Carafa needed in an alt?

Ingredients
1

I have an alt recipe that calls for carafa.  I was planning on leaving it out of the recipe since it is unavailable at my lhbs.  It would put it out of the range of color for an alt (which I am not real concerned with) but I was wondering if there would be any other tastes it would also leave out.  The recipe is below and it is based on Denny’s zoom alt recipe.

5lbs Rahr Premium Pilsner
4lbs Durst Munich 10L
3lbs Vienna Malt
12 oz Caramunich I malt
Irish Moss

1 oz Northern Brewer at 60 min
.75 oz Tettnang 15 min
.75 oz Tettnang at 5 min

Wyeast German Ale 1007

Also, any thoughts on the Northern Brewer for Bittering or should I just use Tettnang?

2

I think if you use carafa in alt you would use Carafa Special (dehusk) and it is mostly for color adjustment.

3

Yep, 1 oz. for color adjustment.  Dehusked or not doesn’t matter for such a small amount.  These days, I use Sinamar instead.  I feel like it’s easier to use and more controllable.

4

Ok, I will just do without it for now.  I will look next time for sinamar at my lhbs.

5

You could also use CaraMunich III for color.  I use 4 oz in a 6-gallon batch with 6 lbs Munich, 2 lbs Pilsen, and 1 lb CaraRed.  I hop with 3 oz Spalt at 60 min and 1 oz Spalt at 5 min.