Brewery Update

Today I did a double brew session. I chose to do a Dusseldorf Alt and a Pale Ale. The brew session was long but I was happy to be able to brew two beers in one day. The Pale Ale is a recipe on the fly.

Autumn Leaf Pale Ale

10 lbs British Mild Ale
1/2 lb Caramel 60
3/4 Victory
13 oz. Vienna
1 oz. Chinook 11.4% AA 60 min
1/2 oz Amarillo 10 min
1/2 oz Cascade 10 min
1/2 oz Amarillo 0 min
1/2 oz Cascade 0min
1 oz cascade dry hop
2 pks Wyeast 1056 American ale
1 whirlfloc tab 15 min

I wanted to experiment with some other base malts so picked up some British Mild. I put in the caramel for some body and sweetness, some Vienna for a soft malty notes, and some victory for biscuit flavors. I mashed at 152 for 90 min, boiled for 75 min, and pitched at 68.

The Alt Beer is yet another Brewing Classic Styles recipe. I use this book to get a frame of reference on style, and then I adjust to taste from there. It is very helpful when I find myself not familiar with a particular style, such as Alt. There are not too many commercial Alt beers on the market. I have found two so far, not that I'm looking. Southampton Alt, and the Heuttenbar has an Alt on draft. Alt is a brown ale with and off white head. It is clean with malt, roast, and caramel flavors in perfect balance.

Dusseldorf Alt

8 lbs German 2 row
1.8 lbs Munich
1 lb Aromatic
3 oz Carafa special II
5 oz Caramunich III
20 g Magnum 14.4% AA 60 min
14 g Tettnanger 15 min
2 pks Wyeast 1007 German Ale with a 2 qt starter
1 Whirlfloc tab 15 min

Mash at 149 for 90 min, boil for 90 min, pitch and ferment at 60.

In other News!!
The Pilsner is lagering at a cool 34 degrees for four weeks. The beer was slightly under pitched and did not finish at the target final gravity, instead it ended up a couple points high. Oh well we'll see how it goes. As for the Chocolate Porter, It is stuck! I added a little more yeast from the slurry of the alt beer to see if would kick up. So far not much going on. I'll take reading in a few days and go from there.