First wort hopping for Dusseldorf alt?

[muddylars]

Hi,
I've been wanting to try a dusseldorf alt recipe for a while, and I have also been intrigued by first wort hopping. From what I understand an altbier should lack the later hop additions. I thought of trying 1 oz (10 gal recipe) of Hallertau as a FWH addition. Does this seem like a decent idea?
Any other thoughts for hopping an altbier? I understand that spalt are a typical 60 min addition, although brewing classic style claims that spalt have a relatively unpleasant flavor... Thanks for the help!
-Lars

 

[oswiu]

I've never had a genuine Alt.

But from what I've read, from my couple of attempts at brewing alts, and from my experience with FWH in other beers, I think they'd work wonderfully in an Altbier. Good smooth bitterness and some nice hop flavour. That sounds like an Alt to me.

Give it a try and see how it turns out

 

[markg388]

ive done a fair ammount of FWH and can hardly taste any difference... so go for it, the technique works fine. Hallertau is a perfect hop for that beer, and spalt doesn't taste unpleasant to me, that author must not like that hop. The most important thing is to skip american base malt and use german malt, or theres a decent chance your alt will taste suspiciously like an american amber ale.

 

[alecoholic]

Levenworth Biers, makes an alt with a bunch of late hopping, 8 mile alt, which is one of the better alt beer's I've had. I think FWH would make a decent tasting alt.

Spalt is one of my least favorite hops but is traditional in an Alt, I'd just use an oz. and add hallatauer and/or tettnanger for the rest of your hops.

 

[commonlaw]

I did an alt with a small FWH of spalt and a 15 minute addition of spalt, with a substantial 60 minute addition of magnum. One of the best beers I've brewed.

I would probably do a FWH plus a 60 minute addition to get a mix of bitterness.