Smooth Valley Brewing

Brewed 25 Jun 2016 | Bottled 2 Jul 2016 | Yield 18 L / 5.4% (13.2°P → 3.1°P)

This is another running-a-recipe brew, this time with SIOS UrAlt. Characterized as an “original Altbier”, it’s dark but crisp and refreshing. I ran this recipe because I wanted something a little darker to drink through the winter, and it’s not disappointing.

The name comes from They Might Be Giants' Older, which was running through my head while brewing it (probably ‘cause it’s an ‘alt’).

Grain Bill

• 3470g Pilsner Malt
• 380g Münchner Malt
• 280g Light Wheat Malt (4 EBC)
• 140g Caramel Malt (25 EBC)
• 150g Roasted Wheat (1000 EBC)

Mash

I mashed in 20L water at 46°C, and ran the five-rest mash program called for by the recipe:

• 10 min @ 46°C
• 10 min @ 53°C
• 30 min @ 62°C
• 15 min @ 72°C
• 5 min @ 78°C

I sparged with 9L at 78°C, two liters at a time. Mashing out took about 60 minutes.

Boil

I boiled the wort for five minutes before adding the first hops, then added hops as follows, as called for by the recipe:

• Bittering: 60 min 20g 12.5% Magnum
• Flavor: 20 min 30g 2.4% Tettnanger
• Aroma: 5 min 26g 13.2% Saazer

Pitching and Fermentation

Cooling to 24°C with an immersion cooler took 27 minutes. Initial gravity was 13.2°P. I pitched Wyeast 2565 Kölsch; fermentation started after about 6 hours, and lasted 4 days. Temperature during fermentation remained near 24°C. Final gravity was 3.1°P, for 5.4% ABV.

Bottling

I moved 17L to the bottling bucket on 2 July, adding 120g light dry malt extract dissolved in 300mL water for priming. 11.8L of this I put in bottles, the remaining 6.2 in a corny keg.

How is it, then?

Dark but crisp. The Kölsch yeast gives it a definite ale character, but it’s not too… kölschy.