Helles Recipe Comments

[JasonY]

Well I am planning on having a crack at a Munich Helles this sunday and with a little (not much) research I have come up with the recipe below. I don't have any munich malt and am pretty keen to give the Melaniodin malt a go so I have thrown some of that in.

Any comments on the recipe, I am not sure how much Melaniodin to use for the brew and have heard it is fairly potent so have started with 150g. Will be using Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager which is bubbling away right now. Hops are the german ones that I have in stock, also have some Northern Brewer.

Also any thoughts on step mashing, personally I can't be stuffed but if there is some tangible benefit in say a protien rest or something then I can give that a crack.

Feel free to pick it to shreds! :blink:

Helles Bells



A ProMash Recipe Report



BJCP Style and Style Guidelines

-------------------------------



02-D  European Pale Lager, Munich Helles



Min OG:  1.045   Max OG:  1.055

Min IBU:    18   Max IBU:    25

Min Clr:     6   Max Clr:    10  Color in EBC



Recipe Specifics

----------------



Batch Size (L):          23.00    Wort Size (L):     23.00

Total Grain (kg):         4.75

Anticipated OG:          1.049    Plato:             12.18

Anticipated EBC:           8.3

Anticipated IBU:          18.7

Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %

Wort Boil Time:             75    Minutes





Grain/Extract/Sugar



   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential EBC

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 94.7     4.50 kg.  Hoepfner Pilsner malt         Germany        317.42      4

  3.2     0.15 kg.  Hoepfner Melanoidin           Germany        309.07     40

  2.1     0.10 kg.  Hoepfner Wheat Malt Light     Germany        334.13      5



Potential represented as IOB- HWE ( L / kg ).





Hops



   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 22.00 g.     Hallertauer Tradition             Pellet   5.00  13.5  60 min.

 10.00 g.     Hallertau Hersbrucker             Pellet   1.90   1.4  20 min.

 10.00 g.     Hallertauer Tradition             Pellet   5.00   3.7  20 min.





Yeast

-----



WYeast 2308 Munich Lager





Mash Schedule

-------------



Mash Type: Single Step



Grain kg:     4.75

Water Qts:   15.06 - Before Additional Infusions

Water L:     14.25 - Before Additional Infusions



L Water Per kg Grain: 3.00 - Before Additional Infusions



Saccharification Rest Temp :  66  Time:  90

Mash-out Rest Temp :           0  Time:   0

Sparge Temp :                  0  Time:   0





Total Mash Volume L: 17.42 - Dough-In Infusion Only



All temperature measurements are degrees Celsius.

 

[neonmeate]

only comment i have is yum. i think that looks very nice.

 

[Asher]

Looks good Jason...

Be carefull with the melanoidin malt. Its darker than the promash default colour. I didn't get a colour rating on my bag from roy (TWOC) did you?

A little Vienna would be nice but a small addition of melaniodin is a good way to fake that decoction malty flavour in lagers......

I see you have two hallertau additions @ 20mins. I'm asuming one of them is ment (i would anyway) to ba an aroma addition.

The IBU's are on the low end, but give it a go at that rate. Ths style guide says that the bitterness should just offset the maltiness with this style.... It Will be a good contrast to your 60IBU american Ale.... and you can always increase the bitterness next time...

Asher for now

 

[wessmith]

Hi Jason,

Melanoidin colours as follows,

Promash default: 69 EBC
Hoepfner: 40 EBC
Weyermann: 70 EBC

I suggest you download and import the Maltcraft malt update file from Promash and you will have all this info on your system - www.promash.com/data/maltcraft.mim

Melanoidin at 70 EBC is a much darker malt than the traditional German melanoidin which is usually around 40 to 50 EBC.

Your recipe sounds (tastes!) very nice. Good luck.

Wes

 

[JasonY]

Yep I have the Hoepfner Melanoidin malt which Roy had marked as 40 EBC, also have the maltcraft import too (makes it all too easy!).

Looks like the 150g of the melanoidin shouldn't be over the top then

Asher I am undecided on the late additions and may even remove them and make it all @ 60mins as the style guidelines say only a slight hop flavour. I am trying hard to not to go nuts on hops in every recipe for a change :wacko:

Thanks for the comments.

Flavor: Slightly sweet, malty profile. Grain and malt flavors

predominate, with a low to medium-low hop bitterness that partially

offsets the malty palate. Very slight hop flavor acceptable. Finish and

aftertaste remain malty. Clean, no fruity esters, no diacetyl.

 

[Goat]

what sort of temp are you mashing at Jason? Do you do a mash out - or is it straight into the kettle?

 

[JasonY]

Was planning on a single infusion @ 66degC for 90mins, apparently the Hoepfner takes a while to convert. Haven't bothered mashing out in a while. If you don't mash out I guess the enzymes can break down the sugars some more which could lead to a drier beer, mine are usually not that dry so if this is the only effect I should be ok.

