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Nearly six years ago at Craft Beer & Brewing, we produced one of our earliest and most-watched video courses: The Secrets to Brewing Great Lagers with Bierstadt Lagerhaus, taught by Bierstadt Lagerhaus brewers and cofounders Ashleigh Carter and Bill Eye.
Back then, their lager-focused brewery was a rare unicorn, with plenty of skeptics that such a business could stay afloat amid the sea of IPA. Since then, Old World–inspired lager has only gained steam among small breweries, and it’s hard to understate Bierstadt’s influence on that ongoing evolution. So, when Carter and Eye said they wanted to return as instructors, and go deeper on their processes and lager-brewing philosophies, we didn’t hesitate. The result is the updated course we released in August 2023, Lager Harder with Bierstadt Lagerhaus, now available to our All Access subscribers.
As part of that course, Carter and Eye share this homebrew-scale recipe for Bierstadt Helles, inspired by the Bavarian tradition and gently refined in Colorado. While this core beer doesn’t get as much fanfare as their Slow Pour Pils, it’s equally beloved among the brewers who seem drawn to Bierstadt during the Great American Beer Festival—or any time of year.
Carter describes their Helles as “the purest expression of malt,” best consumed by the liter.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.049 (12.2°P)
FG: 1.007 (1.8°P)
IBUs: 22
ABV: 5.4%