Munich Helles Gavin's Mightily Malty Munich Helles

[Tommydee]

Well, since I borrowed so much from Gavin's rig, decided to do a hybrid Brulosophy/Gavin hybrid Helles as my first Lager. Drank quite a few Helles in Ravensburg, DE a few months back and they were tasty! I actually bought the brulosophy kit from Love2brew (my LHBS), so my recip calls forHersbrucker, and a healthy portion of 2.5 oz, which according to beersmith is too many IBU for the style. . Also I'm using WLP830, because I had it already, not wlp029 that is called for. . Built up water from RO to more of a pils profile based on Kai, and since I didn't have acid malt, bru'n water gave me a slight shot of lactic acid to bring pH down.

Used Gavin's mash and fermentation profile....one thing is my BIAB rig always drops a good 4 degrees after 15 minutes, so I need to insulate better..had to hit it with some gas to get it back up to 150 F.
LHBS tends to be generous with their kits, so I ended up making a bit more than fits in a 5 L fermenter, so I expect a messy blowoff tube. (Yes, I know I should have a 6.5 gallon carboy, but I don't.....) I pitched a 2 L starter, first time ever doing one of these....Overall a great brew day, I have my equipment dialed in pretty well with beersmith, and I hit my volumes and SGs pretty well. I am wishing I would have pulled back to 2.0 oz of hops, but too late now.....I'll let you know how it turns out in about 6 weeks!

 

[Brizzo]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1492344406.333200.jpghyrdo sample after d- rest. Brewed 2 weeks ago. Gonna rack to keg and start lagering. Tastes very nice.

 

[Tommydee]

Just Reallized I never posted back to update. The Love2brew/brulosophy/Gavin/Tom Helles has been great! Expect the keg to kick today when family are over... I'll try to get a good picture.

 

[thunderwagn]

Think I might give this one a whirl using saflager 34/70, and following brulosopher's/Marshall's lead on fermenting at ale temps to see how it turns out.

 

[HiImBrian]

Well, I'm convinced. Heading to the store to pick up ingredients shortly. I'll be doubling the batch and making 11 gal. Also will be doing a single infusion at 150F. Yeast calcs say a 3L starter with 3 packs will put me around 760 billion, so that's the plan.

 

[thunderwagn]

So just an update, I did use Fermentis Saflager 34/70 on this brew. I chilled to 58f into the fermenter and rehydrated a single pack of the 34/70. I fermented at 68f. Let it clean up for a week, then racked to keg with gelatine. It's only been lagering for 2 weeks, so still very young but already very tasty! For the first week, I'd hit the keg with about 8# co2 and purge the sulfur type smell off the brew 1-2 times a day.
The color and clarity is super impressive and the photo doesn't do it justice. And as you can probably tell by the pic, the keg still needs to carb and settle a bit more.
It's very drinkable right now! But I'll wait.
The pint glass is way old school. Dates back to I think '95.






*please disregard the pillsbury croissant dough it looks like some sneaky soul has snuck into what is obviously the yeast bin!

 

[jdauria]

In the middle of a blizzard here in Mass, so decided to brew this beer today. Can’t wait to try the finished product. Only change from your recipe Gavin is I am using Weyermann’s Barke Pils malt.

 

[Desertbrewer]

Brewed a very similar beer using inspiration from this recipe, but some American tweaks as it was what I had on hand-

7.5# 2 row
1.5# Munich
2 oz honey malt

9g magnum (60)
9g magnum (5)

OG 1.048
FG 1.007

Pitched a single packet of 34/70, rehydrated and fermented at 63 for a few days and bumped up to 68. At these temps it fermented in about the same time as my ales, around 4 days, and left for about another week. Used gelatin to fine, been in the keg about a week now

This is my first attempt at a lager and damnit if it’s not the most drinkable and near best beer I’ve made in my 3 years of homebrewing. Highly recommend and I’m sure the original recipe is even better.

 

[jdauria]

Just tapped my try at your beer Gavin, and it’s delicious! Only change I made was I used Weyermann Barke Pils. Only flaw is while you can see through it, it developed a slight haze. I can live with that. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

 

[chefjrd]

Just got all my ingredients in to make this this weekend. Got the yeast starter going and looking forward to a delicious lager for summer (it's practically summer already here in FL).

 

[phyllobeddo]

I plan to brew the following 2.5 gallon batch this weekend. I have some LWP838, but I need to use up a sachet of 34/70 that "expired" 1/2018. Basically it's the recipe in half.
I've never done a step mash, but I read about the Hochkurz Mash, so I think I'll mash in at 145 for 30 minutes and then around 160 for 60 minutes. I hope it'll be beer in a couple of weeks.

