Helles

[Juan De Fuca]

Does anyone have feedback on fermenting a munich helles with Wyeast Bavarian Lager-2206?
I'm brewing the BCS recipe, which recommends WLP 838 South German/Wyeast 2308 Munich. I brewed both Helles and Dunkel with the 2308 a little over a year ago, and they were fantastic.
I've also noticed that several people like the WLP 833 for their helles. I believe Wyeast 2206 is roughly the equivalent to WLP 833.
Anyway, I usually choose which lagers to brew by the best yeast available at the time. My LHBS had some fresh packages of 2206, so i grabbed a couple. I've also had a serious hankering for some helles. So couple those two things together, and that's why I'm going this route. I used this strain in a Marzen last year, and I thought it was a great yeast. Very malty, somewhat rich, but still fairly dry. Seemed fairly clean, but that's not as apparent in a marzen as it will be in a helles.
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[brewinhard]

It is a good choice for a helles and will give the finished beer a clean malty profile which is perfect for the style. I would recommend doing a healthy diacetyl rest to help clean things up before packaging. You may get a bit of sulfur during fermentation too, but don't worry this will blow off in time.

[LukeD23]

I have heard some negative stuff about 2206. There is also a Munich Lager strain which might be a good pick. Im sure if you do a healthy starter and Oxygenate a good bit you wont run into any problems. But I had a pro brewer friend say he hated that yeast (2206), and recommended avoiding it for lagers due to dieing out early on a couple batches. He did say the profile of the yeast is really nice when it behaves.

Cheers

[Juan De Fuca]

Thanks for the responses guys. I ended up brewing the BCS Helles Bock yesterday instead. I've never tried it, and happened to have enough munich on hand to make this recipe work. Thought I'd try something new. Listened to Jamil gush about this style, and had to try it. Hit OG 1.070 square on the nose. happily bubbling away at 48 right now.

[Juan De Fuca]

Just racked this to secondary over the weekend. It was in the primary for almost 4 weeks at 50 (started at 47, let rise slowly to 50). Finished at 1.017. Tasted really good. I was trying to follow Jamil's advice on lagers with this one. after listening to the helles bock/maibock episode, it sounds like he likes to let his lagers sit in the primary for a good month or so. I'm now stepping the temp down to lager one degree per day. we'll see how long i can leave it alone.

[Juan De Fuca]

Just an update for anyone interested:
Kegged this in Mid-May. After a couple of weeks of carbing, I began tasting regularly. It took time for the bold flavors to meld - but I think it's there now. Bottled on Sunday, and it's awesome. Amazing how smooth it became just in the last week or so. Prior to this week it seemed very green - almost cloyingly malty/slightly over the top melanoidins, and the 7% alcohol was apparent in the flavor and aroma.
Very happy that I tried it, and would definitely recommend.

[dogismycopilot]

Thanks for the update. I have a 2 gallon starter of 2206, for a doppelbock I'm brewing this weekend. Haven't used this yeast before.
Glad it worked out for you.