German Alt Bier

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rbankert

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Looking for opinions on what temperature to ferment a German Alt Bier at. I've looked at many different recipes, and seen many different ways but just not sure what is the best.
Some of the things I've seen so far:

Ferment primary at 70deg, secondary at 45deg, and age in bottle at 35deg for 2-4 wks.

Ferment at 45-50 deg, age in bottle at 40 deg

Ferment at 70 deg, in bottle at 70 deg for 1 week, then 2-3 weeks at 40 deg.

Plus many others... any opinions on what the best method is?
 
I'm fermenting an Alaska Amber (Alt style) clone right now. I'm using Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast. According to Wyeast's site, this yeast works best at slightly lower temps 55-68F and if fermented warmer may produce some fruitiness. I'm following a BYO clone recipe and with this particular yeast they instructed to ferment the primary at 68F, secondary at 40F and bottle condition at 50F.
 
I've used Wyeast's German Ale, and White Labs' Düsseldorf, both at 50-52° and they did just fine. Secondary at fridge temps ~42° for as many weeks as I could stand.
They were both from 1/2g starters, fermented out, chilled and decanted before pitching. Seems like the colder you go the more yeast you need; they don't like to reproduce in the cold.
-But then, who does?
 
After bottling you may want to store them in a 60-70F environment for two weeks to allow carbonation and then age in a colder environment. Otherwise the bottles may carbonate very slowly or not at all.
 
I made an alt about month or two ago, its still a little young but tastes awsome. I ALSO used the wyeast 1007. I was a little ambitous and made this knowing it should be cold in the secondary, but knowing i did no have the means to do so. So i just fermented in my room at ale temps probably aroun 65. IT took about 2 and half weeks to ferment out. Anyways it still tastes good, alittle fruity but it still needs a few more weeks to mellow. I ALso dont have space to put the cases ina cold area so i wont be doing that either. It still tastes good and very different from anything else ive tried (not as crisp as the traditional alt). I would also suggest pitching an oktober fest ale on the cake.
 

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