Pale lager

Munich Helles

BJCP 4A

Malt-forward where a pils is hop-forward, but only just. The whole style lives in a narrow band: enough bitterness to finish, never enough to be the point, and a grainy-sweet Pilsner malt character that has to be spotless.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.044 - 1.048

Final gravity

1.006 - 1.012

Bitterness

16 IBU - 22 IBU

Colour

3 SRM - 5 SRM

Alcohol

4.7% - 5.4%

Colour also 6-10 EBC

What goes wrong

Cutting the lagering short. Helles has nowhere to hide sulphur or acetaldehyde, and both need cold time.

Commercial examples

Augustiner Lagerbier HellHacker-Pschorr Münchner GoldLöwenbräu OriginalPaulaner Münchner LagerSpaten Münchner HellWeihenstephaner Original Helles

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Checked against the published guidelines.

Brew it

A recipe on this site brewed to this style

Every figure below is computed from the ingredients and checked against the ranges above before the page is built.

Advanced

Munich Helles

OG 1.048 · 4.7% · 20 IBU

The rest of the pale lager family

American Light Lager

2.8-4.2% · 8-12 IBU

American Lager

4.2-5.3% · 8-18 IBU

Cream Ale

4.2-5.6% · 8-20 IBU

International Pale Lager

4.6-6% · 18-25 IBU

Czech Pale Lager

3-4.1% · 20-35 IBU

Czech Premium Pale Lager

4.2-5.8% · 30-45 IBU

Festbier

5.8-6.3% · 18-25 IBU

German Leichtbier

2.4-3.6% · 15-28 IBU

Kolsch

4.4-5.2% · 18-30 IBU

German Helles Exportbier

4.8-6% · 20-30 IBU

German Pils

4.4-5.2% · 22-40 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol