Sachsen Alt

If you’ve ever had an Alaskan Amber from Alaskan Brewing Co., then you’ve had a variation of a North German Alt. It’s a clean, dry and malty beer with yeast-bread overtones and a firm hop bitterness. This one is a “sticke” (secret) version, which is served unannounced by pubs a few times year. It’s a bit darker, bigger, and has a larger hop aroma than the regular Alt. With good yeast control, I’ve avoided the sweet, heavy character which is a common flaw in homebrew versions of this style.

• .5 lbs. Weyermann CaraAmber
• .125 lbs. Weyermann Carafa I
• 6.3 lbs. Gold Amber Malt Syrup
• 1 lb. Briess Amber DME
• 1 lb. Briess Wheat DME
• 2 ozs. German Tradition pellet hops 5.7% AAU (bittering)
• 1 oz. Spalt pellet hops 4.0% AAU (aroma)
• 1 oz. Hallertau Select (dry hopping)
• WLP036 White Labs Platinum Series Dusseldorf Alt Yeast
  

I was looking for iconography for this label when I came upon this symbol, the Niedersachsenross, (a white horse on a red field).  I thought it an appropriate image for my interpretation of a Düsseldorf Alt.

Düsseldorf Domination!

I just brewed a strong Dusseldorf Alt, commonly known as a Sticke Alt, pitching a June 2008 tube of White Labs WLP 036, their Premier Series strain of Dusseldorf Alt.  The age of the yeast was a concern, so I built up a 2000ml starter over a week – uhh, not to worry, it’s churning like crazy, and the blowoff jug is now dark with expended wort.

That high-tech gadget on the carboy is a digital temperature probe with a styrofoam insulator and copious amounts of tape – the insulation is a method to obtain the temp of the wort, rather than the frig.  The controller is plugged into a low-heat dehydrator bottom, which supplies enough heat to maintain the wort temp at 60° for primary fermentation of this yeast (if you wanted to cool the wort, you just plug the controller into the frig).  Once I finish primary, I will crash both the Alt and the Pils in the background down to 36° for a month-long lager.