I am formulating a recipe for an altbier. How does this look so far?
5lbs Munich 10L
3 lbs 2 row
.5 lb Caramunich II
.5 lb aromatic malt
2 oz black patent
1 oz of hops around 7.5 percent for bittering
I am thinking about eliminating a half a pound of 2 row and replacing it with half a pound of white wheat.
The main thing that is out of place here is the black patent. You need to go with a huskless malt such as carafa special II or III.
I think it would taste better with pilsner malt instead of just 2-row.
How many IBU’s is one ounce of 7.5 aa hops? Are you sure that’s enough?
I don’t have any pilsner malt. And brew target says it will be balanced with this amount.
IBU/GU ratio is 0.53 I still don’t understand this ratio yet. I would love to know where cloying ends, balanced begins, balanced ends, slightly hoppy begins etc. For now I just take Brewtarget’s word for it. IBUs are 27.1
For my tastes in alt, I’d double the bittering. But I’m a fan of Zum Uerige, which is a pretty bitter alt. I’d also drop the aromatic and maybe the caramunich, or cut the caramunich in half. Use 1 oz. of roasted barley for color rather than black patent. Carafa or Sinamar would be better choices for color, IMO.
IBU range on Dusseldorf Alt is 35-50, OG range is 1.046-1.054. Even at the upper limit of OG for the style and lower limit of IBU, you’re looking at an 0.65 BU:GU ratio. In reality, I’d really say 0.75 is a good low end to start at, and you can go to 1.0 or higher for a BU:GU ratio for this style. But I’m a Uerige fan as well ;D Doppelsticke is probably my favorite non-US/UK brew.
I tried this beer and it tasted like an Octoberfest. So I bought a 6er of Sam Adams Octoberfest and tasted them side by side. I honestly cannot taste a difference. Color is identical but mine is a bit cloudy. Mine pours with a better head.