Let's Make Helles

Hydrometer sample of 2.5 gallon starter helles. Poured through paper coffee filter.

After serving the Manchild at a party recently, I realized most of my family are pretty timid beer drinkers. Light beer folks, that think Kalik is a strong beer at 6%. In an effort to slowly convert them, I decided to make them a Helles for the next keg party. It's also getting intolerably hot, and a nice cold Helles sounds ultimately refreshing.

I'm going to do a few new things with this batch. First, yeast starter. I'm going to make a 2.5 gallon starter Helles for drinking on brew day and propagating enough cells. Second, decoction. Nothing crazy, just going to runoff the liquid portion of the mash and boil the thick part for 30 minutes. Then I will combine the two for the alpha amalayse rest at 160 f.

Hopefully the beer will be something both light lager drinkers and brewing geeks can enjoy. Here's the recipe.

13 lbs Best Maltz Pilsen
1 oz liberty 90 mins
.75 oz tetnanger 90 mins

WLP 830 bock lager

Simple right? The beauty of Helles.