German Helles in 2014

Right, time to start making some use of all this information I've been wasting my evenings collecting. My only accompaniment the quiet sobbing of my negected wife and kids.

I suppose I should make this clear at the start. What I mean by Helles, isn't any old sort of pale Lager that isn't Pils. I should really use the full name of the style I'm discussing today: Helles Lagerbier or Lagerbier Hell. I'm using the shorthand of Helles because I can't be arsed to go and change the style on hundreds of table entries.

It's a very popular style amongst the breweries I'm looking at. No surprise, as most are from Bavaria. Where Helles is the most popular style. There were only more examples in my set of two styles: Pils and Hefeweizen. Those are, unsurprisingly, the three most popular styles in Germany.

Oh, I suppose I should tell you how I split apart Helles Lagerbier and Helles Export. Some of the latter were identified by the brewery as Export. With others it wasn't clear what, if anything, the brewery considered their style. So I used something mentioned in the Deutscher Brauer-Bund website style descriptions: that Export has a minimum gravity of 12 Platoº.

It seems like a good enough dividing line, so that's what I've used. Though it is pretty arbitrary. I'll classify a beer of 11.9º Helles and one of 12º Export. You have to draw the line somewhere, but I'm not claiming my classification is perfect.

I suppose I should show you the beers now:

German Helles in 2014
Brewer	Town	Beer	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	bitterness (EBU)
Paulaner	Munich	Münchner Hell Leicht	1030.4	1005.8	7.7	3.20	80.93%
Göller	Zeil am Main	Hausbrauerbier	1044.9	1011.7	11.2	4.30	73.92%
Püls-bräu	Stadtsteinach	Weismainer Urhell	1046.1	1010.8	11.5	4.60	76.69%
Bürgerbräu Hersbruck	Hersbruck	Lagerbier	1045.3	1009.9	11.3	4.60	78.13%
Ammerndorfer Bier Dorn Bräu	Ammerndorf	Hell	1045.7	1010.3	11.4	4.60	77.46%
Privatbrauerei Kesselring	Marktsteft	Hell	1046.1	1010.0	11.5	4.70	78.31%
Zum Löwenbräu Flair Hotel	Adelsdorf	Vollbier Hell	1047.4	1011.2	11.8	4.70	76.36%
Brauerei Windsheimer	Gutenstetten	Vollbier	1047.8	1011.6	11.9	4.70	75.73%
Forschungsbrauerei	Munich	Münchener Vollbier Hell	1044.0	1007.9	11	4.70	82.05%
Arnsteiner Brauerei	Seinsheim	Ernte Hell	1044.4	1007.6	11.1	4.80	82.90%
Brauerei Gasthof Wiethaler	Lauf an der Pegnitz	Lagerbier Hell				4.80
Brauereigasthof Winkler	Berching	Lagerbier Hell	1045.7	1008.8	11.4	4.80	80.74%
Klosterbrauerei Andechs	Andechs	Vollbier Hell	1046.1	1009.2	11.5	4.80	80.05%
Braugold	Erfurt	Braugold Hell	1046.1	1009.2	11.5	4.80	80.05%
Holsten	Hamburg Altona	Edel	1044.9	1007.3	11.2	4.90	83.73%	23
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Kulmbacher Feinmild	1045.3	1007.7	11.3	4.90	82.99%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Mönchshof Bayerisch Hell	1045.3	1007.7	11.3	4.90	82.99%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	EKU Hell	1045.7	1008.1	11.4	4.90	82.27%
Brauhaus Leikeim	Altenkunstadt	Hell	1045.7	1008.1	11.4	4.90	82.27%
Paulaner	Munich	Münchner Hell	1046.1	1008.5	11.5	4.90	81.57%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Kulmbacher Lager Hell	1046.1	1008.5	11.5	4.90	81.57%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Mönchshof Lager	1046.1	1008.5	11.5	4.90	81.57%
Gasthof Gundel	Kammerstein	Urhell	1046.1	1008.5	11.5	4.90	81.57%
Brauerei Weller	Erlangen	3x11	1044.0	1006.5	11	4.90	85.35%
Kitzmann-Bräu	Erlangen	Helles	1046.5	1008.9	11.6	4.90	80.87%
Kitzmann-Bräu	Erlangen	Kitzzz	1046.5	1008.9	11.6	4.90	80.87%
Brauerei Hermann Sigwart	Weißenburg	Hell	1046.5	1008.9	11.6	4.90	80.87%
Schübel Bräu	Stadtsteinach	a fränkisch	1047.4	1009.7	11.8	4.90	79.52%
Strauß Karl Brauerei	Treuchtlingen	Wettelsheimer Helles	1047.4	1009.7	11.8	4.90	79.52%
Göller	Zeil am Main	Hell	1047.4	1009.0	11.8	5.00	81.00%
Hacker-Pschorr	Munich	Münchner Hell	1046.1	1007.8	11.5	5.00	83.19%
Schwechater	Vienna	Schwechater Bier	1046.1	1007.8	11.5	5.00	83.19%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Original	1046.5	1007.5	11.6	5.10	83.99%	21
Weihenstephan	Freising	Original	1046.5	1007.4	11.6	5.10	84.10%	21
Spaten	Munich	Münchner Hell	1047.0	1007.1	11.7	5.20	84.88%
Löwenbräu	Munich	Original	1047.4	1007.5	11.8	5.20	84.17%
Average			1045.6	1008.7	11.4	4.8	81.01%	21.7
Sources:
Brewery websites.

As you can see, there's not a huge amount of variation. And the average does look like the spec of a typical Helles: 11.5º Plato, 4.8% ABV, 80% apparent attenuation. The biggest variation is in the degree of attenuation, which ranges from 74% to 85%.

Though by limiting the gravity to 11.9 º Plato, I did, of course, dictate that the beers would be generally similar.

Pils next time.