Munich Helles BierMunchers “Helles Belles” (Munich Helles, AG)

[ErieShores]

Thanks Sleepy. In past experience, I've noticed that Nottingham really does a good job cleaning up after itself, a characteristic that I understand that a Kolsch yeast does not possess.

 

[ErieShores]

I'm looking for a little advice here...
I brewed this two weeks and one day ago and it's been fermenting at 56F, OG 1043.
I opened the lid of my bucket on Saturday. Aside from the rotten eggs that punched me in the face, I still had a moderate size krausen that was still hanging around. I decided to check a gravity (1009) and move it to a warmer location. I took a look today and that krausen is still floating like it's a damn hot tub party. I'd like to get this thing into the secondary and get some gelatin in it but the krausen is detouring me. Suggestions? Leave it? Rack it? It might be a question for another forum but it's related to this recipe so I decided to post it here.

 

[mhermetz]

Brewed this about a month and a half ago. I took the risk of not boiling for 90mins but rather boiling for 60min.

My beer now has a corn taste to it

Here's hoping it mellows out.

 

[ErieShores]

Thanks BierMuncher, great recipe!


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[BierMuncher]

Thanks BierMuncher, great recipe!


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Damn that looks tasty.

 

[MJDore]

Tweaked this a bit and entered it as a Kolsch in the NHC. I scored a 36. Great comments from the judges. My issue, as I anticipated, was it was too estery. I didn't make a yeast starter with this one (still getting educated on liquid yeast). Great beer, nonetheless.

 

[iamatuna]

Has anyone tried using SF lager for this recipe?

I dont have laggering capabilities so i was hoping on using that strain.

Cheers

 

[sagnew440]

Just got finished brewing up 10 gal of this. The only difference is I'm using wlp080 cream ale yeast. Should be tasty.

 

[barrog]

I brewed this up about 10 weeks ago. I used 2 packets of 34/70. I also made it a PM. O.G. was 1.041 ish can't remember off hand. F.G. is 1.010. Fermented around 50 deg for 2 weeks and lagered for 7 weeks at 33ish. It is a great beer. Very clean slighty malty flavor that seems to go down all too fast. This is one that will be brewed again

 

[Wakadaka]

Anybody have any alternate yeasts to use at high temperatures. During these warm months I am pretty stuck at about 70 degrees.

I was thinking trying US-05 for a clean flavor, or potentially a california common lager yeast. I would age it for a while, and could cold condition for a long time. Would I get a similar flavor, or should I just wait for cooler weather?

 

[ISUBrew79]

Anybody have any alternate yeasts to use at high temperatures. During these warm months I am pretty stuck at about 70 degrees.

I was thinking trying US-05 for a clean flavor, or potentially a california common lager yeast. I would age it for a while, and could cold condition for a long time. Would I get a similar flavor, or should I just wait for cooler weather?

Search for "swamp cooler" on the forums. You should easily be able to keep your fermenter below 70 degrees with a swamp cooler. I personally would not use Cali common yeast, as it will turn out very estery at 70 degrees. I have had good luck with WLP001 fermented around 65 degrees using a swamp cooler for making pseudo-lager beers.

 

[Huskysibe]

I just brewed this as my first AG this past Monday. Missed my mash and sparge temps by a lot, but hit my estimated OG so I am hopefull this will turn out wonderful. Thanks for the recipe!!

Billy

 

[psutimmah]

Okay guys looking for some advice...

I brewed a finski of this recipe yesterday. I mashed a little lower to try and achieve drier beer, and I also used the German Ale smack pack. One thing that I realized I did not follow directions on was the 90 minutes for the mash. I also got excited about an article in the new Beer mag that is about no sparge brewing. I got ahead of myself and was going to do a esb with this method but my yeast was not ready. Without thinking I went ahead and filled the mash tun, and it wasn't until my boil that I realized I think I should of rested and rinsed this pilsen malt from briess. I did achieve a 90 minute boil and hit my gravity for my recipe at 1046. The sample I thought was good for I never used pilsen malt but my friend who sampled a pre ferment sample tasted some starches. Where am I at at this point with this and what is most likely the reason for that taste. Am I okay or this beer doomed already?

Thanks
Tim

 

[Huskysibe]

11 days fermenting time so far, FG is 1010 but it's pretty cloudy. Hopefully it will clear up in the next 3 days. The sample I drank was wonderful! I am excited to keg this on Monday.

Billy

 

[Beernewb]

Not sure what happened here, tastes like a nice chardonnay..fruity and a bit tart. followed the recipe to a T. Fermented mid 60's...cleared quicky, looked beautiful...bottled at 5 weeks. I guess i see what happens after a few weeks in the bottle, but i'd be shocked if these flavors retreat.

 

[ErieShores]

Not sure what happened here, tastes like a nice chardonnay..fruity and a bit tart. followed the recipe to a T. Fermented mid 60's...cleared quicky, looked beautiful...bottled at 5 weeks. I guess i see what happens after a few weeks in the bottle, but i'd be shocked if these flavors retreat.

