Altbier

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Gozdawa Old German Altbier 9, a Polish brand produced in Germany. I don't know if they export to the US, I buy them in Europe.
I think it's the best dry option for fermenting Grodziskie: OGA-9 is less tart than K-97, less estery than M54, less demanding in regard to pitch rate, lagtime and temp swings than Lalbrew Köln. Its difference with Lalbrew Köln is just marginal however, they are interchangable.

For an Altbier, I keep M54 in higher regard than OGA-9, because I love a tiny whiff of peary ester in my Alt, it somehow goes very well with the darker beer. For a Kölsch, I always use Lalbrew Köln. Unlike with the darker Alt, where some trace-level esters are allowable, for as pale a beer as Kölsch you want as clean a yeast as possible.
 
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How bitter you plan it to be? If around 40, you'd better leave some 3 to 5% Crystal, you need to counterbalance the bitterness nicely. I'd suggest to reevaluate the Vienna and Munich part: you don't need an overly toasty-biscuity beer, Alt is not as malty as Märzen, the big guys of the modern homebrewing use about 25% of Munich (I don't really know why they do even that, but who am I to argue, I don't want to look overly dismissive).
Brewfather has it at 31. As far as the Munich and veinna go I was actually aiming for that. At least here in the US Altbier is about as common a good plate or tacos in Central Europe…. I’m sure it’s somewhere but good luck finding it. So many of us have been lead to believe it’s like a Marzen style Oktoberfest with hops and a kiss of ale character to it. Also a little off topic but maybe not? This is one of my first attempts at making a house ale. Like probably 99% of the people here my buddy and I dream of telling our boss to kiss our asses and opening our own tap room. This is one of those attempts at creating a year round drinkable but still tons of toasty bready flavor definitely German inspired beer.
 
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All the best to your tap room plans!
You'll need to learn a lot though, guys. Like really lot, beginning with the BJCP stylebook.
 
All the best to your tap room plans!
You'll need to learn a lot though, guys. Like really lot, beginning with the BJCP stylebook.
We’re both poor and I have a family that has to grow up first lol. Yeah I know we got a long way to go. But it’s the dream that keeps ya going in dead end crap jobs.
 
Great recipe and understanding of the style.
I wonder however, why doubling Carafa with Simpsons? 2% Black is the standard among most recipes I've seen.
Total whim. I was staying away from the darker Carafa because I've gotten an ashy flavor from III at this percentage. Then I was still pretty light in color, like borderline too light so I added the chocolate. There's a very light chocolate flavor in the background that seems to just add depth to the sweetness of the Pilsner. I like simplifying grain bills as much as anyone, but I'm always hesitant to change anything when it ticks all the boxes for me.
 
Looking for opinions on an upcoming Altbier I want to brew
I suggest this previous thread :
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/what-is-alt-beer.33694/page-2#post-9185386They average 1.047 OG, 80% attenuation and 34 EBC colour but the group of Dusselforf alts (excluding Uerig) are just under 30 IBU (BU:GU 62%), whereas Uerig is 48 IBU (BU:GU 102%). Uerig is also a touch paler (33 EBC) and a touch lower attenuation (78%) than the Dussedorf average.

But there's a group of alts (including some from Munster) that are rather different from the Dusseldorf ones, which can go as low as 12 IBU (and eg Pinkus is 18 IBU representing the Munster tradition).


90% pilsner, 10% Munich is all Diebels use, don't fall victim to the USian tendency to overcomplicate things.

I wonder, why those Deutsch-sounding designations are so popular to christen completely unrelated brews? It's not even style bastardisation, there's zero bytes of Alt genome in this recipe....And every time it's German. English beers seem to have better luck with that
IPA, mild and porter would all like a word....
 
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