ll use Wyeast 1007.

What do you suggest?

Keep it simple if you will…[/quote]

I’ve read about brewers who go 100% munich malt and 35-40 IBUs of spalt.

Alaskan amber is a good alt

Sorry, but no it’s not. It’s an OK beer, but it ain’t no alt! Just becasue they call it that doesn’t make it true!

Can you expound on that a bit Mr. Denny? We don’t really get Alts here in Texas so I’m not sure that I have ever had a really good one. My guess is that you are going to say that Alaskan Amber is not bitter enough but I certainly don’t want to put words into you mouth. :smiley:

An alt should be crisp with an assertive bitterness. AA is just too heavy and sweet to even be much like Diebel’s alt (one of the sweeter ones) let alone something like Zum Uerige. They’re free to call it whatever they like, but to me it’s kinda like Rogue calling Dead Guy a maibock.

I made NB’s all grain alt kit this past summer and thought it was really good.

Brewing Classic Styles’ Cowboy alt is a favorite of mine, and I earned a first place in competition with it. I’ve got it conditioning right now, this time brewed with my homegrown hops. I used a slurry of Kolsch II WYEAST for it, which I will not do again- too much sulphur. US-05 did a cleaner job.

Use a kolsch yeast for kolsch, not alt.

Barley Water - we do get an excellent alt here in Texas, one that is brewed in Austin:

http://www.hopsandgrain.com/our-beers/alt-eration/

Try some and compare it to Alaskan Amber, and I think you’ll taste and understand exactly what Denny is talking about.

I certainly appreciate that Mr. Jeebeel. Just poking around their website I see there is a retailer that carries it just down the road from me in Richardson. It seems I need to take a small detour on the way home. :smiley:

I have found Zum Uerige at Speck’s before. I don’t know if there’s one near you.

Nice - enjoy it. And maybe call the retailer now and make sure he has some chilled for you when you get there.

I have found Zum Uerige at Speck’s before. I don’t know if there’s one near you.[/quote]

At present we don’t get any German alts in Texas, but if you get a chance to try Hops & Grains Alt I think you’ll like it.

[quote=“Denny”]This is kind of an Americanized version of an alt, but it’s delicious and has won me a lot of awards.

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/MilosAlt[/quote]

+1 to this. Made it and it was amazing. Was leery of all that Munich, but not anymore. I may up the Munich when I make it again. Great stuff, Denny!

Last year, I brewed both of the alt recipes in BCS, and I preferred the Northern German Altbier over the Dusseldorf. Both were good. Tasting the two side-by-side really brought out the differences. To me, the NG alt was smoother and more balanced, with a more developed malt character. The Dusseldorf seemed just a tad overly bitter to me. YMMV.

This is a really great German Alt. It always places when entered into competition. I do raise the IBU’s up to 34-35. http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kaiser_Alt

Use a kolsch yeast for kolsch, not alt.[/quote]

I did- albeit a Kolsch using Pacifica hops that I called Kiwi Kolsch. The alt was fermented with the slurry from the Kolsch. After bubbling CO2 thru it to scrub out the sulfur and some cold conditioning, the Cowboy alt turned out very good with the Kosch II after all! Is it as good as the US-05 version? Damn close IMHO, but I’ll let competition judges decide later this spring.