What the picklestick is this Altbier?

So then, I've mentioned this altbier that I've made and how it has fared in competitions.  But a few people have asked what is an altbier.  Being how this is not the most popular beer style in the US, not everyone may have heard of this style.

Well through much of this beer's life, it was simply known as bier.  It hails from the Rhineland region of Germany, which is close to the borders of Belgium and Holland.  Its estimated that beer has been brewed in this region for about 3,000 years.  And since we all know ale is older than lager, its no surprise that the older styles of beer are ales.  Sometime around the 1400's a new style of beer appeared, it was the lager.  (It was mentioned in some statutes of Munich in 1420)  So no the bier of the Rhineland and Dusseldorf in particular needed a bit more in the name to tell the drinker they were getting an old style beer instead the new style.  So it was referred to as  an old beer, but seeing as how Germans tend to speak German and are not inclined to give things English names, it became Altbier. 

We have our name, we know that it is one of Germany's ales.  However it is much cleaner that ales from Britain.  Germany tends to be cooler, so the ale was fermented cooler limiting the esters and phenolics.  The beer was then stored cool (much like lagering) which helped clear the beer.  Traditionally this beer was served from a wooden cask at the bar.  In Dusseldorf in the Altstadt (Old Town), every second beer served is an Altbier.  

Now then, some notes on the beer, it can range from amber to copper to brown.  They tend to have a firm creamy head, medium body and a moderate carbonation.  For judging based on the 2008 BJCP guidelines they fall under Amber Hybrid and there is a subcategory for North German and Dusseldorf.  The main difference between the two is the Dusseldorf has more bitterness, but not really more hop aroma or flavour.  When we update to the 2014 BJCP guidelines the two subcategories are being combined into one subcategory under Amber Hoppy European Beer.

Now as far as my recipe it is as follows for a 2 gallon batch: 

3 lbs Pilsner
1.4 lbs Munich
0.7 lbs Caramunich II
1.4 lbs Carafa I

Mashed 100F for 15 min
              122F for 22 min
              150F for 60 min

80 min boil 

Hops: 1 oz tettnanger 80 min
           0.25 oz Saaz 20 min
           0.5 oz Saaz 5 min

Chilled to 76F Pitched a vial of WLP060

Fermented 6 days then moved to the fridge.  Ferment temp was about 50-ish and the fridge was 38-40 ish.


This one picked up a couple bronze medals and seemed to score better as a North German Alt than a Dusseldorf Alt.  But on score sheets for both I got notes that mentioned there was too much roasty notes.  I'm thinking that it is due to having ended up with Carafa instead of Carafa Special.

Now the next step that I'd like to do is brew up another batch.  Having researched more there are some changes I would plan on making.

Here is the plan for the next batch:

3 Gallon batch

4.5 Lbs - Pilsner
0.5 Lb - Munich
0.1 Lb - Caramunich
0.1 Lb - Carfa Special II
1.5 oz - Pale Chocolate Malt

0.3 oz Magnum Hops (13.0%) - 60 min

90 minute boil
WLP036

This should look very similar to the brewing classic styles recipe, cause it is one of the things I have been referring to.  The swap from Carfa to Carfa Special should help drop the roasty notes that weren't to style.  The addition of the Pale Chocolate Malt should add some toasty notes, which would be considered more to style.

The long term plan would be after I zero in on a more to style I'd like to look at an "American Alt"  at this point I'm thinking that I'd swap the Magnum with Mosaic Hops, and perhaps add a bit of hops at the end to get some of that Mosaic flavour added.