German Beers

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

electric_beer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Messages
453
Reaction score
5
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I LOVE German Beers. So I decided to post a thread where we can share our favorite German Beer recipes. I'm always looking around on other threads and websites searching for the perfect beer, hopefully I can help others who are searching for the same.

Festbier (a bit high OG for Munich Helles)
5 Gal
OG 1.054 FG 1.013

9lbs German Pilsner
10 oz Carapils
6 oz Munich Malt

.65oz Northern Brewer (@ 60 ~20 IBU)
.30 oz Hallertaur Hershbrucker (@ 20 ~2.5 IBU)

Yeast: W - 34/70

Schwartz bier
5 Gal
OG 1.053 FG 1.012

5lbs Munich
4lbs German Pilsner
6 oz Carafa III Special
4 oz 40L Caramel
4 oz Special Roast (topped at end to minimize roast character)
4 oz Chocolate Malt

.5 oz Perle (@ 60 ~14.5 IBU)
.5 oz Saaz (@25 ~7 IBU)
.25 oz Saaz (@ Flame Out for just a little aroma)

Hefeweizen
5.5 Gal
OG 1.053 FG 1.012

4 1/2 lbs German Pilsner
3 lbs White Wheat
2 1/2 lbs Flaked Wheat

.75 oz Hallertauer (@60 min for ~11 IBU)
1 oz Saaz (@ 5 min ~ 2 IBU)

Yeast: WLP 3068
I have many others planned, which I will update as I brew them. Feel free to include any house favorites or recipes you've stumbled on that you really liked.
 
I'm living "near Germany" (compared to you, guys, in N. America, that is ;)) and most of my beers are German style or inspired by German beers.

Anyway, my preferred are marzen, altbier and bavarian wheat.

My Marzen Bier version 1.1:

45% light munich
45% pilsner
8% carared, caraamber or equivalent (~40-50EBC)
1% melanoidin
1% acidulated

(last 2 can be safely skipped)

70-90' boil
1.5oz Perle for 60'
0.8oz Hallertauer for 15'

Wyeast Munich Lager, fermented @50F

Of many recipes for altbier i can recommend the one from braukaiser.com -> http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Kaiser_Alt, tastes as advertized, not as harsh as Schlosser, more in line of Diebels.
 
I've only made one - a modified clone of the Schlenkerla Marzen - which I'm reserving posting it until it's finished and i'm drinking it from my keg. I want to make sure it's a viable recipe, but as for style, i'm sticking by it!
 
American Kolsch:

Can't call it a true Kolsch as I didn't have everything needed to do so. However, it's darn good and tastes as it should for the style. It passes for the style in homebrew comps.

1.050 OG

2 row pils - can't remember exact amounts of the malts
munich
wheat

mt hood hops - IBU's in the 20 - 25 range

safale 05 yeast - ferment low for 2 weeks (62 or less), lager for 3 weeks at about 45

I'm not on my home computer so I'm going off of memory. Will update the amounts etc... if I think of it when I get home.
 
I've been tweaking a Helles recipe. I Brewed a 10 gallon batch a few weeks ago, but I have a half a keg left of a 5 gallon batch I made a couple of months ago. It's really good. You can cut everything in half for a 5 gallon batch.

16lbs of German pils
1lb of Munich
1/2lb of Dextrine
I mashed for 90 minutes @ 153

3oz of Hallertauer@ 60 minutes
3/4oz of Hallertauer @ 20 minutes (might not be much of a difference, but I would up the amount to 1oz or so.)
Boil for 90 minutes

WL830 German lager yeast

I made a starter and fermented at 50 for 2 weeks with a diacetyl rest..I racked to a keg and dropped temp 4 degrees a day until I hit 32. I will let sit at that temp for a month. My second keg will have sat for 2 months..Even better...

Imo, this beer came out really good. Crisp and clean. Very tasty. I was in Germany in September and drank some amazing beer. I'm not saying this is as good as Augustiner or Andechs, but I'm getting there. They have a 500 year head start...
 
