Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier

« View all styles

Location:European
Category:Lager
BJCP Comparable Category:6B - Rauchbier

Beer Style Description

This is the description of how the Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier style of beer should taste, feel and look. However, there may be perfectly fine beers in this style that fall outside of these ranges and descriptions. This information is just to show the most commonly accepted ranges for the Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier beer style.

  • Color: Light pale to gold
  • Body: Medium
  • Malt Flavors & Aromas: Malt character is prominent with malt aromas suggesting lightly toasted sweet malted barley. Smoke beechwood character ranges from very low to medium. Smoky aroma should be not harshly phenolic. Sulfur may be present at low levels. There should be no caramel character. Smoke flavor may create a perception of mild sweetness.
  • Hop Flavors & Aromas: Hop aroma and flavor is very low to low, derived from noble-type hops.
  • IBUs/Bitterness: Low to medium
  • Fermentation Characteristics: Fruity esters and diacetyl should not be present. Very low levels of sulfur-related compounds are acceptable.
  • Common Ingredients: German Rauchmalz (beechwood-smoked Vienna-type malt) typically makes up 20-100% of the grain bill, with the remainder being German malts typically used in a Märzen. Some breweries adjust the color slightly with a bit of roasted malt. German lager yeast. German or Czech hops.

Brewing Properties of Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier

These are the functional brewing properties of Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier beers, as descided by the Brewers Association. These guidelines reflect, as accurately as possible, the historical significance, authenticity or a common profile in the current commercial beer market.

ABV
The alcohol by volume is shows the amount of alcohol this style of beer should have.
4.8 - 5.6%
Bitterness
The International Bittering Units (IBU) scale is used to approximately quantify the actual (not perceived) bitterness of beer.
18 - 25 IBUs
SRM
SRM is a scale for measuring the color intensity of a beer. Low SRM grains impart a pale straw color while higher values mean it will add a darker color to the wort. Learn more »
–
4 - 5.5 SRM
(8 - 10 EBC)
Original Gravity
Original Gravity (OG) is a measure of the sugar content in the wort before alcoholic fermentation has started to produce the beer.
1.044 - 1.050
Final Gravity
The Final Gravity (FG) is how much sugar is left over in the beer when fermentation is complete.
1.008 - 1.012

If you see an error in our data, please let us know!

Based on Brewers Association 2020 Beer Style Guidelines with changes. Used with permission of Brewer's Association.