German Helles Lager

[RobertE]

Looking for some advice in a recipe for a German Helles style lager. What would you use as your grain bill? I'm thinking mostly pilsner malt, but should I add a bit of Munich malt, carapils or melanoidin malts? What percentages would you utilize?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I would suggest just like you have it roughly 90% 7% 2%

 

[CRUNK]

50/50 blend of weyermans Pilsner and pale Ale malt 88%
Cara hell 8%
Cara Munich 'll 4%

24 IBU of Hellertau mittlefruh

34/70 yeast

Ferment at 48 degrees her your preferred fermentation schedule

I have been doing almost nothing except German helles and Oktoberfest for the past year you will love this recipe

If you have any questions on it feel free to let me know I'll give you every little detail I can on how I do mine but keep in mind I am a low oxygen Brewer my system is different than yours

 

[CRUNK]

Here is what it looked like in my one mugs at 5 gallons didn't last but two days

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I do like caramunich better than melanoidin

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

this is actually my favorite beer, sub the grain from what ever country, crunks is fine too

Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 5.17%
IBU (tinseth): 20.92
SRM (morey): 4.5

FERMENTABLES:
17.5 lb - Belgian - Pilsner (88%)
2 lb - Belgian - Munich (10%)
0.4 lb - Belgian - CaraMunich (2%)

HOPS:
3 oz - Hallertau Hersbrucker, Type: Pellet, AA: 4, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 20.92

 

[Nosybear]

Melanoiden is way out of place in Helles. Mix of Pilsner and Pale or Vienna, acidulated for pH control, about 90% pilsner, Hallertau hops, about 20 IBU.

 

[J A]

That!^^^
You're safe to stick with just Vienna for flavor...like Nosy says, no more than 10%. Err on the side of simplicity - you won't regret it.

All the other malts - Melanoidin, Aromatic, CaraMunich, CaraVienne - are super sweet and it's possible to substitute a small amount of one of those malts if for some reason you don't have any Vienna, but probably 2% of any one of those malts would be enough to change the flavor and add sweetness.
And, yes, an ounce or two of Acidulated malt will do wonders!

 

[RobertE]

Here is what it looked like in my one mugs at 5 gallons didn't last but two days

Gosh that looks good. The color is perfect and the head looks picture perfect. Almost looks like whipped cream in top. So the Carahell and Caramunich don't add too much color or sweetness?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

carahell is like carapils, it adds head and some body, and no Caramunich is malty and you can adjust any beer with hops or the right yeast

 

[J A]

Assuming all-grain and not extract brewing, none of the Cara-malts is necessary for head or body. Mash temperature alone will give you what you want. For a crisp lager or ale, I'll use a 148 degree mash for fermentables and add a dextrin rest at 156 to 160 to convert non-fermentables for head retention and body. There are more complex ways to make it even better, but that works. Yeast makes a huge difference in body as well as flavor. I make a light cream ale with both lager and ale yeast and that particular ale yeast adds tremendous mouthfeel while the lager yeast helps with attenuation and augments the malt in the flavor profile.

 

[CRUNK]

Gosh that looks good. The color is perfect and the head looks picture perfect. Almost looks like whipped cream in top. So the Carahell and Caramunich don't add too much color or sweetness?

That photo was the first beers drawn from that keg, short one pint the day prior to clear any yeast at the bottom of the keg.

The cara munich 2 adds a perfect malty flavor, not too sweet at all.

this beer was dry, crisp, good mouth feel.

I call this Landschaft Helles, Landschaft meaning countryside in the German language, this recipe was inspired by an acquaintance on the low oxygen Brewing forum. It has now become my house helles.

I spund my beer, at 6 points above terminal gravity, so it self carbonated. It was transferred to the spunding keg on day 4 of fermentation. Fermentation temp was held at 48°f the entire time, for 7 days, then cold crash for 14 days at 32°f. Then I pull a pint to clear any yeast carried over, let it sit another week or 2 and drink it, I can start drinking at 21 days but I prefer that extra week or 2, it improves alittle bit more in that time.

Besides these forums, and all the help I r ecieved on them, this book I purchased from vlb berlin ( in my opinion ) is the bible of brewing.

Www.brewersfriend.com
Www.germanbrewing.com
Www.lowoxgenbrewing.com

The book titled, Technology Malting, and Brewing, written by a gentleman by the name of Kunze.

My 34/70 yeast was purchased from the hefebank in Munich germany, I have farmed it ever since, it comes from the weihenstephan original strain.

I also use sauergut to biologically control my ph. This helles was brewed In accordance to the German purity law, just to see if I could do it, and after a few times, it's now my permanent process because I find it to be really easy.

 

[RobertE]

 

[RobertE]

 

[RobertE]

Update on my German Helles lager - it turned out fantastic! It tastes just like the beer you get at the Hofbrauhaus. It lagered for a month in a corny keg blanketed with CO2 in my freezing cold garage and I just finished force carbonating it. The beer is sitting in my keezer ready for the holidays! I really love that Safeale 34/70 yeast strain. Nice and clean. I added some gelatin to the keg hoping to settle some of the haze. The first pour looked like chicken soup, which I expected.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Update on my German Helles lager - it turned out fantastic! It tastes just like the beer you get at the Hofbrauhaus. It lagered for a month in a corny keg blanketed with CO2 in my freezing cold garage and I just finished force carbonating it. The beer is sitting in my keezer ready for the holidays! I really love that Safeale 34/70 yeast strain. Nice and clean. I added some gelatin to the keg hoping to settle some of the haze. The first pour looked like chicken soup, which I expected.

Get stuck in before Christmass and you clean it up as you go.

 

[RobertE]

The beer clarified nicely and tastes great! My best brew yet!

 

[GFHomebrew]

Nice glass too looking good robert im staring down thw barrel of.one of these brews soon.

 

[Mase]

That's a beauty RobertE! Helles is definitely in my brewing future after seeing your Helles and some photos of Crunk's Helles. Cheers!

 

[CRUNK]

Robert that looks outstanding, job well done sir.