HB Beer

[PhilWA]

Hi all , would anyone have a recipe for Hofbrau ,HB beer I think that's right
Cheers Phil

[mysterio]

The helles (light) or dunkel ?

Pretty much 100% pilsener malt maybe with some Munich malt, Hallertau hops and a German lager yeast

Getting plenty of clean healthy yeast is key, if you can't manage huge starters with liquid yeast try a dried lager yeast like Saflager.

[PhilWA]

I'd say Helles , would you know the ibu's for it and is it a single hop or three intavals say 60 min 40 min and 20 min or what ?
Cheers Phil

[Whorst]

I'm going to do a Helles soon with a single decoction mash. Protein rest first, then pull the first decoction. I'll boil the first decoction for a half hour. This should get the malt flavor I'm after. I think you could do one with a single infusion mash, but I don't think you'll get the malt flavor that style is notorious for.

[Barley Water]

I don't even think you need to worry about doing a protien rest. I did one in January which I am now drinking, it came out really well. I did a single decoction and then just mashed out like normal. The beer is crystal clear and the head is very good. I agree with you that a decoction for German beers is the way to go, it's more work but you end up with a more creamy mouthfeel in my humble opinion.

[PhilWA]

So any chance of a recipe then ?

[Barley Water]

Ok, that's easy. Half a pound of carapils and the rest German pilsner malt such that you end up with an original gravity of 1.050 (maybe slightly lower but I wouldn't go much higher or the beer will not be dry enough). Use the noble hop of your choice to get 20 IBU, I added all mine at 60 minutes because I didn't want either flavor or aroma. I use Wyeast 2206 when I do lagers as I have gotten really good results in the past. I did a single decoction which I boiled for 20 minutes. If you go too much longer, you risk darkening the beer and you want this stuff yellow if possible (although it will be a little darker than Bud/Miller/Coors because there are no adjuncts). You probably want to boil the wort for 1 1/2 hours so you don't start having problems with excess DMS.

This beer is all about technique as you can see, the recipe is very simple. Any process problems etc will show up in the taste since there is absolutely nothing to hide behind (no hop bitterness or flavor and no strong tasting additions from specialty malts). Make sure to pitch a massive amount of yeast and ferment in the 48-50F range. The best examples are really pretty dry yet malty. I would probably recommend doing a diacetyl rest near the end of primary fermentation as this will also help dry things out. Anyway, good luck, this is one of my favorite styles even though it is a little bit of a challenge.

My project this weekend will be a cream ale, a first attempt for me. I am going to do an adjunct mash on a couple pounds of corn grits and I have a nice yeast cake of WLP01 which I intend to ferment with at about 62F. Hopefully I can get a pretty clean fermentation because I want very little in the way of esters or phenols yet I want this stuff to come out bone dry. I am brewing this for a contest at the end of the summer and the object is to brew a lawnmower beer, I want to lager this stuff for awhile to hopefully smooth out any rought edges.

[Whorst]

For a Helles I wouldn't use anything other than 100% German Pilsner Malt. Mash in on the very low end, then after about a half an hour, pull your first decoction. Boil the &^%$# shit out it, add it back to your tun. Mash for 1 hr.

[PhilWA]

Thank's guy's I'll definatly be trying this soon , you would't use say a little Melodonian or Crystal in this recipe , just thought's
Cheers Phil

[Barley Water]

I would not advise putting any crystal malt in a Helles because in my humble opinion, the best examples are really pretty dry. What I am trying to do when I make the stuff is to get that malty flavor while at the same time making sure the beer attenuates well. Since you have relatively little in the way of hops going on, I don't think the beer needs to be sweetened up any. Actually, I think if you did you could easily make the beer cloying which would not be good. Because I do a single decoction on the beer, I don't bother with Meloidin malt either since I am effectively generating my own. I think that doing a decoction helps out with the mouthfeel of the beer but that is a very subjective opinion and I am sure I could easily find many on this forum who would disagree. I would venture to guess that there are some folks who are very successful making this style by purchasing and meloidins rather than making their own. Why not try it both ways and see which you enjoy more?