4# Weyerman Pils
8 oz Light Munich
1 oz Melanoiden

 

[Coontail]

This sounds pretty good so I wanna give it a try, only problem is im new to this and am an extract brewer right now

So i went ahead, got beersmith, and attempted to convert it to extract! How's this?

BeerSmith file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xikbqo3dfb0loec/GBConversion.bsmx?dl=0

 

[Sammy86]

Just submitted my version of this recipe to an upcoming brew comp. Hoping for half as good as Gavin’s results! Beer was exceptionally tasty BTW so thank you @Gavin_C for the inspiration!

 

[JohnSand]

I have a BoPils in the keg, the sample tasted great. This may be my next lager.

 

[chefjrd]

Just submitted my version of this recipe to an upcoming brew comp. Hoping for half as good as Gavin’s results! Beer was exceptionally tasty BTW so thank you @Gavin_C for the inspiration!

When's the Comp? Let us know how you do!

 

[Sammy86]

When's the Comp? Let us know how you do!

Comp is this weekend...I’ll definitely update the thread once I have results!

 

[Gavin C]

Comp is this weekend...I’ll definitely update the thread once I have results!

Best of luck Sammy.

giphy.gif

 

[Sammy86]

Best of luck Sammy.

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Welp, I got my first 40!

Unfortunately, I believe the 2nd bottle wasn’t capped well as I got sub 30 from two other judges from their comments seems there was some oxidation issues...oh well can’t win them all!

Thanks Gavin for the recipe even if it wasn’t a winner at the comp it was a winner to friends and family and especially me!

 

[Gavin C]

Welp, I got my first 40!

scoresheet 40+

Unfortunately, I believe the 2nd bottle wasn’t capped well as I got sub 30 from two other judges from their comments seems there was some oxidation issues...oh well can’t win them all!

Thanks Gavin for the recipe even if it wasn’t a winner at the comp it was a winner to friends and family and especially me!

Thanks for sharing the results. Great stuff. If you're ever kicking around the PNW let me know. Grab a beer

 

[jdauria]

Have entered my batch of this great beer in a few comps and today was one of them. It scored a 41.5 and took 1st place! One judge scored it a 44 which is the highest score I have gotten from any single judge.

I even tried an experiment and diluted some bottles with 4 oz of seltzer water and entered it as an American Light Lager and it took first in that category with a 39!

Thank you for sharing the recipe Gavin! Can’t wait to brew this again!

 

[Gavin C]

Have entered my batch of this great beer in a few comps and today was one of them. It scored a 41.5 and took 1st place! One judge scored it a 44 which is the highest score I have gotten from any single judge.

I even tried an experiment and diluted some bottles with 4 oz of seltzer water and entered it as an American Light Lager and it took first in that category with a 39!

Thank you for sharing the recipe Gavin! Can’t wait to brew this again!

Wow! Amazing results there. Love the seltzer idea. Congrats

 

[jdauria]

Wow! Amazing results there. Love the seltzer idea. Congrats

Thanks! I got the diluting with seltzer idea from Derrick Flippin who did a seminar at last year's Homebrew Con on tips to winning comps. He took Helles and diluted with 2 ounces of seltzer, or 4 ounces, and won medals at the Minnesota Mashout in American Lager, American Light Lager, International Light Lager plus his Helles alone took first. https://www.homebrewersassociation....tegies-for-competing-your-way-to-better-beer/

 

[Wreck99]

I'm getting ready to brew up something similar this week. Very cool to see your beer is winning awards! I had this drawn up a few weeks now and finally getting around to brewing it.

Here's what I'm going to try for 6 gallons:

8 1/2 # - Pilsner (82%)
1 # - Melanoidin (10%)
12 oz - Munich I (7%)
2 oz - Acidulated (1%) - needed to achieve desired mash pH

1.5 oz Hallertauer @ 60 - to achieve about 22 IBUs

WLP838 - Southern German Lager - I've used this for lagers before and loved it

 

[cgoldberg3]

I will be brewing this tomorrow with the same ingredients as the original, except that I’ll be subbing Magnum for Hallertau since the LHBS forgot to put my hops in the bag. This will be my first attempt at a lager!

 

[Sammy86]

I will be brewing this tomorrow with the same ingredients as the original, except that I’ll be subbing Magnum for Hallertau since the LHBS forgot to put my hops in the bag. This will be my first attempt at a lager!

Good luck! Delicious brew that i've brewed many times over since 2018!