I am looking at combining aspects of these two beer styles. Would I be better off using German grains mixed with Irish hops, or vice versa? And then what type of yeast would I use for this?
You don’t need German grain necessarily. I use WY1007 for alt.
Maybe Irish base malt with German specialty malts (caramunich, carafa, etc) or vice versa. I think Spalt hops are pretty traditional in alt so maybe go with some spalt and goldings (or whatever is in Irish Red).
Why not go with 50/50 German/British malts, use Northern Brewer hops which are loved by both the Germans and the Brits, and use Irish ale yeast. There you go, that would work.
I might just brew that because it sounds damn tasty.
+1
Pale ale & medium crystal, with light Munich on the German side, go easy on the late hops…? Sounds like a perfect Fall beer.
(Not meant to be an exhaustive list of malts. Probably want some roast something for color.)
Honestly, you could probably use a simple Irish red recipe, increase the bitterness, and ferment with an alt yeast.
I am not sure what you are trying to get out of this combination. In my opinion an Irish Red has a distinct malt flavor (kind of caramelly) which is accentuated by the type of yeast. A traditional Alt is very clean and accentuates the hoppiness and has more of a bready malt character. Did you want the base malt of an Irish and the hoppiness of an Alt or did you want the cleanliness of the Alt, the malt of an Irish Red without the hops?
I might be out thinking the room, but this is my first attempt at brewing a beer without a specific recipe to follow and I wanted to brew something that paid homage to my two heritages, German-Irish.
So, I am just trying to blend these two styles to make a tasty beer. I’ll probably try a couple combinations.
Batch #1- Gold Extract Malt with German Alt Specialty grains
Batch #2- Munich Malt Extract w/ Briees Sparkling Amber DME & Irish Ale Specialty Grains.
Just need to figure out the hops and yeast for each.
Oh, this is extract… hang on, we will try to come up with something that will work…
Sorry, should of stated that at the beginning…I’m working my way to All Grain. I’m just not there yet.
I had to rely on hand-calculations (which should hopefully be reasonably accurate as I don’t have software here (at work)), but here’s approximately what I would suggest, assuming a 5-gallon batch, with 2.5 gallon abbreviated boil + 2.5 gallons top-off post-boil, aiming for approximately 1.057 OG:
8 oz CaraPils malt
4 oz CaraMunich malt
4 oz English Medium Crystal malt (~55 L)
Crush these specialty malts and steep in 2.7 gallons water as it heats up until you reach 170 F, then pull the steeping bag out. Remove from the heat, then add:
6 lb Maris Otter LME
1 lb cane sugar
Stir well to dissolve, then bring to the boil. Then add:
2 oz Northern Brewer hops
Boil for 15 minutes. Then top up with cool, chlorine-free water to hit 5 gallons. Pitch any of the following yeasts, or whatever else you like:
Wyeast 1007
K-97
WLP004
Wyeast 1084
Let ferment in the low to mid 60s F (16-18 C) until the yeast settles out – could be a couple days, could be a month, depending on the yeast that you selected. Patience. Then package and enjoy.
Cheers and good luck. 
UPDATE: Okay, gents, I put the recipe into software this evening and now I can see where a couple of adjustments would be needed, especially for color. Updated recipe as follows:
8 oz CaraPils malt
4 oz CaraMunich malt
4 oz English Medium Crystal malt (~55 L)
2 oz Carafa III (~600 L, for red color adjustment)
Crush these specialty malts and steep in 2.7 gallons water as it heats up until you reach 170 F, then pull the steeping bag out. Remove from the heat, then add:
5.5 lb Maris Otter LME
1 lb cane sugar
Stir well to dissolve, then bring to the boil. Then add:
2 oz Northern Brewer hops
Boil for 15 minutes. Then top up with cool, chlorine-free water to hit 5 gallons. Pitch any of the following yeasts, or whatever else you like:
Wyeast 1007
K-97
WLP004
Wyeast 1084
Let ferment in the low to mid 60s F (16-18 C) until the yeast settles out – could be a couple days, could be a month, depending on the yeast that you selected. Patience. Then package and enjoy.
Cheers and good luck (again).
I like the direction. I would personally avoid k97. I have used it many time oz and us05 would work better for an alt as far as fermentis dry yeast is concerned.
I haven’t used K-97 yet but I do have a pack in my fridge based on tons of positive feedback I have seen on it. Eventually I’ll give it a go. What don’t you like about it exactly?
Actually, for a dry yeast 34/70 would probably be the best choice. Way better than 05 IMO.
It’s not clean. It throws an ester that has a bit of a wang to it. Not a good description I know. To me it reminds me of a more flocculant wheat beer strain (as compared to WLP320.)
- formerly alestateyall.
This is pretty much the exact same experience I have had with k97. Not clean with a funky twang that works better for lighter wheat type styles. Very disappointing for what I thought it would be.
Agree to disagree. I know you don’t care for 05 but I think it would work fine though 34/70 would be fine too.
Thanks for the additional feedback on K-97. Perhaps I was caught up in some wishful thinking.
Both US-05 and W-34/70 would be boring in this recipe. 1007 is excellent and WLP004 is great in the Irish brews.