If you have talked to me about beer, or follow me on Instagram it’s no secret that Helles Lager beer is my favorite style to drink, and brew. Unfortunately not a popular style where I live so I rely on my Helles beer to scratch the itch. Otherwise I am paying a hefty price on shipping for some Humble Sea Helles.

I’ve brewed a Helles-style lager five times now, and this latest version marks the fifth tweak to the recipe. You might be thinking, How do you even make a Helles five different ways? The truth is, you don’t—at least not drastically. But you can play around with it enough to keep things interesting.

My Heavenly Helles was good enough to take home three first-place wins in comps back in 2024. I brewed it three separate times, each one slightly different—swapping yeasts, adjusting malt amounts, dialing in water chemistry. Then I started experimenting with different hop combos and fermentation approaches to really see what worked.

One version kept the same water and malt bill but was tweaked a bit to work with a decoction mash. I used a harvested pitch of WLP830 from a German Export and hopped it with Tettnang and Spalt. I was really happy with how it turned out. It even scored a 42 and landed first place at the Chico Homebrew Competition!

But that’s not the recipe we’re diving into here. This article is all about my newest and most dialed-in version yet: Harvest Helles. It’s a double-decocted Helles brewed with WLP860, Spalt hops, and Heritage Steffi malt from Montana Craft Malt. I’m really proud of this one.

I took some notes on a video I watched from Craft Beer & Brewing with Bierstadt Lager, and they talked about hop additions with their Helles and so I tested it out. I won’t go too in-depth about it, but you can watch it here. Safe to say this will be my new way to brew my Helles lagers.

Recipe
75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 5.5 gal / 20.82L
Boil Time: 90 min
Mash Water: 4.52 gal / 17.11L
Sparge Water: 3.54 gal / 13.40L
Total Water: 8.06 gal / 30.51L
Boil Volume: 7.19 gal / 27.22L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.040
Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU (Tinseth): 19
BU/GU: 0.40
Color: 3.7 SRM

Mash
Mash — 145 °F / 62.8 °C — 60 min
Decoction — 160 °F / 71.1 °C — 10 min
Decoction Boil — 212 °F / 100.0 °C — 15 min
Mash Rest — 160 °F / 71.1 °C — 15 min
Second Decoction Boil — 212 °F / 100.0 °C — 15 min
Mash Out — 170 °F / 76.7 °C — 10 min

Malt
10 lb (100%) — MCM Steffi Bavarian Pilsner 

Hops
1.6 oz / 45.37g (15 IBU) — Spalt 2.6% — 70 min
0.5 oz / 14.17g (4 IBU) — Spalt 2.6% — 40 min

Yeast
2 pkg — White Labs WLPD860 Munich Helles Yeast (Dry Yeast)

Fermentation
Fermentation — 50 °F / 10.0 °C — 7 days
Diacetyl Rest — 58 °F / 14.4 °C — 4 days
Cold Crash — 32 °F / 0.0 °C — 4 days

Water Profile
Ca²⁺ 15
Mg²⁺ 6
Na⁺ 8
Cl^– 35
SO₄^2- 29
HCO₃^– 0

Brewfather Link

By Jordan V, Billy’s Tavern Homebrewing

Jordan is a California native. When he is not brewing he can be found drinking beer with friends, duck hunting, and getting lost in a good book or video game. When he is not out on an adventure with his wife, he can be found at home with his two lovable dogs. Stay up to date by following him on Instagram.

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