Need Advice and Critique of My Alt Recipe

[Jtc2811]

I posted this in extract brewing, but it seems there is little traffic there, so I thought I would try here as well.

Ok, so i came up with the idea of taking the aggressive hop profile of an IPA and applying it to the German Altbier style of brewing. I have been tinkering with this for a while, and it has kind of morphed into an Imperial Alt.

The key here is that I want to use German hops, mostly German steeping grains, and Munich Extract. I have not yet decided on a yeast, but I was thinking either S-05 or Pacman, as I have both.

Here's the rundown:

Imperial Alt
OG: 1.071
Target FG: 1.015
IBU: 78
SRM: 15

Boil Time: 80 Min

Fermentables:
6# Munich LME - 3# at the beginning of the boil, 3# late addition
1# Amber DME
1# Wheat DME (to back the malt profile)
1# Honey, late addition

Steeping Grains:
0.50# CaraAmber
0.25# CaraMunich II
0.25# Melanoidin/ Aromatic Malt
0.15# CaraFoam
0.15# Carafa II

Hops/Other:
2 oz Perle 7.5% (80 min)
1 oz Perle 7.5% (40 min)
1 oz Spalt 4.9% (10 min)
1 oz Spalt 4.9% (0 min)
1 oz Spalt 4.9% (Dry Hop in secondary 1 week)
Irish Moss

Yeast: Undecided

Any pointers and opinions are welcome!

 

[PseudoChef]

Way too much going on here.

For the majority of beer, think "simpler is better." It's a tough mentality to get into, but ask most brewers and you'll find they agree.

For a Dusseldorf alt, just some Munich and possibly some Pils extract. Then steep some CaraMunich and Carafa. That's really it.

Even though this is AG, check out this recipe. 3 grains, that's it.

 

[wildwest450]

Way too much going on here.
this recipe. 3 grains, that's it.

That recipe is very good. One of my best beers to date.

_

 

[Jtc2811]

Way too much going on here.

For the majority of beer, think "simpler is better." It's a tough mentality to get into, but ask most brewers and you'll find they agree.

For a Dusseldorf alt, just some Munich and possibly some Pils extract. Then steep some CaraMunich and Carafa. That's really it.

Even though this is AG, check out this recipe. 3 grains, that's it.

That recipe looks great! One question and one problem, though.

Problem: I don't have the setup to get fermentation temps below that of a swamp cooler, what will that change?

Question: What is the purpose of the 2 liter saved-wort starter at bottling? The yeast from the original batch should still be able to work well, right? Or is it just to make a "pure" beer, without bottling sugar (If that's the case, I may start doing that for all of my brews)?

 

[wildwest450]

If you could keep it in the mid 60's that would be fine. As far as the bottling, I wouldn't sweat it, of course I keg all my beers. Knowing Kai, it's probably a German technique, he's pretty traditional.


_

 

[Boleslaus]

I made my first alt back in june and I would definitely agree that simple is better. It actually turned into one of my best beers. I only had a swamp cooler and it went perfect.