I've been tweaking a Helles recipe. I Brewed a 10 gallon batch a few weeks ago, but I have a half a keg left of a 5 gallon batch I made a couple of months ago. It's really good. You can cut everything in half for a 5 gallon batch.

16lbs of German pils
1lb of Munich
1/2lb of Dextrine
I mashed for 90 minutes @ 153

3oz of Hallertauer@ 60 minutes
3/4oz of Hallertauer @ 20 minutes (might not be much of a difference, but I would up the amount to 1oz or so.)
Boil for 90 minutes

WL830 German lager yeast

I made a starter and fermented at 50 for 2 weeks with a diacetyl rest..I racked to a keg and dropped temp 4 degrees a day until I hit 32. I will let sit at that temp for a month. My second keg will have sat for 2 months..Even better...

Imo, this beer came out really good. Crisp and clean. Very tasty. I was in Germany in September and drank some amazing beer. I'm not saying this is as good as Augustiner or Andechs, but I'm getting there. They have a 500 year head start...

Oh that looks dang tasty. I might have to brew that soonish. I love Augustiner! Even if its only somewhat close.

That is the one German drawback, they guard their recipes with their lives.

Anyone have a good dopplebock recipe? That is one thing I want to brew, but every recipe I've seen is totally different. I'm looking for something classic tasting.
 
Oh that looks dang tasty. I might have to brew that soonish. I love Augustiner! Even if its only somewhat close.

That is the one German drawback, they guard their recipes with their lives.

Anyone have a good dopplebock recipe? That is one thing I want to brew, but every recipe I've seen is totally different. I'm looking for something classic tasting.

For the most part recipes for German style beers are very simple. Recipes for these styles are over-emphasized by homebrewers IMO, technique is as if not more important. Too many homebrew recipes use the kitchen sink or shotgun aproach using too many ingredients. Keeping it simple is the way to go. For a dopplebock lots of Munich malt along with some Vienna will get you in the ballpark. If you want extra color a little German dark roasted malt will do the trick.

Here's a start:

5 Gallon All grain

10 lbs German Dark Munich (Weyermann, Best, etc) ~10L
5 lbs German Vienna (Weyermann, Best, etc) ~4L
2 oz Carafa II

1 oz German noble hop ~ 4.5%AA (Spalt, Hallertau, etc) for 60 minutes
.5 oz German noble hop ~ 4.5%AA (Spalt, Hallertau, etc) for 20 minutes

Mash on the low side, 148-150F, I like decotions if you're into that with a first temp of 128-130F.

Pitch a big ass starter of your favorite Munich lager yeast. :mug:
 
Oh Man, Great thread. I lived over there as a student for two years and got to sample beers from all over the country, from lager in Bavaria to the Tannenzaepfle spruce beers of the black forest, to macro pils in the north.

To my taste, there is simply nothing better than a slighty fruity, slightly bready German Dunkelweizen. It's sweet, a little earthy, with a light hop character, it satisfies year round with effervescence in the summer and sweet full-bodied goodness in the winter.

The following recipe is from Brew Your Own and clones Hacker Pschorr. It's not my favorite commercial brew (which is the Schneider-Weisse) but it makes an easy, delicious homebrew.

http://***********/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/583-dunkelweizen-and-belgian-tripel-style-calendar

I slightly modified it for my own needs:

Hax0r Pschorr Dunkelweizen Partial Mash

OG 1.053 FG 1.014
ABV 5.1%

Ingredient Amount % MCU When
German Wheat Malt 3.00 lb 36.4 % 0.9 In Mash/Steeped
German Munich Malt 2.00 lb 24.2 % 2.2 In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Caramel Munich Malt 120 1.00 lb 12.1 % 24.0 In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Chocolate Malt 0.25 lb 3.0 % 17.0 In Mash/Steeped
Extract - Bavarian Wheat Dried Extract 2.00 lb 24.2 % 3.2 Start Of Boil


Hops
German Tradition 6.8 % 0.75 oz Bagged Pellet Hops 60 Min From End

Yeast
Wyeast 3068-Weihenstephen Weizen
 
Back
Top