Homebrew Recipe

Altbier

Method:: Partial Mash
Style:: Altbier
Boil Time:: 60 min.
Batch Size:: 6 gal.
Boil Size:: 4 gal.
Efficiency:: 0
Rating:
Source:: Brew Your Own
Source Notes:: January-February 2020, Vol. 26, No. 1 page 48. This recipe is based on the all-grain recipe by Gordon Strong in the January-February 2019 issue of BYO and shows how I would approach the recipe as a partial mash, replacing much of the base malt with malt extract allows for a shortened brew day that requires less equipment than all-grain brewing does. Tips for success: I have tested my RO water and my tests show it has a pH of 6, so I do not do any adjustments with phosphoric acid to my water. The RO water you use may have a different pH, so it should be checked and brought to 5.5 if it is not already close.
Notes:: Using reverse osmosis (RO) water, treat all of your brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric or lactic acid. Be prepared to heat two separate pots, one with 7 qts. and the other with 2 gallons of water, adding 1/4 tsp. of calcium chloride and 1/4 tsp. of calcium sulfate (gypsum) to each. Heat the pot with 7 qts. of water to 156F and add all of the bagged grains to be mashed. Verify strike temperature is 144F and allow to stand for 25 minutes. While your grains are mashing, the other 2 gallons of water should be heated to 170F. This is to help save time while brewing. Take a small sample of your mash liquid and check for conversion with iodine. Once conversion has been verified, take your bag of grains out and give them a quick soak in your brew kettle to rinse the remaining sugars from the grain. Now gently squeeze your grains to remove the excess liquid. When done with grain rinsing, add the liquid from the mash pot to the brew kettle. Your volume in your brew kettle will be under 4 gallons. Boil 60 minutes, keeping the lid mostly on the kettle with a space of an inch or two uncovered during the boil. Add the hops and Whirfloc as indicated in the ingredients. My use of melanoidin malt emulates a decoction-style mash. At the end of your boil, remove the kettle from heat and add all the malt extract to the wort. Stir until all of the extract is dissolved. With an immersion chiller or cold water bath method, cool the wort to 80-85F. Now dump the wort into the bottling bucket and add refrigerated RO water to the 6-gallon mark to aid in the cooling of the wort. Allow to rest for one hour, with the bottling bucket tilted so that the spigot side of the bucket is slightly elevated so the trub slides to the opposite side of the bucket. After an hour, open the spigot of the bottling bucket, capture the first pint of wort before allowing the rest of the wort to flow into your fermenter. Add the yeast when filling the fermenter. Ferment at 62F and after 3 days allow to rise to 68F. Once fermentation is complete, rack beer to a secondary and lager for two months at 32F. Keg and force carbonate or prime and bottle condition as usual. I would use fresh yeast if bottling with corn sugar.

Brew Numbers

OG	FG	ABV	SRM	IBU
1.052	1.012	5.1	19	49

Fermentables

Name	Amount	% Grain Bill
Pilsner Liquid Malt Extract	6.6 lbs.	65.80
Munich Malt	1.56 lbs.	15.55
Aromatic Malt	0.75 lbs.	7.48
Notes: Melanoidin malt
Wheat Malt	0.5 lbs.	4.99
Notes: Red wheat malt
De-Bittered Black Malt	0.31 lbs.	3.09
Crystal Malt 60	0.31 lbs.	3.09
Total:	10.03 lbs.

Hops

Hop Shopping List

Name	Amount	Boil Time	Use	AA
Perle (GER)	2 oz.	60	Boil	7.3
Notes: 14.6 AAU
Spalt	0.5 oz.	10	Boil	3.2
Notes: 1.6 AAU
Spalt	0.5 oz.	0	Steep	3.2

Name	Amount
Perle (GER)	2 oz.
Spalt	1 oz.

Yeast

Name	Lab	Product
Dusseldorf Alt Ale	White Labs	WLP036
German Ale	Wyeast	1007
SafAle	Fermentis	K-97

Other Ingredients

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whirfloc	1 gram	15 minutes	Boil	Clarifying

Mash Steps

Step	Name	Temp	Time	Type
1	Partial Mash	144	25	Partial