Sixpoint: Alpenflo Helles Lager

11 weeks since brew day. Only been in the kegs about 3 weeks. (We don't bottle/can.)

 

is all of the beer served from kegs, or is any of it served directly from bright tanks?

 

Not true -- the Maßkrug are very insulating and keep the beer at a good temperature without worry.

 

A limited amount is served directly from the brite tank at our events. Like right from the zwickel into your Krug. Also, the gravity kegs we got from Germany are filled from the brite the day of our beer garden events. We are thinking of starting to fill some from the horizontals and sell as unfiltered versions. I have been letting some local beer judges sample the beer this way and, especially for the Kellerbier, discussing how much closer it tastes to the originals to my palate. Didnt know if the lack of carbonation and/or the more rustic flavors (and aromas...pretty big whiffs of sulfur at that stage) would spook them. So far it hasn't. We may do our Kellerbier and our Kolumbianer (and call the latter a Wiesbier) that way and see how it goes. Helles is harder but does taste fresher out of the brite and/or the gravity kegs than it does out of the regular kegs.

 

Good to know. I rarely drink a liter at a time. The large percentage of that was at Oktoberfest, and I was definitely "pounding" the beer then. Even if I had been paying attention to the temperature of the beer, my memory is a bit fuzzy from that day...

 

Very interesting. For me, Helles is one style that I don't enjoy as much as a Kellerbier version. Because of its delicate nature, I find some of fermentation residuals (particularly the sulfur you mentioned) can really distract you from the great experience you can get with the full optimized, matured, and filtered version. IMHO

 

Just used this now, and discovered the store 0.2 miles from me (and on the way back from my walk to gym) has it.

I'm running low on beer and this seems like a good opportunity to restock the fridge...

Thanks for this!

 

Agree. I think some of what I find lacking in our Helles may be due to using some slightly dated spot hops...but I know it loses character when being transferred around so much, too. At any rate, now tied in to some better hop contracts so that should be better next time. Such a hard style to get just right in my experience.

 

Randy, do any of your local stores have the Helles? I did a search for stores within 10 miles of me and I came up empty.

Cheers!

 

Another example of a beer where I have picked up struck match (SO2) is fresh bottles of Wolters Pilsner.

Cheers!

 

Interesting observation, especially when you think about imported Helles. Do you suppose your beer is being agitated and expelling character through O2 release?

 

Yeah, the "more experienced" Maß lifters aren't pounding.

Another thing to remember that good beer won't suffer from a little warming like most dreck will.

 

I think a lot of those bigger places have a ton of low-DO methods, processes, and equipment in place that secondarily mitigate scrubbing of the volitiles. Some other things they do I try to emulate, but it's tricky. Also, this was my first go ever at the style, so I probably just need to tweak and improve as I go. One other change I will be making is leaving out the small bit of CaraHell. Apparently Weihenstephan uses 5% CaraHell, but their low-DO methods also result in a lighter malt character, so they need to enhance a bit. I'll kill that ingredient next time and that should improve things as well. Always trying to get better!

 

You may be disappointed when you find out its not a $100 case of beer ;-)

feel free to reach out to us if you need any help on this

 

Neither your website nor the App are showing any in SE PA yet. They both show it at places in NJ and DE, but nothing around here.

 

Hopefully my homeboy Randy will provide me with some 'tips'.

Thank you for the offer of help.

Cheers!

 

Don't you think he'll just spend $100 and get it over with?

 

I don't see any Alpenflo near me until you cross into NJ. It is on draft in Easton and handful of spots in Philly, so something is happening. I know my local distributor will stock it as soon as they can... there are probably pallets of Alpenflo sitting in a warehouse waiting for the PLBC's rubber stamp.

 

For what this is worth, just going over Jackson's sub-chapter on Helles in his Beer Companion, in which he writes about Augustiner Hell:

"...with a superb maltiness of aroma and palate and a delicately dry finish."

Interesting that he also notes (in 1997, remember) that only aroma hops are used in Augustiner's pale beers.

 

Well since I don't check prices, I won't be disappointed!

When you said $100/case of beer, my gut reaction was that you were exaggerating to make a point...then I remembered I spend ~$100 for a case of Trillium...ouch.

I'm never going to live this down am I?