In my limited use of a Kolsch yeast (3 brews), fruit is pretty common when I fermented in the high 60's but mellowed a bit over time. Here is a clip from Wyeast...

Beers will exhibit some of the fruity character of an ale, with a clean lager like profile.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=144
Give it some time, I brewed this recipe around Christmas last year and it really started to taste great around March.

 

[Huskysibe]

Kegged, Carbed and its fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the recipe.

Billy

 

[Beernewb]

my issue might be my starter...

it was warm that week and it was close to 75 in the kitchen...

this dropped out so fast, it's not even carbing in the bottles, it's like a belgian, I only have a slight carnonation and no head after 2 weeks in the bottle...this is my first truly bad beer, so i guess if it's gonna go wrong, it might as well go wrong on all fronts..lol..

 

[kshuler]

I'd lean towards the Liberty. Hops don't play much of a role in this style, except to balance the beer. As long as you maintain a 2.5 to 1 (OG to IBU) ratio and keep this puppy malty (sweet), the hops really don't matter. :rockin:

So. I was thinking of doing this tomorrow morning, but I realized I have NO noble hops at all. Since it is only a 60 minute addition, and not much flavor or aroma should be imparted, could I just use some cascade that I have, or do you think this would significantly change it?

 

[haeffnkr]

I have this recipe in the keg now and has been on gas for 3 days I am afraid it will be off a bit. This was my second beer attempt.

I brewed this biab -

My efficiency was about 95% per tastybrew calc. - which is way higher than I wanted - 1.058 (sample was 65 F when measured)

I used a little more grain than the recipe calls for thinking my efficiency would be worse than the recipe ... it was better apparently.

8 american pale 2-row
1 Vienna
.5 Munich Malt
.25 Cara Pils
1 oz tetterang for 50 minutes

8.2 gallons starting and 5.6 after boil - triple ground the grain

I had american 2 row instead of Pilsner ...I thought I had Pilsner on hand...but I was wrong .. sample tasted great though after boil.

Per tastybrew bitterness calculator - IBU 10.6 is what it came out with...with my numbers after I brewed it...it was supposed to be 14.x if I hit 1.04x

Hop AA AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
100.0 % 1.00 Tettnanger 3.2 3.2 50 0.242 10.6

With that low of bitterness when I put it in the keg it tasted weird after it fermented out.
It had a FG of 1.015

I will let you know how it turns out in a few days.

thanks Kevin

 

[terrenum]

Well your recipe looks like a good grain bill for an APA. The hops and ibu are missing however... Changing the pilsner malt for 2 row brought you more towards an APA.
Good luck.

 

[egravy81]

The BM recipe was my first AG batch. It came out great and I'm definitely doing this again. Thanks for a great recipe!

 

[crazyirishman34]

I guess that my question would be why Kolsh and not a Munich Lager?

 

[egravy81]

I guess that my question would be why Kolsh and not a Munich Lager?

I did this recipe with both WL Kolsh and WL Munich Helles yeast. I found the Kolsh was sweeter but took longer to clear - the Helles is nice and malty, especially with a dual decoction mash. Technically the Helles yeast is more in line with the style but both were mighty tasty! If you are kegging I'd recommend either - if bottling I'd recommend the Helles yeast.

 

[crazyirishman34]

My understanding of kolsh is that they are all filtered.

 

[E-rok]

quick question, this recipe requires a 90 minute mash and a 90 minute boil? How would I maintain temperatures in my mash tun over 90 min? I tend to find they drop about 5 deg over 60 min.

 

[egravy81]

quick question, this recipe requires a 90 minute mash and a 90 minute boil? How would I maintain temperatures in my mash tun over 90 min? I tend to find they drop about 5 deg over 60 min.

You can always pull a decoction to boil and add back the your mash tun or add additional hot water to increase the temp. If you're feeling adventurous this recipe is great via dual decoction mash.

 

[Rubes]

I'm confused how 3 oz of Tett is only 16.4 IBUs. I put those number into Beersmtih and it says it would be 32. Am I missing something?

EDIT: Nevermind, I forgot to cut the hops in half when I scaled down to 5.5 gallons. Good thing I caught that before brewing it..

 

[makomachine]

I'm planning on doing this one this weekend with the posted grain bill and Notty. Needing a good summer drinker and this seems to be perfect!

BM - I've found Notty to be cleaner than WLP029 but never tried it in a Pilsner based beer. What are your thoughts on the trade offs when fermented 60 or so? I would think you likely end up with a little less breadiness character as wlp029 tends to give more of the bready/yeasty flavors, along with some fruitiness that wouldn't be to style, than the cleanness you get from Notty cold.

 

[makomachine]

Forgot to add, planning on calling it "Notty as Helles" on the tapper - with credit to BM on the whiteboard.