Certainly open to other ppls knowledge on this as this is only my 3rd lager

 

[Goat]

well you are off to a flyer..... Mr second place in the comp !

Did you get the temp sensors built ? I'd love to see some photos....

 

[bradmcm]

I've brewed some pretty good helles before and this recipe is fine.

I would cut out the two twenty minute additions.
Just put in enough Hallertau to get to 15-20IBU,
and add a further 10g or so of Hallertau at flame out.

My last recipe I used 5% Weyermann Melanoidin with great
results.
Not sure why you would want to use any wheat malt in it though.

 

[JasonY]

Brad, the wheat was only there for the old head retention argument ... can't say I will be too worried if I leave it out.

Thanks for the tip on the hops I have been thinking that later additions would not really be needed for this one (hard habit to break!)

 

[bradmcm]

Yes, you can add wheat for head retention becuase wheat is high in protein.
Unfortunately you are more liable to get protein hazes because of it.
Unless of course, you faff around with protein rests and/or filtration.

My helles come out not just clear, but bright. Single-infusion, low protein malts (Galaxy). No problems with head retention.

 

[tdh]

Even though he does say so himself, Brad's Helles is a killer. Mighty fine malt flavour.
He used Wyeast 2178 Lager Blend, how did the ferment go, Brad?

 

[action man]

there is no need for a protein rest during mashing as the malts we get here are already well modified.

in the past malting was more hit and miss so a beta glucan and protein rest was needed during the mashing.

 

[bradmcm]

Ferment went fine. No dramas at all.

Action man, you are certainly correct.
However, many of the local malts are quite high in protein levels and depending on peoples set-ups they could get hazes, either permanent
or chill hazes.
The commercial breweries (where 99.5% of the malt goes) don't
care as it's filtered to within an inch of it's life.

I don't do protein rests BUT if people find their beers have haze issues (and they care about it) a short protein rest may solve it.

 

[wessmith]

Hi Brad, what are these malts with high protein levels? We are not seeing anything much above 10.6 or 10.7 these days. Last batch of Export pilsner came in at 10 even. Out traditional Ale malt has been down below 10 in fact.

BTW, the major breweries are pretty fussy about protein levels as not all the protein CAN be filtered out. If it were, there wouldnt be much of anything left in the "beer"

Wes

 

[bradmcm]

I stand corrected Wes.
Looking about I see that most of the domestic barley malt is < 10.8%.
My bad. I should check CoA's more often!

I'm a little coloured in that last season (and probably this season) the receival standard for Malt 1 is between 9 and 12% and last year I saw a lot of grain near the upper end of that scale.
In bad years the protein level can be higher.
Wheat malt can be really high, you list your Joe White Malt Craft Wheat Malt at 14.2%.

And as for major breweries leaving "much of anything" in their "beer" well... <big grin>...

Cheers Wes!!

-Brad

 

[wessmith]

Actually that particular wheat malt (Malt Craft #1101) was only around for the first half of 2003 and came off the badly drought affected crop of 2002. It was produced at the Adelaide plant and the only source of wheat was the AWB pool in Adelaide and the protein levels were through the roof. The wheat was also very hard and caused a few problems with certain mills. But I like the stuff and still have a bag here at home. Its great for a Wit and has a nice malty flavour.

We replaced that product with a new wheat malt (Malt Craft #1113) produced at Ballarat in late 2003 and the protein levels have been around the 10.5 to 11.0 mark. Much easier to brew with.

Wes.

 

[JasonY]

Thanks for the comments fellas. I brewed it today and it looks to have gone very well. Ended up leaving out the wheat and only using 32g (20IBU) of Hallertau. I even came close to getting a stuck sparge which was strange, first time using this malt but I can't see what difference it would make, I did build up quite a water level while sparging so maybee this compacted the bed too much.

Anyway the brew was very bright in the kettle so with luck it will stay that way.

 

[bradmcm]

All the best Jason. I'm sure it will go OK.

 

[JasonY]

Well I am happy with this for a first attempt :lol: despite now being on tap for consumption and destined to partially provide for my xmas case quotient it is a nice drop. Quite cloudy but if I had bothered to lager (only spent two weeks in a keg carbonating after ferment) I think it would have cleared fine.

Pours with a very creamy head so just plain pils & melanoidin doing a fine job there. Nice malt aroma not much in the way of hop aroma. Nice malty flavour with plenty of body seems a nice bitterness to balance. The finish is not sweet nor overly dry.

Surprised at the malty flavour which I am sure the Munich lager yeast helped along

Anyway I think this will become a semi-regular brew at my place and the sandgropers can critique it over xmas and expose any bias I have

Thanks for the advise all.