Munich Helles
by the numbers
OG: 1.045–1.051 (11.2–12.6 °P)
FG: 1.008–1.012 (2.1–3.1 °P)
SRM: 3–5
IBU: 16–22
ABV: 4.7–5.4%
Today’s craft beer world is full of creativity and innovation. There are many new, creative ideas coming to market and it is easy to imagine that every brewery is trying something new. However, a brewer friend of mine recently pointed out how much breweries are copying each other these days rather than coming up with new ideas of their own. He attributed it to the boom in craft beer breweries, with many just focusing on trends in the marketplace. One brewery brews a black IPA and it becomes popular. Very quickly, half of the craft breweries jump on that bandwagon to get a slice of that market.
I am all for creativity rather than mimicry, but this is not a new phenomenon. Take, for example, in the 1800s when pale beers became the rage. All of a sudden, everyone needed to have a pale beer in his or her portfolio. It is reported that Gabriel Sedlmayr (or possibly his sons) at the Spaten Brewery created the Munich helles style during this time. He was working on making a beer paler than what his competitors were making. Of course, it being Bavaria, the beer was not as hoppy and sharp as Pilsner, but rather more malt focused.
Munich helles is a pale gold German lager with a bready and grainy malt character that starts in the aroma and lasts all the way through the finish. The beer often has a slightly sweet malt character, but it is not a sweet beer. A good example of the style should be well attenuated and the malt sweetness is more an effect of the low to medium-low hop bitterness. This is a cleanly fermented lager with a soft, medium body. There should be no fruity esters, no diacetyl and a long, malty finish. Hop flavor and aroma are minimal and when present, often has a spicy or floral quality.
A common mistake when brewing a beer described as “malt focused” like Munich helles is to assume that maltiness and sweetness are the same thing. A beer with a lot of sweetness from malt is not necessarily “malty,” it is sweet. It may or may not also have a lot of malt character. It is quite possible to have a dry beer that has lots of malt flavor and aroma or malt character. When most beer judges use the term “malty,” they are referring to the rich grainy, bready, toasty flavors and aromas that come from the malt, not the residual malt sweetness.
A great recipe is relatively simple, but many brewers try to make it much more complex in an effort to increase malt character. The best way to achieve that great German lager malt character is with high-quality, full-flavored base malts and excellent fermentation practices. I would never attempt to make a Munich helles without using continental Pilsner malt. You can use other pale base malts if you have no other option, but the light, grainy taste of high quality Pilsner malt is right on target for this style. In addition, I like to add some Vienna or Munich malt, which adds to the malt character. Anywhere from 5 to 20% of the grist can be Vienna or Munich. If you go with Munich, use a lighter color Munich rather than darker and use it as a lower percentage of the grist. With those basic malts you should be able to make an excellent example of the style. You can add other malts as well, such as head and body forming dextrin malts. Avoid crystal malt — you want some grainy sweetness, but that comes from the continental Pilsner malt and a lower level of bittering.
Extract brewers can use a Pilsner malt extract with decent results. A better option might be using a Munich extract blend. Most Munich malt extract is a blend of Munich and Pilsner (or other pale malts) in different percentages. The Munich malt in the blend adds a nice bready malt character to the beer.
I like to avoid any work that I do not feel improves the beer, so I prefer a single infusion mash. Perhaps, historically, a brewer would use a decoction mash when brewing most German-style beers, but I find that high quality continental malts, a single infusion mash, and excellent fermentation practices will produce beer every bit as good as the best commercial examples. It is far more important to invest time and effort in fermentation, sanitation, and post-fermentation handling than decoction. If you have ensured that all of those other aspects of your process are flawless, then decoction might be something of interest. For a single infusion mash, target a mash temperature range of 150-154 °F (66-68 °C).
Hop flavor and aroma are never more than moderate background notes in Munich helles. Hop bitterness is also restrained, just enough to balance the malt sweetness. I really like using German-grown Hallertau hops for flavor and aroma, though sometimes they are hard to source. Other German-grown hops, such as Tettnang, Perle or Tradition, work well also. These hops, when grown outside of Germany, can still work well but you should check with your supplier first if you are not sure how closely they match the German-grown hops. If you cannot get any of those hops, you do have some flexibility. The trick is to select hops with that same flowery or spicy noble hop character. The balance of bittering versus malt sweetness should always be close to even. The bitterness to starting gravity ratio (IBU divided by the decimal portion of the specific gravity) ranges from 0.3 to 0.5, but you will want to target the middle, 0.4. Rather than use late hop additions, I use low alpha German-grown hops for bittering. When you use a low alpha acid hop, you end up using a larger amount to make the same bittering level. Because of the increased volume of hop material, it can result in a subtle hop flavor that carries over from the bittering addition. Since there is very little specialty malt or fermentation esters, these small amounts of hop flavor are more noticeable than in a bolder beer style.
