Altbier...

Just ordered a German Altbier extract kit from northern brewer. The description sure sounded good! Has anyone else brewed this beer and how did it turn out for you?

I'll have to let you know. I'm making an ag dusseldorf alt in the next couple of weeks. Kind of a German pale ale to me.

I have it on tap now. It is far more bitter (mostly apparent in the aftertaste) than I expected; not a criticism, just an observation. It definitely has the malt forward flavors I expected. First Alt I had made. If/when I brew another I will probably use Brewing Classic Styles as a base recipe instead of the NB recipe. I would also adjust hopping to my tastes. If something is bitter, I want to also taste the hops. Although that is probably not true to style then.

It's probably also not fair that my other tap is a CYBI Mirror Pond which is disappearing much faster.

I've made 4 different batches of altbier. For all of them I used yeast I got from Im Fuchschen in Dusseldorf (check out my Fuchschen thread).

I love these beers. I'm drinking one right now!

I've brewed quite a few alts. Not NB's extract kit though. I looked at it. I'm not sure what the point is for the 45 minute hop addition and it seems like too much cara malt to me. Some don't even use crystal. I'm sure it will be good, but you should run the numbers with a calculator program with your equipment and process. Things like boil volume and late extract additions can change the bitterness quite a bit.

Malticulous said:

I've brewed quite a few alts. Not NB's extract kit though. I looked at it. I'm not sure what the point is for the 45 minute hop addition and it seems like too much cara malt to me. Some don't even use crystal. I'm sure it will be good, but you should run the numbers with a calculator program with your equipment and process. Things like boil volume and late extract additions can change the bitterness quite a bit.

Click to expand...

10g batch
OG = 1.050

15 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 88.2 %
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.9 %
8.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (413.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.9 %

50.00 g Magnum [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 28.8 IBUs
50.00 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 10.6 IBUs

Sounds good to me! Can't wait to brew this up! How would it differ if I did a five gallon boil versus the 2.5 gallon like it says in the instructions?

Quaker said:

It is far more bitter (mostly apparent in the aftertaste) than I expected; not a criticism, just an observation..

Click to expand...

agreed, but very good, I made it a partial mash adding 2lbs of munich and making it 6 gallon instead of 5

bigjason6 said:

Sounds good to me! Can't wait to brew this up! How would it differ if I did a five gallon boil versus the 2.5 gallon like it says in the instructions?

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I did a full boil. Could explain a higher bitterness in mine than intended. And I looked back at my notes. I had used Beer Alchemy's calc to adjust hop additions originally, and shifted them around. So maybe it was all my own doing after all.

Was 1oz Perle (9.5%) at 60 and 45 min, then 1 oz Hersbrucker (2.4%) at 15. I did 1.8 oz Perle at 60 and the remaining 0.2 Perle and 1 oz Hersbrucker at 5 minutes hoping for more flavor and aroma. I obviously didn't get what I had wanted.

Well, I did my brew yesterday. Everything came off without a hitch! Almost had a boil over but I shot that back down with a water spritzer. Took a hydrometer reading of 1050, should have been 1052. I'm guessing that's close enough. I drank what was in the test jar and it tasted pretty damn good!

Alts are a great beer. I brew one up every winter (so I can have a cool temperature fermentation). I'm lucky too - one of my friend's wife is from Dusseldorf, so the two of them have given me great feedback on my results. According to them, this year's version is the most authentically tasting yet!

A German pale or brown ale is a pretty good general description. American interpretations tend to be too bitter though.

Well, it appears to fermenting nicely at about 60° with a nice krausen about 3/4 inch thick. I hope it turns out good!