Recipe - AG - Altbier

[nigel_c]

Few hours free today so managed to get this brew on the go.

Alt Bier
23L
OG 1.051
IBU 48
Yeast WLP 036 Dusseldorf Alt 1.5L starter

Lager Malt 4.00 Kg
Wheat malt 0.50 Kg
Vienna malt 0.50 Kg
Carafa special 3 0.12 Kg
CaraMunich 0.25 Kg

Magnum 25g @ 60 min
Hallertauer Mittelfruh 15g @ 20 min


Mashed at 66c for 60 min
Lovely amber leaning towards brown color.
This is going to ferment for for the next 10 days or so then get lagered with the lager i brewed the other day when I'm away on hols for a few weeks.

[biertourist]

How's this compare to an actual dusseldorf altbier?

-Where'd you get the recipe?


Adam

[nigel_c]

The recipe is based on ones I found on beersmith and homebrewtalk . Will be transferring in a few days so will sample and report back.

[Ciderhead]

looking forward to your comments on taste, that would definitely be a target beer for me

[Dr Jacoby]

This is one of my favourite beer styles. It's a lovely balancing act between assertive maltiness and the clean crisp effect you get from lagering.

The recipe above is not a million miles away from the classic recipes used by typical Dusseldorf breweries. One thing to note however is that Altbiers should attenuate very well or else they become overly malty and cloying. Breweries in Dusseldorf often use step mashes with long rests to make highly attenuable wort. A single infusion at 66C is ok but it might produce more body than you might want given the speciality malts.

Another thing to bear in mind is that WKP036 can take quite a long time to finish the job. Hopefully your holiday doesn't come too soon!

[nigel_c]

It is slow. Took a sample tonight and sitting at 1.030 @ 18-20c
Going to leave a few more days in primary before transfer then lager in another week.

I wouldn't say there is a high amount of specialty malt in the recipe.
less then 10% crystal/roasted should still finish around the 1.010 mark.
Sample is very tasty even now.

Going to lager this and my Junga pils for 3-4 weeks. Hopefully more if i can stay away from the, after the hols.

[biertourist]

Great thread guys; super informative.

I've found it SOO difficult to get good information on alt bier and after reading a few reviews on Horst Dornbush's alt beer book, I'm not going to waste my money. (His Helles Lager book is actually quite good; as always ignore his historical references and just focus on his information on the beer and brewing process.)

There's a brewery an hour and a half north of me called "Chuckanut" that makes absolutely INCREDIBLY AUTHENTIC German styles; they keep winning medal after medal and they only use imported Weyermann malt.  I've NEVER tasted a foreign-made (from the perspective of the country of origin of the beer) clone beer that tastes so perfect.  -A sip of their alt bier LITERALLY flooded my mind with memories from a pub crawl through Dusseldorf; it was wild.  Their Kolsch whisks you away to a brewery in view of the Dom in Cologne, too.  -I'm dying to try their sticke alt.  Ever since I tried their alt bier I haven't been able to get it out of my head.  -I finally tried the Zum Uringe Sticke Alt and it is as close as you can get to "cloyingly sweet" after taking a series of long boat and train rides to Seattle.

Dr. Jacoby your tips are especially appreciated.

The original brewer at Chuckanut who developed the recipes and won the first sets of Gold medals has started his own Belgian-only brewery in Bend, Oregon now so I'm hoping that I can steal some of his secrets on how to make a proper alt bier now that he doesn't work for a brewery that produces one. -If I get any good tips I'll report back.



Adam

[biertourist]

By-the-way I couldn't be more enthusiastic about Chuckanut. 

If you make it to Seattle, even though there's TONS of interesting breweries here; they're all either focus on modern american styles, the British tradition (most with the strength increased), and there's the occasional Belgian or Scandinavian-themed brewery (the Scandinavian themed ones focus on Belgian styles oddly enough), but there's really no where to go for lagers and German styles except for Chuckanut and they are world-beating.  -Chuckanut's Pilsner is just incredible and keeps bringing home the medals constantly. (It's not cheap at an average cost of $5.50 per American pint but they use very expensive imported ingredients.)

You go to Black Raven if you want Brown Porter; you go to Chuckanut if you want ANYTHING German.
Chuckanut's tap room is bordering on an American "dive bar" so you'll get a bit of "culture" too.  ; )


Adam

[Hop Bomb]

Did ye see Rick Steins visit to Germany on tv last week? They were drinking loads of this stuff. He is a descendant of a Düsseldorf beer dynasty. 

[Dr Jacoby]

Yea I saw that. The Steins were more involved in wines and spirits though weren't they? Man I really wanted a glass of Alt from Uerige while watching that programme!

[nigel_c]

Deep ruby red. Sweet crisp clean slight metallic bitterness.
Very quaffable.