🍺 Top-down Brew: Helle Exportbier Calculator

Recipe Variables

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Variations

For steeped grains plus malt extract:

  • Delete the malt lines.
  • Steep malt: malt: CaraMunich I, 5, 34, 74
  • For liquid malt extract, add sugar: Liquid light malt extract, 95, 5, 76
  • For dry malt extract, add sugar: Dry light malt extract, 95, 3.5, 96
  • Set the mash efficiency variable to 55% (eff: 55) for steeping.

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Results

Notes

Strong describes the helles exportbier style as being a cross between a Munich helles and a German pils, yet a little stronger than each of these styles. This style originated in Dortmund, Germany, leading to the name Dortmunder export.

2021 BJCP 5C - helles exportbier characteristic ingredients: "Minerally water with high levels of sulfates, carbonates, and chlorides. Traditional German or Czech hops. Pilsner malt. German lager yeast. Decoction mash traditional."

Vital statistics: IBU: 20 - 30, SRM: 4 - 6, OG: 1.050 - 1.058, FG: 1.008 - 1.015, ABV: 5.0% - 6.0%

The water for this beer has a higher mineral content than Czech lagers. This may accentuate hop bitterness.

Continental pilsner malt is the appropriate base malt. Vienna and/or Munich are commonly used. Significant crystal malt character is not appropriate, but some recipes use small amounts of Carafoam/CaraPils (4 to 9%) or Caramunich II or III (3 to 5%). Strong recommends limiting the specialty malts to 10% of the grain bill. However, the Beer Analytics on this style suggests that specialty malts in these recipes often exceeds 10%. Decoction mashes were traditional. Melanoidin malt might provide a similar character for brewers who use a single-step mash.

The hops should be traditional German or continental European varieties, like Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnang, and Hersbrucker. American hops bred from Hallertau like Mount Hood might be acceptable choices for Americanized versions. Dornbusch recommends Tettnanger for bittering, Hallertau for flavor, and Saaz for aroma. The reviewed recipes have late hop additions for flavor and aroma.

The yeast should be a clean fermenting, German lager yeast.

Sources

Beer-analytics.com Helles exportbier analysis

Dornbusch, H. (2004, July-August). Dortmund export: The miner and steelworker's blond lager. Brew Your Own, 19 - 23.

Strong, G. (2021, July-August). Helles exportbier: Dortmunder export, for those of you who aren't German. Brew Your Own, 26 - 29.