Munich Helles Recipe

Munich Helles is a delicious but demanding style to brew. Follow these guidelines carefully for the best results.

By
Peter Reed
Peter Reed
Peter Reed is a homebrewer and pediatrician in Portland, Oregon.
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Updated September 27, 2023
A mug of Munich Helles style beer with a foamy head sitting on concrete.

Serious Eats / Peter Reed

Why It Works

  • This style of beer is meant to showcase malty flavor, smooth mouthfeel, and medium body and carbonation.

Oktoberfest is Munich's annual beer-drenched celebration. While it actually takes place mostly in September, I have an annual Oktoberfest tradition of forgetting that it's coming until it's too late. If you're like me, here's a brewing recipe that will give you Oktoberfest beer that will be ready just in time for your private Oktoberfest remembrance party in mid-October.

The most popular style of beer to drink at the party is the Munich Helles. Lucky for me, it's one of my favorite styles to drink.

Joe Postma talks about American IPA here, a great showcase for hops, and I'm going the other direction. Munich Helles is a great showcase for malt. So put on your all-grain traveling hat, 'cause we're going to Munich for the Oktoberfest (afterparty).

A bottle of Weihenstephaner sitting on concrete with leaves.

Serious Eats / Peter Reed

Get to Know Munich Helles

Whenever I'm designing a new recipe, I do a bunch of reading and some tasting. First, I look at the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guideline for a complete description of the style and recommended commercial examples to try. Then I go to my homebrew library and look for chapters on the style. Another good source free information is The Jamil Show podcast on The Brewing Network.

Munich Helles is a light lager, Style 1D on the 2008 BJCP guideline. Everything about this beer is a showcase of Pilsner malt. The aroma is slightly bready and clean. Malt should dominate with a background of noble hops spiciness. The flavor, again, is of Pilsner malt, low noble hops bitterness and flavor, and a lager-clean malty finish. Mouthfeel is smooth with medium body and medium carbonation. It should be relatively dry and well-attenuated. The beer should have a pale golden color and a creamy white head. Overall, you're aiming for a clean, bread-malty, Pilsner-flavored beer with enough noble hops bitterness and flavor to balance the malt.

This beer is often consumed by the liter, so the alcohol level is sessionable (but still high enough to have you singing and dancing the polka on the beer hall table).

OG: 1.045 - 1.051 FG: 1.008 - 1.012 ABV: 4.7 - 5.4% IBU: 16 - 22 SRM: 3 - 5

Some commercial examples include Weihenstephaner Original, Paulaner Premium Lager, Bürgerbräu Wolznacher Hell Naturtrüb, and Spaten Premium Lager.

The main challenge in executing this style well is temperature control. To get that classic clean flavor, you need steady cool fermentation temperatures, starting at about 45°F (7°C). And because this beer is malt-forward, all-grain brewing with high quality German Pilsner malt will produce the best results, but you can do a mixture of extract and grain.

August 2011

Recipe Details

Munich Helles Recipe

Prep 24 hrs
Cook 6 hrs
Fermentation Time 144 hrs
Total 174 hrs
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • Yeast
  • White Labs WLP838 Southern German Lager, or Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager, or Wyeast 2124 Bavarian Lager
  • Fermentables
  • 0.25 pound crushed Melanoidin Malt for steeping
  • 7.25 pound Pilsner liquid malt extract (LME)
  • 0.75 pound Munich or Vienna LME
  • Hops
  • 0.4 ounce Saaz pellets 5.5% AA for 60 minutes
  • 1.0 ounce Saaz pellets 5.5% AA for 30 minutes

Directions

  1. One day before brew day, make a starter with your yeast.

  2. Heat 1 gallon of water to 170°F (76°C). Remove from heat and add Melanoidin Malt to the water, contained in a mesh bag. Cover and let steep for 1 hour, then discard the malt.

  3. Bring 3 gallons water to a boil. Add steeping tea from step 2. Slowly add extracts, stirring. Add enough water to reach a total of 6.5 gallons. Bring to a boil once more on high heat.

  4. When you reach a boil, start a countdown timer for 90 minutes. Add hops quantities at 60 minutes left and 30 minutes left.

  5. At the end of 90 minutes, remove from heat. Cool the wort to below 70°F (21°C) with an ice bath or a wort chiller. Remember to keep things sanitary for every stage after the boil.

  6. Transfer the wort to a sanitized fermentation bucket or carboy. Add an airlock and cool to 45°F (7°C). Also cool the yeast starter to 45°F.

  7. Once the wort reaches 45°F, aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.

  8. Let the wort temperature rise to 50°F (10°C), hold there for 3 days, then raise it to 60°F (15°C) and hold for 3 days for a diacetyl rest. Then lower the temperature by a degree per day until you reach 34°F (1°C). At this point, you can bottle or keg the beer and enjoy in a week (kegged) or three (bottled)!

Notes

The recipe is for extract brewing. For an all-grain alternative, substitute 9.5 pounds Pilsner Malt for the Pilsner liquid malt extract, and 1 pound Munich or Vienna Malt for the Munich or Vienna liquid malt extract. You can add the 0.25 pound Melanoidin Malt to the mash, or steep it as you would for the extract version. Mash at 150°F (65°C). Sparge and lauter the mash into the kettle and bring to a boil, then proceed to step 4.

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