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Dark Velvet ale
admin
10-12-2004
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| Ingredients for 4 gallons:
3 1/2 lbs. Coopers pale dry malt
1/4 lb. crystal malt 80L
6 oz. Munich malt
6 oz. Vienna malt
4 oz. toasted malt (or victory malt)
1 1/4 oz. Hallertauer hops
1 1/2 oz. Tettnanger hops
1/4 t. Irish moss
White Labs German Alt/Kolsch liquid yeast (WLP029)
For an authentic old-style German ale, I followed the former German
brewmasters' technique of a very long wort boil (over 3 hours) for an
extra smooth and velvety feel with outstanding finished beer clarity.
This also produces a beer with high hop bitterness but little hop
flavor or aroma (again, appropriate for the alt style). Everyone
raved about the finished product! However, for those with less
patience, I would imagine that an excellent beer could still be made
with standard boil times of 1 to 1 1/1 hours. You will probably want
to skip the final hop additions in that case, and also add the
bittering hops at the beginning of the boil.
- Heat 2 1/2 qts. water with 3 T. dry malt; add specialty grains at
160 degrees. Steep 40 minutes at 155 degrees, and sparge w/ 1 gallon
water at same temp.
- Bring to boil, add dry malt, boil 90 minutes.
- Add 1/2 oz Hallertauer and 1/2 oz Tettnanger, boil 90 minutes.
- Add 1/2 oz Hallertauer and 1/2 oz Tettnanger, and 1/4 t. Irish
moss, boil 20 minutes.
- Add 1/4 oz. Tettnanger and a pinch of Hallertauer 2 minutes before
heat shutoff.
Chill rapidly; at 85 degrees or below, pitch yeast (no starter
needed).
This yeast likes to work at temperatures colder than usual for ale: I
kept the primary fermentation between 60-64 degrees for five days. I
then racked to a secondary for eight days at the same temperature.
Rack to bottling bucket, bottle with 3/4 c. corn sugar, and store at
60-70 degrees for 2 weeks to form carbonation.
Genuine alt should always be cold-lagered at 33-40 degrees for six to
eight weeks after the carbonation "rest" for the ultimate in smooth,
clean taste. It will make a noticeable improvement in the
beer...although even two weeks of cold lagering helps. I kept mine at
40 degrees (refrigerator temperature) until I felt full flavor was
reached at seven weeks.
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.016
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