Lagers have quickly become my favorite type of beer to brew, and buy, for that matter. If I had to add up the receipts for all my commercial beer purchases this year -- at least for the last six months -- lagers would certainly be the majority.
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| true color. other photos are filtered. |
I've brewed so many, I think, because I realized I love them; the (perceived) challenge; and lack of commercial availability, at least locally.
Like any beer you make, though, it takes awhile to figure them out. There are a million different grain, hop, and yeast cominations, and each will lead to varying results.
With this beer, I think I've found one that I really like. It's another SMASH, with 100% Avangard pils and an ounce of Tettnanger hops at 60 minutes.
If you look at the beer advocate definition of kellerbier, it would seem to fit: unfiltered cloudy lager, which this definitely is. But this helles will clear up over time, and was actually quite translucent going into the keg. I guess kellerbier remains cloudy, which this won't, so maybe that's the difference. The style guidelines don't seem to distinguish it from other styles aside from cloudiness. In fact, the BJCP definition for kellerbier is extremely ambiguous, noting that "the style is somewhat hard to pin down" and that it is often just young beer. Which this is. So maybe this is a kellerbier helles.
The past helles I've brewed needed some lagering, but this is tasting great already. It has a tasty grainy, corny flavor that I really like. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't think there were any hops in it, aside from apparent yet subtle bitterness.
This beer is nearly white; it has just a twinge of yellow. Perhaps out of style? I really like the taste of just pilsner malt. Maybe I could add some color through decoction. Yet my brew days are long enough as they are, so decoction is probably not in my future, at least any time soon.
Did I hit upon a good malt/hop combo, or have I settled on a recipe that suits my preferences? I've brewed two prior helles. The first had avangard pils, a touch of munich, and two ounces of hersbrucker hops. As I recall, the sample from the fermenter as it was kegged tasted pretty good. It's hard to say for sure how it was, though, since the beer was ruined by a paperclip in the keg.
Version 2 used 100% Rahr pils and Hallertau hops, one ounce at 45 minutes. This one sort of had a metallic flavor at times. No paperclip this time, but I've read that noble hops can taste metallic.
I currently have two additional versions fermenting. Both smash beers. One is a Rahr/Hallertau combo and the other is a Weyermann/Hallertau combo. I'll see how they compare.
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/helles-version-3
