Light

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Light in the glass

Helles , also Helles Lager , Münchner Helles , Bayrisch Hell or Hellbier is a bottom-fermented , light yellow and slightly hopped beer type .

Characteristic

The color of the light can vary from 5 to 12 EBC depending on the manufacturer . The color results from low Darrtemperaturen the used brewing malts . Only malts made from brewing barley are used , mostly Pilsner malt , but small additions of other malts can also be used. It differs from the similar Pilsner beer in that it has weaker hops , which means that it has only a low bitterness of 16 to 22 IBU . The original wort is mostly 11.3 to 12.8 ° P with an alcohol content of 4.7 to 5.4 percent by volume . As a result, it cannot be clearly distinguished from the export beer type . Many breweries in the south of the German-speaking region also brew a slightly more heavily brewed light beer in addition to a light beer, which is often called “Export”, “Spezial”, “Märzen” or “Festbier”. The term “Helles” thus indicates a comparatively lower alcohol content. It is filtered before bottling, which is why the Helle is a so-called "bare beer". If it is not filtered and is bottled when it is cloudy, it is also called a cellar or Zwickel beer .

Light with an alcohol content of around 5% has a calorific value of around 167 - 175 kJ / 100 g (40 - 42 kcal / 100 g), the recommended drinking temperature is 7 to 9 ° C.

history

Bottom-fermented barley beer became the dominant type of beer in Bavaria in the 19th century. However, the color of these beers was very different. The magazine Wochenlicher Anzeiger für beer drinkers published the result of an investigation in July 1829, according to which 28 beers of the 51 Munich breweries at that time were classified as wine yellow, 22 beers as light brown and one beer as dark brown. In the 1850s and 1860s, however, more and more dark beers were produced in Munich, so that soon dark brown beer was considered a typical Munich brewing method. In order to be able to assert itself against the Pilsen breweries, which were on the rise in northern Germany, the Munich brewery Spatenbräu brewed a light beer for the northern German market in 1894. When Spatenbräu introduced this beer on June 20, 1895 on the Munich beer market, it caused a great stir. Although there were always light beers to buy in Munich in previous years, this day is considered the light's birthday. Even if the Helle was initially very controversial, the other Munich breweries followed suit within a few years and brewed Helles. However, until the 1940s, dark beer remained the most popular beer in Munich . The reason for this could have been that the price of dark items was two pfennigs below that of light items due to a state price setting. After the Second World War, the Helle gradually established itself as the most popular type of beer in Munich and in large parts of the German-speaking area.

Web links

Commons : Helles  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files
Wiktionary: Helles  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jörg Krüger: Münchner Hell - recipes and brewing tips . In: brau! Magazin. Winter 2014/15.
  2. Christian Schäder: Munich brewing industry. 1871-1945. The economic history development of a branch of industry (= scientific articles from Tectum-Verlag. 3). Tectum, Marburg 1999, ISBN 3-8288-8009-6 , p. 97, (also: Regensburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1998).
  3. Christian Schäder: Munich brewing industry. 1871-1945. The economic history development of a branch of industry (= scientific articles from Tectum-Verlag. 3). Tectum, Marburg 1999, ISBN 3-8288-8009-6 , p. 93, (also: Regensburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1998).
  4. Christian Schäder: Munich brewing industry. 1871-1945. The economic history development of a branch of industry (= scientific articles from Tectum-Verlag. 3). Tectum, Marburg 1999, ISBN 3-8288-8009-6 , p. 96, (also: Regensburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1998).