Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP830
Yeast Starter: 2L or bigger
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.25
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU: 18
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 @52*F
Additional Fermentation: 28 @42*F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 3 @68*F
Tasting Notes: Light yet malty sessionable beer. Best enjoyed by the 1L mug!

My favorite drinking beer I can drink all day and all night.

This is based heavily on BierMuncher's Helles Belles.

All Grain Version (75% brewhouse efficiency)
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8# German Pilsner
8oz Munich
8oz Vienna
8oz Flaked Wheat
1oz Tettnang, Tradition, Saaz, or Hallertau (4-5% AA, target is 18-22 IBUs so you may need to adjust slightly)

Mash for 60-75 minutes at 150-152*F. An optional short protein rest at 131*F will improve yield with German pils malts. First wort hop, and boil vigorously for 90 minutes, topping off to 5.25 gallons if needed. Chill as quickly as possible to ensure a solid cold break. I use a hop strainer, and I like to whirlpool and siphon to keep the wort as clean as possible.

Partial Mash Version
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3.5# Extra Light DME or Pilsner DME (if you can find it)
2# German Pilsner
8oz Munich
8oz Vienna
8oz Flaked Wheat
1oz Tettnang, Tradition, Saaz, or Hallertau (4-5% AA)

Combine crushed grains in a grain bag and drop into 1 gallon of filtered tap water or bottled spring water (not softened water!) heated to 166*F. Temp should stabilize around 154*F. Remove pot from burner and wrap in a blanket. Let mash for 60 minutes. Then bring 1 additional filtered gallon of water to 175*F in a second pot. Remove grain bag and drop into second pot. Let soak for 5 minutes, drain, and discard grains. Move contents of second pot to first pot and top up to 2.5 gallons. Add the hops, bring to a boil, and boil for 75 minutes. Carefully add extract to avoid scorching and add one Whirlfloc tablet. Continue boil for 15 additional minutes. Chill quickly in a water bath or using an immersion chiller. Fast chilling is important for this style to ensure you do not have chill haze. Since this is a light brew it is also a good idea to use a strainer to strain out hops and break material to keep them out of the fermenter. Top up to 5 gallons in the fermenter with bottled water of your choice.

Fermentation
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As far as fermentation you have a couple of choices. You can lager with a lager yeast like WLP830, or you can use a lot of clean ale yeast and ferment it cool. WLP810 is rumoured to work well, I have yet to try it though.

As a lager: I used 2L starter of WLP830 pitched at 50*F and did a single vessel fermentation. I fermented at 52*F for two weeks, did a three day diacetyl rest, and lagered in the primary for four additional weeks at 42*F before kegging and force carbonating.

As an ale: Two packages of US-05 at 64*F will yield a very clean beer. Or you can use a 2L starter of WY1007 German Ale yeast at 62*F. Or you can do what I'm going to do next time I do this as an ale and pitch a package of German Ale yeast plus a package of US-05 dry ale yeast making a yeast blend. Temperature control during the first few days of fermentation will be key to getting this beer to come out to style. I use a water bath for my ales and change the ice 2x daily. I have found that 3# of ice twice a day will keep the temps 60-64*F which is ideal for a squeaky clean ale. I keg so I do not secondary this beer. I give it three weeks in the primary and then let it sit in the keg for a week before tapping. With the German Ale yeast finings such as KC or Gelatin may be helpful if it does not clear.