The possibility to alloy aluminium alloys with zirconium by introducing it into the melt as Cu-10%Zr alloying composition instead of the industrial composition Al-2%Zr was studied. The application of the Cu-10%Zr composition allowed to obtain 1161 alloy ingots 680 mm across without primary zirconium intermetallics and to reduce the grain in the cast alloy down to the dendrite cell dimensions.