Munich Helles Welcome to Helles

9 lbs Weyermann pilsner malt
1 lb cara-pils
1 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) 60 mins
0.5 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) 23 mins

145 degrees for 45 minutes
158 degrees for 30 minutes
170 degrees for 10 minutes

double batch sparge
90 minute boil

Silver medal, 2011 Aurora Brewing Challenge, Edmonton Homebrewers' Guild

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osagedr said:

9 lbs Weyermann pilsner malt
1 lb cara-pils
1 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) 60 mins
0.5 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) 23 mins

145 degrees for 45 minutes
158 degrees for 30 minutes
170 degrees for 10 minutes

double batch sparge
90 minute boil

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I'm brewing my first lager tomorrow, which is pretty similar to yours. I'm gonna use extra flavor and aroma hops (saaz and hallertau). Also instead of Carapils my recipe calls for Vienna malt.

What temp did you ferment at and how long did you lager? Looks great!

Hope your brew day is going/went well. Cracked one of these last night and really, really liked it. Only have a few bottles left

This beer was fermented with an ambient temp of 50 so likely actual temp of 55. Now that I know a bit more about fermenting lagers I always try to go as cool as possible to slow fermentation down (just doing a d-rest on a Rauchbier that is on day 11 in primary and not quite done yet). If I were doing this recipe again I would chill it to 40-42, pitch two packs of W 34/70 rehydrated then set my ambient temp to 46 and let 'er go. Once I had fermentation going I would drop my ambient temp a few degrees to get the actual liquid temp right to the bottom end of the fermentation range.

Total lagering time (secondary then kegged) was in the 4 month range.

osagedr said:

...I would chill it to 40-42, pitch two packs of W 34/70 rehydrated then set my ambient temp to 46 and let 'er go...

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I did almost exactly that with one of my lagers this year and it turned out fantastic.

I've found this yeast to be a real workhorse in the mid-40s. Very, very pleased with it. Have some S-189 on order and can't wait to compare the two! I think I'll do a split batch soon.

osagedr said:

I've found this yeast to be a real workhorse in the mid-40s. Very, very pleased with it. Have some S-189 on order and can't wait to compare the two! I think I'll do a split batch soon.

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I love the W34/70 for most all of my lagers. I have used the S-189 years ago and found it best for more malty style lagers like Bocks.

I won Gold in Montreal this year for a Helles using W34/70 in the Montreal May Madness comp.

boo boo said:

I love the W34/70 for most all of my lagers. I have used the S-189 years ago and found it best for more malty style lagers like Bocks.

I won Gold in Montreal this year for a Helles using W34/70 in the Montreal May Madness comp.

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Nice! I should have a decent lineup for competition this spring.

Drinking this now...Excellent!!!!:rockin: Did the original recipe.
The only thing I would change is a little more in the hops.

Glad to hear it! I'm drinking something really similar now but with a big more ABV and Saaz hops (so a Bohemian Pils) to about 40 IBU.

Nice beer... I love a good helles... Anyone can throw malt and/or hops at a beer (not that that is a bad thing), but helles is an exercise in subtlety... when you nail it... mmmmmm

This one was my first AG lager...terrible brew day but it turned out well. Made a really similar beer recently, but a bit bigger (OG 1.054) with a touch of crystal 15 and S-189 instead of W-34/70.

brewed a second time. Hit all the numbers made a couple of changes in the hops and added honey.

To keep your taste buds rocking!:rockin:

Nice pic!