IRC Brewing: H-Ale-lles

[ircbrewing]

Hello all - with spring here and in that spirit I wanted to post up my helles ale recipe. I know what you are thinking. Ale? Yes....ale. This is an ode to the traditional dry, lightly hopped but very refreshing helles lager. No space in my fridge to lager and "ale" provided a wonderful pun for the traditional helles name. This is a test batch recipe. This beer is typically based on german base malts and hopped with traditional hallertauer hops or any hop native to Germany. Typically low alpha. 4-7%.

5 Gallon batch:

Malt:
1. 5.5 pounds vienna malt
2. 5.5 pounds pilsner (2 row)
3. 12 oz carafoam
4. 12 oz Cara-pils/Dextrine

Hops:
1. .5 oz Hallertauer - 60 min.
2. .5 oz Hallertauer - 30 min.
3. .5 oz Hallertauer - 15 min.
4. .5 oz Hallertauer - 5 min.

Yeast:

1. 1 pkg - Safale - US-05

OG: 1.053
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.45%
SRM: 4.5
IBU: 19.7

These metrics put this recipe right in the wheelhouse according to the style guides. Hopefully the Carafoam and carapils give it enough body.

I kegged this last night and my metrics were spot on with what Beersmith calculated. My OG was 1.053 and my FG was actually 1.011. The beer fermented out pretty quickly...about 6 days and it finished up. I let it sit for another 10 days to clean up so 16 days total in primary. It had a great light flavor warm and uncarbonated. It was dryer than most of my beers, but that is the style and should be quite refreshing on a warm spring day here in Atlanta.

Will post a picture of the final product in about 2 days once carbed in the keg.

 

[MrPowers]

If I were you, I would go with 90+ % german pilsner malt with 5% being Munich or Vienna and the balance being Carahell or Carapils. Helles is built on Pilsner malt and noble hops. I would also use a Kolsch yeast (WLP029 or WY2565) and get rid of the 15 and 5 minute hop additions. Just use 60 and 30 to get to the right bittering level.

~45% of vienna and ~12.5% is not going to give you the right character for a Helles. It will be too heavy and have too much residual sweetness. In addition, Carapils/Carafoam are basically the same ingredient from different maltsters.

If you're looking for an ODE TO HELLES and you don't want it to be exactly the same thing, your recipe looks pretty good, I would just drop the Carapils and use a Kolsch yeast. But if you want something closer, use mostly Pilsner malt, like above.

 

[ircbrewing]

Good stuff Mr. Powers. Ill definitely play around with more pilsner. As you picked up on and since this is inherently not a traditional helles as it is an ale. I was mostly focusing on hitting the IBUs (though mine is on the upper end for the style), ABV, SRM and Dryness.

I always use US-05 as it never lets me down.

But thats really good info and well backed up. Ill give that a shot next time for a more traditional grain bill and hop schedule....and I may consider the yeast change!

Cheers!

 

[Sadu]

Yeah 10-20% Vienna and the rest pils. Also you will probably want 2-3% acidulated malt to hit the right range (use 2% if you don't have a water report). Don't feel you have to add that cara-whatever malt, you can do a great beer with just base malt. Control the body with mash temperatures.

 

[saltymirv]

If I were you, I would go with 90+ % german pilsner malt with 5% being Munich or Vienna and the balance being Carahell or Carapils. Helles is built on Pilsner malt and noble hops. I would also use a Kolsch yeast (WLP029 or WY2565) and get rid of the 15 and 5 minute hop additions. Just use 60 and 30 to get to the right bittering level.

~45% of vienna and ~12.5% is not going to give you the right character for a Helles. It will be too heavy and have too much residual sweetness. In addition, Carapils/Carafoam are basically the same ingredient from different maltsters.

If you're looking for an ODE TO HELLES and you don't want it to be exactly the same thing, your recipe looks pretty good, I would just drop the Carapils and use a Kolsch yeast. But if you want something closer, use mostly Pilsner malt, like above.

I agree with this. More pils and WLP029 will serve you well.

I personally would try 10-15% Vienna, 2-4% Carahell, and the rest Pilsner.

For a really detailed write up on classic Helles check this out: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Edel_Hell

 

[ircbrewing]

Beer turned out great! It's pretty clear only a few days in the keg...can't tell from the photo though. Heavy condensation going on as it was a hotter day in Atlanta Saturday and that was one cold beer! Had some friends over this weekend to give an unbiased opinion. I didn't tell them anything about the beer before serving. Just poured it casually and handed to each and they all had the same comment: clean and refreshing. Which is exactly what I was going for. Hallertauer was a great hop to use for this.

Definitely got the drier quality which gives it some crispness which is where the refreshing part comes from. Doesn't sit on the pallet long.

I think it's a great variation of the helles if a helles had a second cousin or something...twice removed!

It'll kick your butt if you aren't careful. It goes down so cold and refreshing but at 5.85%, it'll getcha!