Light Altbier
Some specialty categories seem frivolous or unnecessary, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find uses for them in particular circumstances. So it was with my Light Altbier, and the resulting beer is a fun yearround lighter-bodied but fully flavored option. Style: Altbier is my “home” style. What I love about the style is how it shows off almost every feature of beer ingredients and processes. Malty, hoppy, paler in color but darker in flavor, a bit of fermentation character in a lager-ish process—it’s just wondrously versatile. Thinking about a liecht (light) version, I wanted a highly attenuated, light-bodied but still flavor-forward Altbier. My inspiration was Yards Brewing Company’s Brawler, an English mild that is so drinkable and refreshing (yet flavorful) I think of it as “malt Gatorade.” If I could bring out the same impression but with the flavor profile of my Alt, I figured I’d be well on my way. Recipe: This was a bigger challenge than my Leichtbier (see “Make Your Best German Leichtbier,” beerandbrewing.com) because I wanted to keep the same overall Altbier malt profile (see “Make Your Best Altbier,” beerandbrewing.com). The problem there is that my Alt recipes include malts that add a lower percentage of fermentable sugars than does the Leichtbier grist, which makes it harder to yield the light body/high-attenuation the version calls for.
I accommodated by making few changes in the Altbier grist composition, but I tweaked the amounts while also leaning on some process adjustments. That’s not my usual approach, but it worked here, and the process changes are easy to incorporate.
Maris Otter and Pilsner malt get us started, and I increased the amount of Munich malt in the beer to get that German melanoidin character. To that I add equal amounts of Carafa Special II, Caramunich, and Briess Extra Special Roast. The bread, biscuit, toast, and marshmallow flavor (with just a touch of coffee) is a great blend. You should end up with a potential ABV of about 3.6 percent and a beautiful coppery shade.
The hopping regimen is basically unchanged, except for amounts, and still works well to generate that floral, woodsy bouquet. Twenty IBUS from a 60-minute Hallertau addition plus a Tettnang (or Mittelfrüh) addition, though I did move it to a 5-minute addition to preserve a little more hops flavor.
Yeast remains Wyeast 1007 German Ale. It’s commonly available and a great house yeast. Process: I lean more on process than ingredients to lighten things up and thin them out. A straight linear conversion downward on the standard Altbier recipe might get the same effect, but it would also dilute the flavor. Instead, I keep the same basic recipe but give a boost to attenuation-supporting process steps. I mash at 152°F (67°C) for 90 minutes because I’ve seen good experimental data out of a major yeast firm that shows 152°F (67°C) actually yields better attenuation. The same research shows that a longer mash does boost attenuation.
Boil and chill as usual, then pitch your yeast. You might use a starter despite the low gravity because you want to make sure you get a good start and finish on attenuation. Don’t misread this, though: we’re not shooting for an overpitch; we just want to be sure we avoid an underpitch, which can reduce total attenuation. One pack grown into a 1–1.5-liter starter should be fine. Ferment a little warm to bump up total attenuation. While 68°F/20°C is warm for an Alt, the 1007 doesn’t produce much of an ester profile, and a larger-than-strictly necessary pitch will keep the esters away, so you can get away with it. Let it go for about 2 weeks at that temperature and then cold crash and lager for another 2 weeks. Package, carbonate to 2
CO2, volumes of and enjoy.