Munich Helles Münchner Helles

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Saccharomyces

Be good to your yeast...
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jun 17, 2008
Messages
5,438
Reaction score
166
Location
Pflugerville, Texas
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP830
Yeast Starter
2L or bigger
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.25
Original Gravity
1.050
Final Gravity
1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
18
Color
4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 @52*F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
3 @68*F
Additional Fermentation
28 @42*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)
==============


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
==============


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
==============


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.
 
Thanks for the recipe. For the sake of clarity, do you really boil the DME for only 15 minutes? Just wanted to be sure.
 
Sacc...

Hey, I am thinking of doing this brew on my next brewcast on the 4th...

Looks nice. Id mash for 15 min. at 132F and 60 min. at 150F to dry it out.
 
I brewed up the partial mash version of this a few weeks ago. It's stepping down for lagering right now. :rockin: I had an ounce of Vanguard hops I used FWH. We'll see how it turns out.
 
I'd like to revive this dead recipe.
Saccharomyces, why do you add 8 oz of flaked wheat to this recipe? What does it add to the flavor and/or body of the beer?
 
I'd like to revive this dead recipe.
Saccharomyces, why do you add 8 oz of flaked wheat to this recipe? What does it add to the flavor and/or body of the beer?

I use the flaked wheat to improve head retention without adding sweetness like you would get with carapils. (Yeah I know folks say carapils isn't sweet but in a beer this delicate you do notice)
 
Looking to do my first lager and like your partial method (not ready for all grain just yet). I am more liking amber lagers have you any thought on slight modification to make it more of an amber lager?
 
Sure if you wanted to do a amber lager variation on this recipe, use 1# of munich, drop the vienna, and add two ounces of carafa III de-husked (or debittered black malt if you can't get the carafa). That should net something similar to Yuengling, but maltier.
 
Curious as to how this turned out. I have my Oktoberfest sitting in the keezer now, and the yeast is primed up for re-use! It was an 833 whitelabs yeast and it should do a helles good I think.

Well, what does everybody think? Anything to suggest or recommend?

Thanks
 
Curious as to how this turned out. I have my Oktoberfest sitting in the keezer now, and the yeast is primed up for re-use! It was an 833 whitelabs yeast and it should do a helles good I think.

Well, what does everybody think? Anything to suggest or recommend?

Thanks
I use 833 for everything, including my last lager a helles and while I didnt use this recipe (looks good though), it turned out amazing. I do decoction mash though, and Im not sure why the OP recommend a 147/148º infusion (maybe he can chime in), Id keep it around 152º.
 
Would love to brew this, but know I cannot keep my fermentation temps that low. What would it turn out like if the temps were in the upper 60s for the first few days then could drop to around 40 in the keezer. Im guessing 40 is going to be too low to start with...
 
Just to point out the obvious...the wheat isn't allowed in a traditional Helles as it has to conform to the Bavarian purity law. But here in north America we are not bound by such restrictions.
 
thevalkrye said:
Just to point out the obvious...the wheat isn't allowed in a traditional Helles as it has to conform to the Bavarian purity law. But here in north America we are not bound by such restrictions.

That law is not really a law anymore...you'll see a Hefeweizen made from Paulaner that will say "brewed under Germany purity law of 1516". I can't remember is münchen (Munich) started that law and several villages followed suit through the years. But yeah...adding wheat and more Munich grains in this recipe would make this a Weizenbock style. I do believe the Helles Bock is the newest to the Bock family after the art of crafting pale brews was eluded to the world. Although this recipe is a solid foundation of what this style is all about. Good job!
 
That law is not really a law anymore...

Well I guess they lied to us in German brewing school then.

They are not allowed wheat in lager beer and the top fermenting beer (like Hefeweizen) must contain at least 50% wheat. We were told it is the oldest purity law still in effect, whether in Germany or the world I don't know.
 
thevalkrye said:
Well I guess they lied to us in German brewing school then.

They are not allowed wheat in lager beer and the top fermenting beer (like Hefeweizen) must contain at least 50% wheat. We were told it is the oldest purity law still in effect, whether in Germany or the world I don't know.

Interesting, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I'm stationed not far from Germany and talked to some people that are in the brewing industry. The way it was explained to me was it was a law but the those who live and brew in that area were proud of that law so they continued to brew by abiding that law. It was also explained to me that only a handful of breweries were allowed to brew with wheat and the rest weren't. Idk honestly..I do know I like all of the Bock styles and law or no law the land of Bavaria has truly contributed a lot to many style of beers! :D
 
Is this the same style as Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold? That is one of my favourite beers and I'd love to be able to make something close to it.
 
Is this the same style as Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold? That is one of my favourite beers and I'd love to be able to make something close to it.

x2... I'm all for Reinheitsgebot as much as the next guy, but more than that I'm after that super-crisp helles that's poured off the wooden keg in their gastropub in München. I'm definitely not above using wheat, etc. if the homebrew elite tell me it's the way to go. What's the verdict on this one?
 
I have this recipe going right now with the SF lager yeaat. Been fermenting for almost 2 weeks at 60 degrees. I plan on doing another batch in a week with the same yeast. I'm getting a lot of sulfur after 11 days. I'll probably lager right from the secondary in a couple of days. Has anyone else used the SF yeast?
 
YeastieBoys said:
I have this recipe going right now with the SF lager yeaat. Been fermenting for almost 2 weeks at 60 degrees. I plan on doing another batch in a week with the same yeast. I'm getting a lot of sulfur after 11 days. I'll probably lager right from the secondary in a couple of days. Has anyone else used the SF yeast?

Any update on how the San transistors yeast tired out?
 
YeastieBoys said:
I have this recipe going right now with the SF lager yeaat. Been fermenting for almost 2 weeks at 60 degrees. I plan on doing another batch in a week with the same yeast. I'm getting a lot of sulfur after 11 days. I'll probably lager right from the secondary in a couple of days. Has anyone else used the SF yeast?

Any update on how the sf yeast turned out?
 
jdgapc said:
Any update on how the sf yeast turned out?

I wouldn't use the SF yeast for a Helles. I made an awesome Helles using wl German lager. I would definitely use that, not the SF.
 

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