Does anyone have a tried and true helles recipe they could share? Thinking about brewing one for the first time. Any process or water adjustment notes would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I don’t. But, when looking for recipes I start with the AHA recipes page. They have National Homebrew Competition Gold Medal recipes for every style.
You can get to the same recipes via the Brew Guru app.
- formerly alestateyall.
+1. Also, when brewing certain styles I like to consider the source. In this case Germany. So, I look for a German’s recommendation. Kai is a great resource http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Edel_Hell
While Kai recommends 83% German Pilsner malt, 15% Weyermann Vienna, 2% Sauermalz, I’ve seen Bryan Rabe recommend 92% pils and 8% carahell as a replication of Weihenstephan https://youtu.be/kLDzAaqkaG4 …and Josh Weikert recommends Pils, Vienna, and Victory: Make Your Best Helles | Craft Beer & Brewing
I’m not a lager brewer but I know a damn good one and you can’t go wrong with the following:
92-98% Barke Pilsner
5-8% CaraHell or 2-4% CaraMunich I or II
OR
92-98% 50/50 Blend of Pilsner/Pale Ale
5-8% CaraHell or 2-4% CaraMunich I or II
Clear beer into the kettle and fermenter with a clean, cold fermentation will produce wonderful results. Just don’t boil too hard and keep the cold side free of oxygen.
Obviously we advocate a certain set of procedures for the hot side but if you are just looking for a base recipe to play with this should be a good start.
That looks almost like the color of an amber Kellerbier or a Marzen. Yikes!
The picture in his article may be incorrect, but I agree that it appears too dark for style. I also disagree that Victory be used in the grist. The Pils w/ Carahell is the direction I prefer. That is a very pale and crisp recipe.
A flavorful Pils like Barke would be ideal, but like I mentioned above, a mix of Pils/Pale or even Pils/Vienna would give some nuance without excessive color.
If I were a lager brewer, i’d be going with Bryan’s 92/8 or 95/5 Barke Pils/CaraHell Helles.
I’ve brewed Bryan’s recipe with great results (2 golds and a BoS)
I’ve been chasing this my whole brewing life. Here’s where I currently stand:
12°P, 80/20 Weyermann Pils/Bohemian Dark
Water, nothing excessive, lactic acid as needed
20 IBU in beer, so ~27 in wort, Mittelfrüh/Tettnang blend, divided into two equal charges, FWH (for 75% of BU) and 10 minutes (25% BU)
Short, low-intensity boil
2124/830
The DO as low as you can go – do your best hot side, be absolutely impeccable cold side.
(This beer is a moving target for me, my White Whale. It will change again.)
The only helles I made was a Munich helles
7#pils
2#Munich
1#carapils
Saaz at 60
Tettnang at 30 and 10
Beer smith showed 17.9 ibu, 5.2 abv.
I mashed at 148 and used 2 packs of saflager w34/70. It wasn’t award winning or anything but was a tasty malty lager. Very drinkable.
Josh will have to answer to his Beer Judge buddies on that one.
From an intended outcomes perspective, 2% Victory Malt doesn’t seem wildly different than the suggestion of 50% Pale Ale Malt to me. But, I haven’t brewed either.
- formerly alestateyall.
Mostly it just looks like process based color pickup. Probably boiling too hard. It definitely looks much darker than the recipe would suggest.
Personally I think I would like a bit of Munich in a Helles. Is that completely out of place?
The Bohemian Dark in mine is essentially a light Munich. I don’t know if it’s wrong, but I like it. Not much color, but adds a real depth of malt flavor.
I mean, in the BJCPStyles if you search under helles there are really only three beers with helles in the title, Munich helles, helles bock, and German helles exportbeer.
I don’t think it is out of place at all unless you use too much Munich. Like Robert says, it adds a real depth of malt flavor.
Mine was still crisp like a lager, but had a nice malt character to complement the low ibus. It was probably a bit darker than the 5srm beer smith said it was supposed to be, but appearance is only 3 points. Still crystal clear and very bright.
You guys are cray cray.
Got ya. I was thinking very little. Like 5% Munich 6l and 5% carahell
Looks like that would give a similar color. My recipe looked just like that at one time. I just drifted toward the all base malt blend with no caramel to get more flavor impact (more of a lighter malt as opposed to less of a darker one) and to really dry out the beer. That said:
De gustibus non est disputandum. But with beer judges…
The Munich and Dark Munich addditions have been around for a long time in the homebrew circles as a way to mimic decoction mashing. I don’t personally use it any more but I certainly don’t think it ruins the beer.
At the risk of being ridiculed I will post my recipe. The one thing I will say about my recipe is that you can try it at Yellowhammer tasting room (and soon in cans elsewhere) so you can determine for yourself if you like it. I personally love it. 
It is about as low an SRM as it can be and still be included in style guidelines (3.04 SRM)
Helles
1.048
IBU 17.7
98% floor malted bohemian pils malt (Weyerman)
2% cara foam
Magnum @ 60 to 17.7 IBUs
Adjust mash pH to 5.2-5.4