I currently have three beers in “regular” production.   I brew each of these beers regularly, with small tweaks each time, with the goals of really learning my brew system, tweaking my process, focusing my brewing math, and refining the recipes.  The beers are Gimp Biscuit E.S.B., Hoppy Gnome I.P.A., and Ghostly Juror Oatmeal Stout.  My goal is to brew each of these beers four times this year. 

Every now and again I’m trying to slot in a “seasonal” to keep things from getting too mundane.  This month I’m going to make an Altbier.  It’s perfect for the weather we’re having, what with my cool-but-not-cold back stairway available for a long-ish cold secondary (fermentation temperature control is definitely my bugaboo as a brewer).  And it’ll make my lager-loving German friends happy (guys, please be kind when comparing this beer to those from your hometown of Düsseldorf.  They freaking invented this beer there).

The recipe is from a Midwest Supplies kit, with a quarter-pound of C60 added in to deepen the color a bit:

• 7# Domestic 2-row
• 2# Vienna malt
• 12 oz Cara Red
• 4 oz Crystal 60L
• 1 oz Carafe I
• 2 oz Crystal hops – 60 minutes
• Whirflock – 5 minutes
• 1 oz Hallertau – 5 minutes
• Wyeast 1007 German Ale, with 1L starter

Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.  Cold secondary recommended.

I missed the initial strike temp a degree on the low side (again- I must adjust for this in BeerSmith).  The wort is quite a bit darker than I’d hope for (shouldn’t have screwed with the recipe, I guess).  But overall it went well.  I need to buy a few examples of Altbier to compare this to…