Altbier Recipe Critique

I am planning on brewing a partial mash altbier this weekend. Here is my planned recipe:

3 lbs extra light DME
2 lbs Pale 2 Row
2 lbs Munich 10L
.5 lbs Caramal 40L
.25 lbs Roasted Barley 300L
1 oz Norther Brewer (60 minute boil)
1 oz Czech Saaz (30 minute boil)
.5 oz Czech Saaz (15 minute boil)
.5 oz Czech Saaz (5 minute boil)
Wyeast German Ale Yeast (#1007) with a 2 liter starter

I would love thought/suggestions/critiques on this plan. I was considering leaving the 2 Row out entirely in favor of more Munich or some Vienna malt. Thoughts?

Did you end up brewing this?

JPrather said:

Did you end up brewing this?

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Holy blast from the past, Batman!! I did. Are you a partial Nash brewer or all grain?

rklinck said:

Holy blast from the past, Batman!!

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Haha, I saw the date and my brain said "oh, that was only a couple of weeks ago...". Whoops.

I did. Are you a partial Nash brewer or all grain?

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Neither (yet). I've done two extract/steeping batches. I want to do an Alt next and was thinking about trying a partial mash.

I have a much better alt recipe these days. It's all grain, but here is how it would work as a partial mash:

3 lbs Pilsen DME
1 lbs Pilsner Malt
2 lbs Munich 10L
.5 lbs Munich II
.5 lbs Caramunich II
.5 lbs Carapils
2 oz of Black Malt
1.5 oz Spalt (60 minute boil)
.5 oz Spalt (15 minute boil)
.5 oz Spalt (0 minute boil)
US-05 Yeast

I use US-05 yeast for just about any recipe that I want to have a clean fermentation. You could swap it out for either a German Ale or Kolsch yeast if you wanted to be closer to the true style.

Hope this helps.

rklinck said:

I have a much better alt recipe these days. It's all grain, but here is how it would work as a partial mash:

3 lbs Pilsen DME
1 lbs Pilsner Malt
2 lbs Munich 10L
.5 lbs Munich II
.5 lbs Caramunich II
.5 lbs Carapils
2 oz of Black Malt
1.5 oz Spalt (60 minute boil)
.5 oz Spalt (15 minute boil)
.5 oz Spalt (0 minute boil)
US-05 Yeast

I use US-05 yeast for just about any recipe that I want to have a clean fermentation. You could swap it out for either a German Ale or Kolsch yeast if you wanted to be closer to the true style.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks a bunch for this. I'll probably brew something similar to this, adjusting for what my LHBS has. I have a US-05 cake in primary right now I was hoping to re-use, so that will work fine.

If you don't mind me picking your brain a little more I have a few quickies:

1) For Munich, my LHBS has Best Maltz 6.5L, Gambrinus 15L, and Gambrinus 30L. They also have Weyermann Melanoidin 23L. I'm guessing given those choices, 2lbs of the 6.5L and .5 of the 15L is the way to go, but if you'd do it another way I'm all ears.

2) The Pilsen DME (Briess) has some Carapils in it (I estimate about .25lbs worth). Is that factored into your .5 Carapils amount or would you consider adjusting it down for that? I'm sure it doesn't matter much either way.

3) What IBU are you shooting for with that hop schedule? I was originally leaning towards doing more of a Northern German style Alt, and shoot for ~30IBU. With that in mind I wasn't planning on doing any flavor/aroma additions, but being inexperienced I should probably just suck it up and stick to your recipe .

Thanks again!

The Munich you mentioned, should work for the Munich 10L and Munich II. But just to be sure you know, Caramunich II is caramel malt. If your LHBS doesn't have it, you can substitute a Caramel malt that is around 40L.

I probably wouldn't adjust the carapils.

My recipe ends up with about 35 IBU's. You can leave the aroma hops out, but you should include the flavor additions. An alt should have some hop flavor.

Also, don't feel like you have to stick to anyone's recipe. You should feel free to adjust any recipe to suit your taste.

rklinck said:

Also, don't feel like you have to stick to anyone's recipe. You should feel free to adjust any recipe to suit your taste.

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For sure. If anything, I overdo it on screwing around with recipes. I won't be brewing it for another week or two, so I'm sure I'll screw around with the recipe plenty by then.

Thanks again for taking the time, I really appreciate it.