You can ferment Munich helles with almost any lager yeast, though my favorites are White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) and Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager). You will find that each lager yeast will emphasize different aspects of the beer. Some will have more malt character and some more hop character, but all can produce an excellent helles with proper fermentation. If you use dry yeast, Fermentis Saflager S-23 is a decent choice.
As when brewing any lager, it is important to control the fermentation temperature and to pitch plenty of clean, healthy yeast. You want the beer to have a clean, low ester fermentation profile, but you also want to make certain that the beer attenuates fully. This is the most common mistake new brewers make when attempting lagers. You need to make sure you pitch enough yeast, provide enough oxygen and nutrients, and use temperature control to not only start the fermentation on the cool side, but then raise it toward the end of fermentation. This rise in temperature not only helps reduce some of the unwanted compounds produced during fermentation, but it ensures that the yeast are active enough to attenuate the beer more fully.
When making lagers, I like to chill the wort down to 44 °F (7 °C), oxygenate, and then pitch my yeast. I let the beer slowly warm over the first 36 hours to 50 °F (10 °C) and then I hold this temperature for the remainder of fermentation. If fermentation seems sluggish at all after the first 24 hours, I am not afraid to raise the temperature a couple degrees more. The idea is to reduce the diacetyl precursor alpha-acetolactate, which the yeast create during the early phase of fermentation. Once the growth phase of fermentation is complete, it is important that fermentation be as vigorous as possible to blow off aromatic sulfurs and other unpleasant compounds. Vigorous yeast activity at the end of fermentation also improves reduction of compounds such as diacetyl. Starting fermentation colder only works well if you are pitching enough clean, healthy yeast at the start. If not, you will need to start warmer (perhaps 55 °F/13 °C) to encourage more yeast growth. Even if you start fermentation warmer, you can still raise the temperature toward the latter part of fermentation.
Since diacetyl reduction is slower at colder temperatures, a cold fermented lager may require a diacetyl rest. To perform a diacetyl rest, simply raise the temperature into the 65-68 °F (18-20 °C) range for a two-day period near the end of the fermentation. While you can do a diacetyl rest after the fermentation reaches terminal gravity, a good time for a diacetyl rest is when fermentation is 2 to 5 specific gravity points (0.5–1 °P) prior to reaching terminal gravity. Brewers ask how they should know when fermentation has reached that stage. My advice is to wait until you see fermentation activity significantly slowing. It will not hurt the beer and it should help the yeast reach complete attenuation as well.
It seems that every beer improves with some period of cold conditioning and this style is no exception. Traditional lager conditioning utilizes a slow temperature reduction before fermentation reaches terminal gravity. The purpose of the slow cooling rate is to avoid sending the yeast into dormancy. After a few days, the beer reaches a temperature close to 40 °F (4 °C) and the brewer transfers the beer into lagering tanks. If you want to use this technique, you will need precise temperature control so that fermentation slowly continues and the yeast remains active.
I prefer to wait until fermentation is complete, including any steps such as a diacetyl rest, before lowering the beer temperature. The yeast is far more active and able to reduce fermentation byproducts including diacetyl and acetaldehyde at higher temperatures. Once I am certain the yeast have completed every job needed, I use a period of cold storage near freezing. This allows very fine particulates to settle out and the beer flavors to mature. In any case, great lagers take time, so do not rush things.
Munich Helles
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.049 FG = 1.011
IBU = 18 SRM = 4 ABV = 5.0%
Ingredients
8.8 lbs. (4 kg) continental Pilsner malt (2 °L)
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) Vienna malt (4 °L)
3.6 AAU Hallertau hops (60 min.)
(0.9 oz./26 g at 4% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
White Labs WLP838 (Southern
German Lager) or Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager)
Priming sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
I currently use Best Malz Pilsen and Vienna, but feel free to substitute any high quality malt of the same type and color from a different supplier. My hops are in pellet form and come from Hop Union, Willamette Valley, or Hopsteiner depending on the variety.
Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts (1.4 L) of water to 1 pound (0.45 kg) of grain (a liquor-to-grist ratio of about 3:1 by weight) and a temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Hold the mash at
150 °F (66 °C) until enzymatic conversion is complete, which may take 60 to 90 minutes at this temperature. Infuse the mash with near-boiling water while stirring or with a recirculating mash system raise the temperature to mash out at 168 °F (76 °C). Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting wort until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 6.5 gallons (25 L) and the gravity is 1.038.
The total wort boil time is 90 minutes, which helps reduce the S-Methyl Methionine (SMM) present in the lightly kilned Pilsner malt and results in less Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) in the finished beer.
Add the Hallertau hops with 60 minutes remaining in the boil. Add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. After the boil is complete, chill the wort in a sanitized fermenter to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is about 340 billion cells, which is 3 packages of liquid yeast or one package of liquid yeast in a 1.5-gallon (6-L) starter.
Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in about two weeks or less, but do not rush it. Cold-fermented lagers take longer to ferment than ales or lagers fermented at warmer temperatures. If desired, perform a diacetyl rest during the last couple
of days of active fermentation. Rack your beer to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle. If bottling, use the BYO priming chart available at https://byo.com/resources/carbonation. Target a carbonation level of 2 to 2.5 volumes. A month or more of cold conditioning at near-freezing temperatures will improve the beer. Serve at 43-46 °F (6-8 °C).
Munich Helles
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.049 FG = 1.011
IBU = 18 SRM = 4 ABV = 5.0%
Ingredients
6.9 lbs. (3.15 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract (LME) or Munich LME
3.6 AAU Hallertau hops (60 min.)
(0.9 oz./26 g at 4% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager)
Priming sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
You have a choice to make as an extract brewer. Using Munich extract will get you more of that bready malt flavor, but it will probably turn out a little bit too dark for a Munich helles. You can go with just Pilsner extract, but often that does not have quite enough malt character for the style. Regardless, it is better to choose
the freshest extract. If you cannot get fresh liquid malt extract, use an appropriate amount of dried extract instead. Using fresh extract is very important to this style. My hops are in pellet form and come from Hop Union, Willamette Valley, or Hopsteiner depending on the variety. Add enough water to the malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of 5.9 gallons (22.3 L) and a gravity of 1.041. Stir thoroughly to help dissolve the extract and bring to a boil.
Once the wort is boiling, add the hops. The total wort boil time is 60 minutes after adding the hops. Add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. After the boil is complete, chill the wort in a sanitized fermenter to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is about 340 billion cells, which is 3 packages of liquid yeast or one package of liquid yeast in a 1.5-gallon (6-L) starter.
Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in about two weeks or less, but do not rush it. Cold-fermented lagers take longer to ferment than ales or lagers fermented at warmer temperatures. If desired, perform a diacetyl rest during the last couple of days of active fermentation. Rack your beer to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle. Target a carbonation level of 2 to 2.5 volumes. A month or more of cold conditioning at near-freezing temperatures will improve the beer. Serve at 43-46 °F (6-8 °C).
Munich Helles Commercial Examples
Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Hell
Hacker-Pschorr Brewery
Munich, Germany
www.hacker-pschorr.de
Heaven’s Helles
New Old Lompoc Brewery
Portland, Oregon
www.lompocbrewing.com
Helles
Square One Brewery
St. Louis, Missouri
www.squareonebrewery.com
Helles
Zum Stiefel
Saarbrücken, Germany
www.stiefelgastronomie.de
Helles Hopfenstark
L’Assomption, Quebec
www.hopfenstark.com
Helles
Bayerische Löwenbrauerei
Passau, Germany
www.loewenbrauerei.de
Helles
Burgdorfer Gasthausbrauerei
Burgdorf, Switzerland
www.burgdorferbier.ch
Helles Bier
Naturbier
Madrid, Spain
www.naturbier.com
Helles Lager
Hangar 24 Brewery
Redlands, California
www.hangar24brewery.com
Löwenbräu Original
Löwenbräu
Munich, Germany
www.loewenbraeu.de
Victory Lager
Victory Brewing Company
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
www.victorybeer.com
