Apocalypse Alt
This is an Alt recipe that won an Alt-only competition at a local brewpub (Founders Hill, in Downers Grove IL) last year, and was scaled up to 15 barrels, and brewed at the pub. It's dark, malty, and bittersweet, with a hint of hop flavor. Enjoy!
As usual, please note the non-standard batch size… scale everything up by a factor of 5/3 (1.7) for a 5 gallon batch.
Mike's "Apocalypse Alt", 3 gallons (all-grain):
Mash-in at 130F for 20 minute protein rest. Conversion rest at 150-152F, until complete. Total boil time 60 minutes.
OG = 1.054, FG = 1.014
Brewing Notes:
Try to keep the ferment temp on the cool side for an ale -- around 60F -- to keep ester production to a minimum.
If possible, use the recommended yeast! I brewed a parallel batch from a similar recipe, except that I used the Kolsch strain (Wyeast 2565) instead. The batch fermented with 2565 was nothing like the one fermented with 1007 -- much fruitier, even though it was fermented at approximately the same temperature.
Normally I use dextrose (corn sugar) for priming. On both batches of Alt, I decided to prime with DME instead, to enhance the maltiness. I used Munton & Fison light DME; if you use a different brand which is higher in unfermentables (e.g. Dutch/Laaglander), you'll probably need to increase the amount used for priming slightly (maybe an extra ounce?), to get a decent level of carbonation.
The scaled-up brewpub batch was fermented using Danstar Nottingham yeast, and was actually a lot closer in flavor to my original version (fermented with 1007) than the one I fermented with the Kolsch yeast. So you dry yeast users can try using Danstar Nottingham, if you don't feel like dealing with a liquid culture. Karl (the head brewer at Founders) did need to rouse the yeast about halfway though fermentation (nothing like a big ol' CIP pump for rousing the yeast!), since the temperature was apparently near the low end of the range for the Nottingham strain.
(Posted to Web January 10, 2000)