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Recipe: Altstadt Lager
For the lager lovers, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for the beer that won a gold medal for Munich-Style Helles at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival.
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Altstadt Lager, a traditional Munich-style helles, is bright, clean, quaffable, and brewed with 100 percent German malt and hops. Modest hopping serves to balance out slightly sweet malt, while the cool fermentation and lager yeast round out this golden, refreshing brew.
For much more about brewing a great Munich-style helles, see the video course from Altstadt head brewer Craig Rowan.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.008
IBUs: 20
ABV: 4.8%
Altstadt Lager, a traditional Munich-style helles, is bright, clean, quaffable, and brewed with 100 percent German malt and hops. Modest hopping serves to balance out slightly sweet malt, while the cool fermentation and lager yeast round out this golden, refreshing brew.
For much more about brewing a great Munich-style helles, see the video course from Altstadt head brewer Craig Rowan.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.008
IBUs: 20
ABV: 4.8%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
7.1 lb (3.2 kg) Weyermann Pilsner
13 oz (369 g) Weyermann Carafoam
7 oz (198 g) Weyermann Carahell
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.23 oz (7 g) of Hallertauer Magnum at 60 minutes [12 IBUs]
0.3 oz (9 g) Tettnanger at 45 minutes [4 IBUs]
0.2 oz (6 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh at 45 minutes [2 IBUs]
0.2 oz (6 g) Tettnanger at 10 minutes [1 IBU]
0.2 oz (6 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh at 10 minutes [1 IBU]
YEAST
Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and conduct a multistep mash: Mash in at 122°F (50°C), rest 10 minutes; raise to 144°F (62°C), rest 40 minutes; raise to 154°F (68°C), rest 10 minutes; raise to 170°F (77°C) and mash out.
Recirculate until your runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 90 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 48°F (9°C). Aerate well and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 50°F (10°C). When primary fermentation is complete and the gravity has stabilized, allow the temperature to rise to 55°F (13°C) and hold for a 72-hour diacetyl rest, then crash to 32°F (0°C) and lager for 5 weeks. Package and carbonate to about 2.7 volumes of CO2.
BREWER’S NOTES
Water: Choose calcium chloride over gypsum and target a mash pH of 5.4.
Ingredients: If German malt is hard to get, the American counterparts—though not authentic to the style—can fill in beautifully. For the bittering addition, any high-alpha German hop variety will do.
Mash: If a multistep mash is not an option, mash in at 144°F (62°C) and rest 50 minutes for a lighter body and drier finish, or mash in at 152°F (67°C) and rest 50 minutes for a slightly rounder body and finish.
