Alt Roundup January's style talk is on alt beer, or altbier. There is a club-only competition in this style with an entry deadline of March 18. You have just enough time if you get going now. The styles: Alt is German for old. What is meant in this case is that the beer is made in the old, or ale, style. In fact, the beer is usually considered to be one of the hybrid ale/lager styles (cream ale, steam, and Kolsch are the others). This is because it receives a cold conditioning akin to a lager, after its relatively warm fermentation. This style is a bit of a mystery for most people for several reasons. First, there aren't very many alt beers. What ones do exist actually fall into as many as five different substyles. And the "best" substyle, Duesseldorfer, is essentially impossible to get in the US. Note, the names given to the substyles are somewhat arbitrary. In many cases there are other names used but these are what I have seen commonly. DŸesseldorfer is the name the AHA gives to their description of Alt in their style guidelines. In fact, they miss the mark in their description. These beers are copper to brown in color, quite malty, extremely bitter, somewhat fruity (very fruity compared to a typical German lager, and compared to the other alt substyles), slightly sweet (not dry as some say, but fully attenuated and lacking diacetyl), moderately carbonated, and have moderate hop flavor and aroma. These are probably not the result of late hopping but of the use of a very large amount of low-acid, noble hops to achieve the 50+ IBU's found in these beers. The classic example is considered to be Zum Uerige (55 IBU's). Others are Im FŸchschen and Zum SchŸssel. The US brewer Widmer now makes a beer in this style, Ur-Alt, but it is only sold in Portland. Don't confuse this with their other beer labeled Alt (see below). Sticke alt is a special alt made by the breweries that make the DŸesseldorfer alts. It is stronger, more bitter (as much as 65 IBU's!) and is sometimes dry-hopped. Dortmund alts. These are the common alt in Germany. Many of the larger breweries make a beer in this style. They are really just dark lagers, without the fruitiness or high bitterness found in the DŸesseldorfer alts. Examples of this style include DAB dark (32 IBU's), Schlšsser (32) Hannen, (28), Weihenstephan (27), Diebels (32). Note that some of these are made in or around DŸesseldorf but don't fit that style. One "alt" beer is unique: Pinkus MŸller MŸnster Alt (18). This beer is made with 40% wheat malt, OG of 1.045, is top fermented and then cool- conditioned for 6 months with a lactic acid bacterium. The wheat leaves it pale and cloudy, the bacteria, sour. This beer can be found at good beer stores around here. The last "style" is the American alt. These vary but in general are sweeter than any of the German versions and lack the bitterness of the DŸesseldorfer alts. Schmaltz Alt from the New Ulm brewery is one example. St. Stan's makes another ("Amber") which I found to smell of camphor! Widmer and Alaska Brewing Company are other makers. Making a DŸesseldorfer alt: Here is a recipe I put together after some research. I made a similar one with the alt yeast from Head Start. Never having had the real thing I'm not sure how accurate mine was to style, but I thought it had too much lager character, sulfur in particular. Fermentation temperature and yeast are probably quite important to getting this just right. The WYeast alt yeast (1007) doesn't have the right character and the BrewTek yeast prodces a lot of phenol and fusels (probably the yeast from St. Stan's). WYeast 1338 is worth a try. For 12 gallons: 14 oz DeWolf-Cosyns CaraVienna 14 oz DWC CaraMunich 14 oz DWC Aromatic 1.5 lbs Munich 5 oz Belgian Chocolate (Black?) DWC Pils malt for an OG of 1.053 Low AA hop added at 60 minutes for 55 IBU's. Spalt preferred, tettenanger or saaz OK. Ferment at 60-65ûF 4-7 days, then drop to 40ûF at 3-4ûF/day for a total of 3-4 weeks at lower temperature (including the ramp).