Even with all the news to the contrary, it is amazing how the internet can connect people. These Brew Dudes are celebrating their 30th homebrew swap with Adam in Wisconsin. He has a German Alt for us which is a great malty style that we have brewed before and would like to know how his compares. Check out our thoughts about this beer in our video below.

Adam’s German Alt Recipe

Grain Bill:
68% German Pilsner Malt
17% Munich Malt – 10°L
9% Aromatic Malt
4% Caramunich Malt
2% Carafa Special II Malt

Hops
0.75 ounces of Magnum hops with 60 minutes to go in the boil
0.75 ounces of Tettnang hops with 15 minutes to go in the boil

Yeast: Two packages of Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast

Water: 7.5 gallons of reverse osmosis water with these additives:
1.7 grams of gypsum
2.6 grams of calcium chloride
3 grams epsom salt
0.7 grams of baking soda
1.9 milliliters lactic acid

With these additions, he had a mash pH of 5.42.

Adam said he was following the “Amber Balanced” profile in Bru’n Water and got it as close as he could based on the grain bill. He used 3 grams of Epson Salt to get 10ppm of magnesium and to raise sulfates without adding a crap load of calcium.

Brewing Notes:

Mashed at 149° F for 90 minutes
Boiled for 90 minutes
Fermented at 60° F for three weeks
Raised the temperature to 68° F for three days
Kegged and lager for four weeks

ABV: 5.3%

He scored 40 out of 50 in a competition for this Alt.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Extremely clear – Mike likened the color to a copper penny. Nice lasting head.

Aroma: Toasted toffee almost s’mores aroma

Flavor: The aroma carried into the flavor. It had a strong malt richness. We thought it meshed well with the spicy, noble hop character. There is a mineral character to the beer that Mike thought it worked with the style.

Mouthfeel: The beer had a medium body

Overall Impression: Great beer. It was a good example of the style. We wondered if it needed so much magnesium but what do we know? This alt was deserving of its competition win.

Thanks Adam! Brew ON!