Altbier recipe help

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

I'm trying to develop a recipe for an authentic Düsseldorf Altbier. Most places I have researched said to use mostly pilsner malt with a little Munich and even less roasted malts. Others claim you need more of a Munich/Vienna combination with a little pilsner malt. Can someone compare and contrast the flavor profiles and body of the beers going these two different ways? I'm really new to brewing and don't have the experience to know how these recipes will taste. For what it's worth, I plan on using all splat hops at 60 minutes, no flavor or aroma hops, and will use wyeast 1007. Thanks for your help. Here is my preliminary Grain bill:

German pilsner - 80%
Light Munich - 18.3%
Chocolate wheat - 1.7%

I threw the chocolate wheat in to add a little bit of color and to help with head retention. Plus I have some left from a dunkelweizen that I did. I debated going with some carafa or caramunich, but was afraid I'd get it too roasty.

 

[BigEd]

The ratio of Pilsner/Munich is up to you. It looks good as is. I'd go with it and decide on adjustments for next time once you taste the beer. More Munich will add malty/richer flavor. That's good to a point but you don't want this tasting like a bock or festbier.

Spalt hops are great, my favorite German variety. I do like a small middle addition to give a touch of background hops in support of the malt but, again, that is up to you. Carafa is a good choice for color adjustment and small quantities won't cause undo roastiness. CaraMunich is a crystal malt. It can be used if you want to but if your base malt is high quality IMO you won't need it.

 

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

Thanks BigEd. What would you consider a proper IBU level for this beer? I've been bouncing around between 30 and 40. I'm going to take your advice and reserve a portion for a 20 minute boil. I think I also may leave the pilsner/Munich ratio alone for now. I do enjoy a malty, roasty beer, but I've got plenty of that in bock, marzen, and doppelbock form. The reason I'm doing an altbier is to have something a little lighter and different. If it come out not malty enough, I'll adjust on the next attempt.

On a side note, as a newish brewer, what can I do to learn what flavor profiles a certain malt will impart. My palate is not sophisticated enough to know what it's tasting when I drink a beer. I'm still at the point where I drink it and say oh I like that, or oh that was terrible, don't want that again. I'd like to move beyond that and begin to pick out specific flavors within a beer and be able to adjust my recipes accordingly. Can I learn anything from chewing on the grains? I know this probably deserves its own thread, but I don't want to flood the board with more than I already have.

 

[arturo7]

You may also want to consider White Labs WLP036.

 

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

You may also want to consider White Labs WLP036.

I looked into this yeast. I'm a little worried about the lower attenuation rate.

 

[BigEd]

Thanks BigEd. What would you consider a proper IBU level for this beer? I've been bouncing around between 30 and 40.

Altbier should have a firm bitterness but you also need to consider the beer's OG. I like the IBUs to be about 80% of the OG, so for 1.050OG that means IBU 40.

On a side note, as a newish brewer, what can I do to learn what flavor profiles a certain malt will impart. My palate is not sophisticated enough to know what it's tasting when I drink a beer. I'm still at the point where I drink it and say oh I like that, or oh that was terrible, don't want that again. I'd like to move beyond that and begin to pick out specific flavors within a beer and be able to adjust my recipes accordingly. Can I learn anything from chewing on the grains?

Absolutely you can. The final flavor in the beer is not exactly what the chewed malts taste like but with experience you will be able to recognize ingredients in a beer and project what a certain list of ingredients will bring to the beer. My LHBS has dozens of grains and I'll always chew on one or two of my favorites when I stop in or try something new I haven't tasted before.