Knowing nothing about the style or never having a true example of the style I do not really know where to begin. All I do know is this style sounds really good to me. I do not know for sure but sounds like Northern Alt is more popular and probably more to my liking by reading up on it.
My question is if I was to narrow it down, for those that are familar with both brewers and their recipes…who do you think has a better Alt recipe to brew?..Jamils from Brewing Classic Styles or Gordons Strongs from his new book? I figure either one is a good starting point. Im sure others have some input here as well.
Thanks, I am currently looking through the search as well and finding some good bits of info.
Like you mentioned, there seems to be a wide variety and interpretations for Altbier. I would maybe start simple with the recipe for Zum Uerige which seems to pretty popular around here. It has been posted a lot in other threads. I have yet to brew it but want to try it at some point. I think Ken brewed it recently so maybe he can chime in as well.
Alta are easy drinkers, malt flavor is bready and shouldn’t be caramelly, low to no hop aroma and flavor, bitter finish that makes you want more. Clean fermentation, low esters. German malts and hops are key to the style, along with a clean ale yeast that can work in the high 50s F. They should also be lagered for 3-4 weeks at 40F.
The Duesseldorf Alts are from smaller breweries, essentially brewpubs. Alts do not travel well, so few have had a good example. There are commercial examples that are distributed in Germany, such as Diebels and Frankenheimer, that are too caramelly for me.
I’m not sure of the notion that the Northern style is more popular.
In Duesseldorf, there are differences between the breweries Altbiers. Some have a Munich malt flavor in the background, some do not. They all have a firm bitter finish. Zum Uerige has an intensely bitter finish, and is my favorite. The Jamil and Gordon recipes might make something close to Schumacher or Diebels, but not like Uerige.
The Uerige recipe just posted is old, I have brewed it. Water treatment is something I am still working on. The bitterness is high, but does not linger long when you have it fresh at the pub.
Yeah, I used an amber bitter profile at first and eventually backed off on the sulfate a tad to soften the bitterness a little. Really good, simple recipe !
That was from someone that visited the Uerige and didn’t understand the German brewmaster, it isn’t close. The one Hoosier posted is from the current Brewer, and was published in the New Brewer magazine some years back.
I brewed this yesterday: D-Dorf alt, 3 1/4 gallons, O G 1.046, IBUs upper 40s
4 1/4 pounds Heidelburg pale malt
1 pound Bestmaltz munich malt
8 ounces Bestmaltz Vienna malt
8 ounces carawheat malt
2 ounces chocolate wheat malt
mashed at 151f for 45 minutes
1 ounce spalt @ 3.2% plus
3/5 ounce backyard sterlings @ 7% (+_) for 45 minutes
pinch of irish moss plus
1/8 teaspoon nutrient for 22 minutes
1/2 ounce spalt for 21 minutes
1.2 ounce spalt for 10 minutes
1 pack K-97 German ale yeast pitched dry at 60f
I was going for a little higher O G, but ended up with a bit more wort so it evened out.
I pitched the yeast at 1pm and saw a very faint hint of fermentation at bedtime: 10pm. At 7am the airlock was burping every 4 seconds and there was over 1/4 inch foam
I’ve brewed at both ends of the malt bill spectrum and I have to say that neither grist is correct. With a very high proportion of Munich malt, the beer is too richly malty. I just brewed the recipe that Denny posted which is at the all Pils end of the spectrum and have to say that its fine, but it needs just a bit of Munich to add to the depth of malt flavor. I’m guessing that about 25% light Munich might meet the depth I expect.