Kaiser Alt

I designed this recipe based on Guidelines for brewing Altbier from a German brewing text book. This is an Alt that is very much in line with the average German commercial Alt. Though a large amount of Munich malt is used, it is a very well attenuated easy drinking dry beer dominated by hop bitterness without being being very bitter (compared to Pale Ales or even IPAs). The Carafa gives it just a hint of roast in the aroma and taste and most of the time you won't even know it's there. Though the used yeast doesn't flocculate well, the resulting beer is clear after finning with gelatin and bottle conditioning with a flocculant lager yeast.

Feel free to simplify the procedure if you don't want to bother with the single decoction or the priming with Kraeusen, otherwise give these advanced techniques a try.

I did not give specific weight amounts for the grains and hops. You can get them by using a brewing calculator and entering 89lb, 10lb and 1lb for the grain amounts, adjusting the final gravity to 11.5 *P (1.046 SG) by changing the efficiency or batch size and then scaling the recipe to the actual batch size and efficiency.

Water

for brewers who build their own water

30L (assuming 25L (6.25 gal) pre-boil volume) reverse osmosis water +

0.8g NaCl (table salt)

0.6g MgSO4 (epsom salt)

1.8g NaHCO3 (baking soda)

4.0g CaCO3 (chalk)

(58mg/L Ca; 3mg/L Mg; 32mg/L Na; 10mg/L SO4; 21mg/L Cl; 150mg/L HCO3)

Grist

89% Weyermann Munich I (light Munich)

10% Weyermann CaraMunich I

1% Wyermann Carafa II special

Aim for a post boil gravity of 11.5 *P (1.046 SG)

Hops

German Spalter Hops to get to 27 IBU (Tinseth) at a 60 min boil time. Substitution with German Magnum possible, though the bitterness will not be as smooth.

Yeast

Wyeast 1007, propagated to yield about 80 ml (~2.5 oz) for a 19 L (5 gal) batch.

Mash

2 step infusion with decoction mash-out: protein rest : 54 *C (131 *F) for 20 min saccrification rest : 65.5 *C (150 *F) for 45 min mash-out : 76 *C (169 *F)