dusseldorf alt?

[stoofer74]

Ok so one of my good mates and drinking buddies has many good memories of his time in dusseldorf most of which revolve around its famous alt beer.I would love to brew him up one so does anyone have an extract recipe? Also I have never actually done an extract......yet, although I have a 10 litre pan and have been threatening to do an extract.so in otherwords could some one talk me through the ingredients and the process in laymans terms cheers stuart

[seymour]

I don't mean to be a downer, but this'll be a tough one to do with extract. The Dusseldorf Alt style is subtle but complex German ale tradition. At first glance, it may seem like any ol' generic blond/golden ale, which could be approximated with any generic blond/golden ale kit plus some German noble hops and substituting a true German ale yeast (White Lab WLP036 or Wyeast 1007). This idea would be fairly straight-forward and would surely produce good beer. He may not even recall the differences.

But the problem is, with extract you never know exactly which kind of grains or malts it's made from. This style requires quite a few specialty malts. For instance, Jamil Zainasheff's recipe calls for 60.6% German Pilsener Malt, 16.2% Vienna Malt, 16.2% Light Munich Malt, 6.1% CaraMunich Malt, and 1% Carafa debittered roasted malt. There's no off-the-shelf extract like that, and it would be hard to simulate even by combining extracts of various darkness.

I wish you the best of luck, though!

[stoofer74]

Thanks seymour, I have neither the cash nor the time to go all grain and to be honest i'm fairly happy with the results I get tweeking kits.the beers of the world kits which I think are an extract/biab do an alt so I might give it a go.p.s I havent forgot about your orkney brewery yeast, i'm hoping to go for a couple of beers tomorrow so I will ask him if he's around , but I cant promise anything as the man is a bit of a grumpy old bugger

[seymour]

Thanks seymour, I have neither the cash nor the time to go all grain and to be honest i'm fairly happy with the results I get tweeking kits.the beers of the world kits which I think are an extract/biab do an alt so I might give it a go...

Perfect, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Reliable and drinkable is the name of the game. Like I said, toss in some fresh noble hops (Tettnanger, Hallertau, Saaz) near the end of the boil, maybe use a pure liquid yeast, and it'll be even more authentic.

...I havent forgot about your orkney brewery yeast, i'm hoping to go for a couple of beers tomorrow so I will ask him if he's around , but I cant promise anything as the man is a bit of a grumpy old bugger

That's great, thanks for remembering. And I don't want to imagine the brewer of Skullsplitter any other way. Like Miles Davis cussing out his fans when they'd try to walk-up and compliment him...

I have a feeling the answer's gonna be a let-down, though: California Ale/Chico/Sierra Nevada strain.

[lee1]

wow love the alt beer the full bitternes and flavour you have just made my mouth water but i have only brewed the 10l brupaks kits they are a fantastic beer but i would also like to do a biab version

[seymour]

wow love the alt beer the full bitternes and flavour you have just made my mouth water...i would also like to do a biab version

Here's the full recipe Jamil Zainasheff provided on The Brewing Network: http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/Dusseldorf_Alt.html

[Rookie]

Ok so one of my good mates and drinking buddies has many good memories of his time in dusseldorf most of which revolve around its famous alt beer.I would love to brew him up one so does anyone have an extract recipe? Also I have never actually done an extract......yet, although I have a 10 litre pan and have been threatening to do an extract.so in otherwords could some one talk me through the ingredients and the process in laymans terms cheers stuart

Here in the U.S. most home brew shops sell munich extract which is half 2-row and half munich malt. Some of that with some spalt hops would be your best bet.

[Fuggled Mind]

For malt extracts using German malts, you can get Weyermann malt extract by the canister. I see that the Malt Miller sells them. They aren't cheap but they will be a lot more authentic than regular malt extract brands such as Muntons and Coopers.

Also Charlie Papazian gives a malt extract recipe for alt beer in his Homebrewer's Companion. I've not tried it mind you.

Cheers

Jason

[borischarlton]

This will get you closest, if your unable to ferment at low temperatures then use a Kolsch yeast.

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=431

Cheers

Rob

[seymour]

Alright, there you go, some good extract solutions. I retract my previously Debbie-Downer comments. Good luck brewing your Alt!

[stoofer74]

I had completely forgot about this thread thanks for all your replies stuart