Beer Recipes

German Pilsener This lager is similar to Bitburger Pilsner. Bitburger was created in the town of Bitburg in 1883. It is an advanced homebrew recipe, not so much because the techniques are that hard, but because you need to have a way to regulate your fermentation temperature. Lagers are temperamental beers and you need a constant cold temperature, just like the caves they were originally fermented in. German pilsner, which emerged in the 1840’s, is differentiated from its Czech pilsner counterpart, and forerunner, in a couple of ways.

This is another favorite homebrew recipe of mine – a good helles bock.. This is great beer for fall evenings after a day of hard work. Helles bock Helles means pale, and unlike traditional bock, this bock takes more of its flavor profile from pale malt instead of Vienna or Munich malt. Bock is also a tax category in many countries to distinguish “high alcohol” beers from the more common beer most people drink.

This is an extract version of my best of show Chocolate Porter. It is almost the same as the all-grain version, and much easier. A chocolatey version of a Robust Porter, this also does extremely well in the specialty beer category. Food Pairing Great for dessert and a lovely Fall beer. This also pairs well with beef dishes

This is the all-grain version of my award winning chocolate porter recipe. This is not a difficult recipe for anyone doing all-grain brewing, but it does take some care when choosing the proper chocolate. I used bakers chocolate for this since I didn’t really want the extra sugar. Just be careful that the chocolate doesn’t have wax or other fillers. You can also use cocoa powder that is unsweetened, but again, make sure of your ingredients. This is a robust porter that I added chocolate to. If you love chocolate flavors in your beer, this is a great beer for you.

This is an award winning homebrew recipe. This beer has a big, creamy mouthfeel, lots of spicy notes from the rye and fruity esters from the hefeweizen yeast. If you like roggenbier, you will love chocolate roggen. Extract Version Unfortunately this is very difficult to make as an extract beer. To get the rye character you really need to mash the grains. You could try with flaked rye and steep that along with some chocolate malt. Enjoy this out of the ordinary beer!

Christmas ales are a tradition in many parts of Europe and this Christmas ale is based on an English bitter. It is a fairly easy homebrew recipe, although it does take a little bit of experience. It is a spicy, fruity moderate strength English Style Christmas Ale.

Munich helles is a beer defined by a clean, malty profile. There are hints of floral noble hops, but they are definitely not bitter. This homebrew beer recipe is advanced since it is all-grain, but for those of you looking for an advanced, and very tasty homebrew, this might be a good beer recipe for you. This recipe features a double infusion mash to get a more authentic German flavor profile without the equipment needed for a full decoction mash. It is Reinheitsgebot compliant. Only barley, yeast, water and hops in this one.

In Munich, the beer styles are very controlled by law. This beer is higher in alcohol than a standard helles, but not quite at Oktoberfest alcohol levels. It is a great homebrew beer recipe for those who want a little more kick in their beer. Great for summer, but made for the fall festival season, it is really great homebrew anytime.

This is a clone of less well known Gordon Biersch Dunkles. This extract version is for those of you who don’t have the equipment for an all grain homebrew setup. If you are an all grain brewer, here is the all-grain version of the Dunkles that I cloned. You can use any clean lager yeast, but Gordon Biersch uses Weihenstephaner 34/70 lager yeast. It is available dry from DCL/Fermentis as W-34/70. If you can’t find that, you can use the SafLager S-23.

This is a clone of less well known Gordon Biersch Dunkles. I have made this as close to the original as I could, but most homebrewers aren’t going to do all the required decoction steps; even if they have the equipment. Some things are much easier on a larger scale. In case you do want to follow the complicated mash procedure, I will detail it below. For yeast, Weihenstephaner 34/70 lager yeast is traditionally used, and is available dry from DCL/Fermentis as W-34/70. You can also get any neutral German lager yeast.