Having been a homebrewer for a while now I often times struggle with what to brew next and generally when that happens I end up picking a style I’ve never attempted before. This time was no different as I decided to check German Altbier off my list.

Recipe Source: Northern Brewer

Beer Specifications

Beer Name: German Alt Beer Style: German AltBier Recipe Type: All Grain Pre-Boil Volume: 6.5 gallons / 24.6 litres Batch Size: 5.5 gallons / 20.8 litres Estimated SRM: 10.4° Estimated IBU: 75 Estimated OG: 1.052 Estimated FG: 1.013 Estimated ABV: 5.12%

Grain Bill/Fermentables

LBS Fermentables 4 German Munich 2 German Dark Munich 3.5 German Pilsner 0.5

Weyermann Caramunich II

Hops

Oz Time Hops 1

60 min German Perle 1 30 min German Perle 1 15 min Hersbrucker

Yeast

# Yeast 1 Safale K-97

Fermentation Schedule

14 days Primary 7-14 days Cold Secondary 14 days Bottle Conditioning

Directions

Mash Temperature: 151°F / 66.1°C Mash Time: 60 min Boil Duration: 60 min

In addition to being a new style of beer to brew, this recipe also contained a few ingredients that I haven’t played around with before. The first new thing were the hops. I know Perle is actually quite popular these days but I’ve never personally tried them out before, and I had also certainly never tried Hersbrucker before so that was kind of neat.

The other new ingredient for me was the Safale K-97 yeast. This yeast wasn’t part of the original recipe but was recommended to me as some sort of miracle strain. A kolsh yeast that apparently fermented so clean it could be a swap in replacement for both standard ale yeasts like US-05 and for lager yeasts where you don’t have good temperature control. For this much promise I had to give it a go!

Brew day action shot!

Brew day was a standard affair which left me with an almost dead on original gravity (OG) of 1.051. I then fermented with the K-97 yeast which was actually quite interesting.

24 hours after pitching there was a crazy amount of trub and yeast already in the carboy.

24 hours after pitching

What was really interesting though was that it seemed to go through almost a re-fermentation of sorts once that initial work was complete. When this happened there was a lot of krausen built up near the top of the carboy, something that was absent from the first 24 hours. This remained for quite a while before eventually dropping out. I’d say it took about a week longer than US-05 to fully clear up during fermentation.

The krausen stuck around for a really long time

When I finally went to bottle, my final gravity (FG) was recorded as 1.005. This was quite a bit lower than the target and so the beer ended up with an ABV of approximately 6.04%.

She’s a pretty beer ain’t she?

Tasting Notes

Smell Very interesting smell with a lot going on. A roasty nose but with almost a hint of sweet grass at the end. Appearance Very nice amber colour with a prominent head that doesn’t stick around forever. Carbonation seems about right for the style. Taste This one was different… It has a very complex taste with a substantial mouthfeel, like that of a red ale, but with loads of intertwining hop flavours on top. It’s also somewhat sweet, which is odd given the FG, but overall it’s somehow still quite a balanced beer.



As for the yeast, I think it works quite well. From what I can tell it definitely lived up to its name for being a clean fermenting strain.



After the initial taste, the after taste opens up into more of a roasty flavour which matches the initial smell.



It’s definitely one of those beers that you’re not quite sure how you feel about it initially but it still quickly grows on you.

If you’re looking for something different to try out I’d recommend giving this recipe a shot. I’m not sure the hop combo is exactly to my liking but it’s definitely a unique taste that is worth experiencing for yourself.

P.S. – We called this brew “Zee Germans”.