Altbier – Grain to Glass – Grainfather nightmare brew day

Altbier brew day grain to glass! Sadly this became the nightmare brew day with 2 Grainfathers that simply had multiple issues from scorching at extremely low temps and leaking pump (never leaked before). Why I will never use a Grainfather again and have already purchased the new Anvil all-in-one brew system. German Altbier is a very under represented beer that is an amazingly well balanced beer with a nice malty backbone and moderate hop flavor and aromas.

I love home brewing but the stress I’ve had with the 2 Grainfathers over the years just simply is unacceptable and I’ve decided to move on to simpler designs that have less issues due to technical difficulties. I don’t feel the Anvil is as refined or feature rich but it works and the low density heating system appears to be the new feature that all electric all-in-one systems will most likely be moving to in the near future. Plus the ability to move from 120 to 220 with a simple switch is awesome!

Alt 3 - Recipe
5 gallon batch (5.15 gallon to account for loss) - 2.268 Kilograms
5 lbs Pilsner malt - 2.268 Kilograms
2.5 lbs Munich Malt - 1.134 Kilograms
1/2 lb Cara-Pils - 227 grams
1/2 lb Victory Malt - 227 grams
6 oz Carawheat - 170 grams
6 oz chocolate rye - 170 grams
4 oz flaked wheat - 113.4 grams
1 oz Nugget (16.8% Alpha) - 28.35 grams at 30 mins
1 oz Strisslesalt (2.8% Alpha) - 28.35 grams - 10 min whirlpool for 10 minutes at 150 F (65.5 C)

Mash 122 F for 30 min (50 C)
Mash 150 F for 30 min (65.5 C)
Mash out 168 F for 10 min (75.5 C) 

Whitelabs - WLP 036 Dusseldorf Alt Yeast