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Munich Helles Lager

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Munich Helles Lager

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Beer Style: Munchner-Style Helles 
Recipe Type: all-grain
Yield: 5 gallons

Description:

The background of this beer style is interesting. Helles is the German word for “light” but in terms of color only. Unlike American lagers, this German lager is described as very full-bodied. A multi-step mashing procedure is traditionally used to create the authentic taste and mouth feel. Conventional brewing is down to a science and we cannot say with absolute certainty which mash temperatures for what period of time to achieve the same results working with gluten free malts. Having said that, this might be the ideal beer style to experiment with mash techniques.

Helles is often brewed with a single malt and hops variety. This recipe is adapted from ‘Munich Beerhall Helles’ from the July / August 2002 BYO magazine. The recipe uses a pale Pils malt which are described as having a malty-sweet flavor with gentle notes of honey. We are scratching our heads with this one. CaraMillet offs a malty sweet flavor but also imparts residual sweetness in the beer when more than about a pound it used. Munich offers a sweet bready flavor and is a great choice for a base malt for German style beers. Goldfinch, which we recently started carrying, has a toasty cereal flavor with honey and caramel tones. Given our options we think Munich should be the best choice. The recipe also calls for one variety of noble hops which have low amounts of alpha acids and high amounts of humulene (the flavorful oil content of hops).

We are going to put this in our “experimental” category of recipes, and are eager for any feedback from GFHBers that brew this recipe. For the purposes of this recipe we are still going to recommend a single infusion mash, but stand by our earlier statement that this may be an ideal beer style to experiment with multi-step mashing techniques. We recommend that you review the original BYO article before you proceed for further background; which may be located here: byo.com/cider/item/747-helles-style-profile

Ingredients:

  • 12.5 LBS Munich Millet Malt
  • 0.8 OZ Noble Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Mt. Hood, Tettnanger, Spalt, Perle or Northern Brewer hops
  • 0.9 OZ Noble Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Mt. Hood or Tettnanger hops
  • German Lager Yeast

Additional Instructions

Primary Ferment: 14 days
Secondary Ferment: 1 - 6 months

Beer Profile

Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol by Vol: 4.7%
Color SRM: 9.9
Bitterness IBU: 18.0
Recipe Type: all-grain
Yield: 5.0 Gallons
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Procedure:

Perform a Single Infusion Mash at 163.4 F for 90 to 120 minutes; or Step Mash at 155-165F for 90 to 120 minutes followed by 140-150F for 90 to 120 minutes with SEBAmyl BAL 100 or Termamyl, and SEBAmyl L enzymes. Use the appropriate amount of rice hulls to ensure circulation and filtration.

Allow to achieve hot break and maintain rolling boil.

0.8 OZ Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Mt. Hood, Tettnanger, Spalt, Perle or Northern Brewer Hops @ bittering (about 60 min)
0.3 OZ Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Mt. Hood or Tettnanger Hops @ flavor (about 30 min)
0.6 OZ Hallertauer Mittelfruh, Mt. Hood or Tettnanger Hops @ aroma (about 15 min)

SafLager W34/70 or Mangrove Jack's M84

Follow primary and secondary fermentation, and lagering instructions from original recipe here: byo.com/cider/item/747-helles-style-profile

Source:
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