Speed of Leicht – Pressure Fermented German Leichtbier

August 17, 2022 Mike

At a competition I was helping judge I had the good fortune of being assigned to a German Lager flight, and a couple of the entries were German Leichtbiers. I had never had one before, and I was quite impressed with this light lager. It’s basically a low carb German Lager, but with the flavor that you would expect. This recipe is my first go at the style, and would like to bump up the bitterness some, as well as get more hope flavor and aroma from it, but nevertheless, this version absolutely evaporated from the keg. After a glass of it I found myself really thirsty, and hey, here’s a keg of Leichtbier!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	14.5 IBUs	3.7592120	1.030	1.007	3.0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	6.25 lbs	92.59
Victory Malt	8 oz	7.41

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Styrian Golding (Savinja Golding)	1.1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5.3
Saaz	1 oz	2 min	Boil	Pellet	3.8
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	0.5 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	1.89 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	1.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	0.57 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.37 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Salt	0.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	5.44 g	60 min		Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	1.65 g	60 min		Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	1.07 g	60 min		Water Agent
Salt	0.57 g	60 min		Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Octoberfest/Marzen Lager (WLP820)	White Labs	69%	52°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	148°F	75 min

Notes

Based off this article
https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-german-leichtbier/
The article says this beer often shows no krausen when fermetning.
Ferment 3 - 5 days then Free Rise to 70. Then Cold Crash.
I'm going to try a pressure fermentation on this one. Shooting for 15psi at 65 degrees

OG is 1.038

Hit it with oxygen for 90 second. Yeast starter was a new white labs pack and a 2 liter starter, only drawing off some for another batch.