Munich Helles 40L Brewing Journal

Started 15th March 2019

Summer is on its way so it is time to get a Lager ready for those long warm evenings. I have become interested in German brewing, partly due to its unique styles but also because my German friend is obviously a big fan of German beers, so I have some encouragement and critical review of finished products. The Helles style of beer should be light in colour with a clean malt forward taste. The Hop flavours take a secondary place in this style and bitterness is also fairly low with IBU's of around 18. The biggest issue with fermenting Lagers is the low temperatures required but the weather is still on the cool side so brewing at this time of year should not be a problem. In terms of Lagering, this will only be performed for around 1 week at close to Zero C. The short Lagering period is partly because I am too impatient to wait but also as my fermenter is only a stock pot with a lid, so long periods in this vessel may risk introducing infections.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Recipe	Measure
Brew Length	40L
Pilsner Malt (EBC 3.5)	9000g
Munich Malt (EBC 25)	700g
Melanoiden Malt (EBC 50)	100g
Tettnang Hops (Start of Boil)	60g
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh Hops (Start of Boil)	50g
Yeast (Using Starter)	WLP838
Mash Liquor	24.5 Litres
Strike Heat	72C
Mash Temperature	66C
Mash Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sparge Temperature	77C
Mash Efficiency (estimated)	75%
Boil Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Fermentation Temperature	11.5C
Expected OG	1053
Actual OG	1050
Expected FG	1013
Actual FG	1009

Water Treatment:

Recipe	Measure
CaCo3 Adjustments
Calcium Carbonate CAC03	171 ppm
Calcium Carbonate Required	30 ppm
Adjustment Necessary	141 ppm
CRS per Litre Required	7.5 ml/L
Total CRS to add to Mash (25L)	18 ml
Total CRS to add to Sparge water (8+23L)	25 ml
*Chlorine Treatment*
Campden Tablets (half in mash, half in sparge)	1 tablet
Calcium Adjustment (using brupaks calculation)
Calcium in Water	122 ppm
Calcium Required	180 ppm
Adjustment	58 ppm
DLS (using GW Calc it suggests adding none)	1 Tsp

Water Schedule:

This brew will be batch sparged, so the water will be scheduled as follows:

Mash = 24.5L using 18 ml of CRS +1/2 Campden Tab
Top Up = 9.8L using 7 ml of CRS
Final Batch Sparge = 24.5L using 18 ml of CRS and 1/2 campden tab

Mashing:

I am using my SS Brewtech infussion mash tun, which will need to be preheated.

12L of water at 80C added to mast tun.
HLT topped back up and set for 78C
Water treated with 18ml CRS and 1/2 Campden tab.
24.5L of water added to the mash tun, which settled quickly to 73C, so stirred until 72c
Doughed in + 1 tsp of gypsum
Temperature dropped to 66C. which is perfect.
Measured temperature with Thermapen and mash was showing as 65.5C but mash tun probe is still showing 66.5C in middle of mash.
mash will now be left alone for 1.5 hours.
10 minutes left on the clock and mash tun thermometer is showing as 66c
Started the re-circ but the temperature started to drop quickly as it is quite cold outside.

Sparging

25L of sparge water was heated to 85C and treated.
Recirc started and run for 10 minutes.
Added top up of 9.8l early as temperature was dropping due to cold weather for 15 Min.
Pumped wort into boiler stopping once wort was no longer visible on sight glass
Added 24.5L of water at 80c to Tun and stared re-circ for 15 Min.
Pumped wort to boiler, stopping just as turbid last runninbgs appeared in the pipes.
Measured pre boil Brix as 10.8, 1043 SG

Boiling

Boiler switched on as soon as first few litres of wort were drained from mash Tun.
All hops added at start of boil.
Last 15 minutes. added Immersion coil inserted to ensure sterilised.
Some boiling wort was drawn into pump/pipes to sterilise.
Recirc started as soon as flame out.
Post boil gravity = 12.5 brix, 1050.
Pumped into fermenter once below 30C.
Fermenter chiller is on to reduce to around 11C.

Fermentation:

Fermentation temperature schedule:

Ferment at 12c for around 5 days or until 50% attenuated.
Raise the temperature slowly by 1c per day until 18c is reached.
Hold 18c for 3 days for diacetyl rest.
Chill to as close to 0C as possible for 5 days

Pictures below are of the WLP838 yeast starter and the post boil wort.

Process:

A 1.8L yeast starter of Yeast WLP838 was started 2 days before and refrigerated the evening prior to brew day.
Yeast was removed from the fridge around 1 hour prior to pitching and the main volume of liquid poured off.
When the wort was under 18C, some was transferred into the starter flask to acclimatize.
The chiller connected to my fermentation vessel is on and set to 11.5C.
15/03/19 18:00 Yeast pitched, temperature 14C
15/03/19 20:30 Temperature is now 11.5C
16/03/19 18:15 Wort is only just showing signs of fermentation. There is no krausen to speak of apart from some frothy bubbles but there is activity. The starter had a strong sulpher smell and this is now evident from the wort as well, so something is definitely about to happen. temperature remains at 11.5C.
17/03/19 9:00 There is now a healthy Krausen formed on the wort, which indicates that Fermentation is well under way. The Lag tine is around 24-30 hours which is longer than you would expect with ale yeast and temperatures but this is normal when using Lager yeasts at low temperatures. The temperature is stable at 11.5C. The wort will now be left for a few days to look after itself and the SG will be tested mid week, to check progress.

19/03/19 Brix = 10.3 which equates to 1036.
22/03/19 Brix = 8.0 which equates to 1021. As the wort is now close to 80% attenuated, the temperature will now be raised 1 degree per day.
25/03/19 Temperature now at 15C Brix = 7, SG 1015
27/03/19 Brix = 6, SG 1009. Attenuation is higher than expected but 1013 did seem very high for a lager. Temperature will now be set to Zero for lagering.
05/04/19 - The beer has been lagering for just over a week and is almost completely bright. I want to get this kegged in order to ensure it it protected, so the final minimal haze will be left to clear in the keg.

Notes For Next Brew

During the Mash I started the re-Circulation after the initial 1 hour 30 minutes mash time was complete. This was a mistake as the cold weather reduced the Temperature rapidly. For future brews the batch sparge top up should be added prior to the re-circulation.

Tasting Notes:

After a fairly short Lagering period of 1 week this beer was immediately very drinkable. It has cleared well and has a very soft easy drinking style. The hop character is at a nice level and is probably a little higher than planned due to an error with the alpha acid measurements but this has resulted in a better beer. There is a good malt forward taste and no "off flavours" that can detected. Head retention is excellent and lasts right to the bottom of the glass.

This has been very popular beer with everyone who has tried at, so this is a "must do again" brew.