First bash at a mild, AG

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
duncans

duncans

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
187
Reaction score
77
Location
Dorset
Fancied something session able and haven't tried brewing a mild yet. So many recipes on interweb seems to be about ridiculously bitter pale ales and wanted to try something British.

(Stands attention , plays national anthem clutching flat cap to chest trying to forget queen is German :-P)

4% might be a little too strong even. Could add some water to dilute it down later?

Batch Size: 9 liters (fermentor volume)
ABV (planned) 4.0%

FERMENTABLES:
1200 g - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (77.4%)
100 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 15L (6.5%)
50 g - United Kingdom - Chocolate (3.2%)
100 g - United Kingdom - Brown (6.5%)
100 g - Torrified Wheat (6.5%)
Mashed in at 69C falling to 60 C over 60 min.

HOPS:
6 g - Bramling Cross, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6.7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 11.94
5 g - Bramling Cross, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6.7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 4.94

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 g - Yeast nutrient, Time: 15 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

Efficiency: 73%
OG: 1041

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - S04
 
Thanks. Can't imagine you'll be worse than me :-P

I started from these ....
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53533&highlight=Mild
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=56379&highlight=Mild
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55964&highlight=Mild

Only other guide I had was the idea that mild is low ABV and brown :-)

The milds I saw had roast barley, special b or black malt (for colour?) But I only had brown and choc malt and didn't want to overdo the choc.

Will have a go at another one dropping the brown malt and upping the crystal.

I need to take a bit of time and look into the differences between the darker styles. Only recently got into dark beers since starting to brew. Never drank a porter i think.
 
It looks like a good recipe to me. Whatever it is, it'll be tasty, I reckon. Brown malt takes a bit of conditioning in my experience. But after a few weeks it makes a great flavour contribution.
 
clibit said:
Brown malt takes a bit of conditioning in my experience. But after a few weeks it makes a great flavour contribution.
Click to expand...

Ta. Did a couple of brown beers before, which took a couple of months to condition out to the point where a burnt ashy flavour had diminished enough to be nice. That was brown and choc malts too. Do you think it was the brown malt that took the conditioning?

At best these have until xmas., as long as fermentation doesn't stop!
 
Yes it will have been the brown malt. It's ten weeks til Xmas so hopefully fine by then. You could maybe do another mild without the brown malt as an insurance policy so you can leave this one alone longer?
 
Sounds like a plan.

Just had a look at camras brew your own British beers by Graham wheeler. Typical mild seems to be 4% black, 8% crystal. Sometimes choc malt is used in place of black and sugar and wheat are used too. Only one of about 15 recipes used Marris s otter the rest using mostly "pale malt". Thought maris otter was most peoples first choice.

Pale malt, 84%
Crystal, 8%
Black malt, 4%
Torrified wheat, 4%
 
Maris Otter is a type of pale malt. So the book will say Maris Otter where the brewery specified Maris Otter. I think choc malt is more common in milds than black, but sounds like I could be wrong.

Milds aren't really my thing cos I like hops and bitterness. However, I've had some lovely milds on cask, they have been very dark milds. I like the highly roasted grains. Something like 95% pale and 5% choc seems to suit me. Dark crystal and a little black malt would work well too for my tastes.
 
clibit said:
Maris Otter is a type of pale malt. So the book will say Maris Otter where the brewery specified Maris Otter. I think choc malt is more common in milds than black, but sounds like I could be wrong.

Milds aren't really my thing cos I like hops and bitterness. However, I've had some lovely milds on cask, they have been very dark milds. I like the highly roasted grains. Something like 95% pale and 5% choc seems to suit me. Dark crystal and a little black malt would work well too for my tastes.
Click to expand...

Black is almost as common as choccy for the recieps in BYOBRA but for some of them receipes it's more for colouring purposes than flavour

@duncans I'm the opposite of Clibit (does that make me a Jedi :hmm:) I'm not that keen on hops and bitterness and like malt and sweetness (although I like my dry stouts very dry). I often make milds and BYOBRA is my go to reciepe source. I've tried a few in the book but I tend to remake receiepes that were successful/that I liked. I'm making Hydes Owd Oak (again) next brewday
 
I live very near the old Hydes brewery, it's currently being converted into apartments. :-(

I like bitter things. I love grapefruit juice. But I don't need big hops in dark beers made with highly roasted malts. The roastiness takes the place of the hoppiness. But I find a lot of crystal too sickly, and I like crystal to be balanced by a strong bitterness.

That makes sense about black malt being used to adjust colour. GW will be working to an EBC colour and using black malt for correction. It's more common in porters than milds.

The two mild recipes in Greg Hughes' book look well balanced, I really like the look of the one on page 164. Good malt bill with dark crystal and choc, and ideal hops, Northdown and Bramling X.
 
clibit said:
I live very near the old Hydes brewery, it's currently being converted into apartments. :-(

I like bitter things. I love grapefruit juice. But I don't need big hops in dark beers made with highly roasted malts. The roastiness takes the place of the hoppiness. But I find a lot of crystal too sickly, and I like crystal to be balanced by a strong bitterness.

That makes sense about black malt being used to adjust colour. GW will be working to an EBC colour and using black malt for correction. It's more common in porters than milds.

The two mild recipes in Greg Hughes' book look well balanced, I really like the look of the one on page 164. Good malt bill with dark crystal and choc, and ideal hops, Northdown and Bramling X.
Click to expand...

I hate grapefruit, even the pink one that is supposed to be sweeter. I've got a real sweet tooth. It's a wonder I've got any left, the amount of chocolate and cakes I've eaten in my life.

The mild in GH book is just the sort I like, a low ABV% of 3% or just over. The BJCP recommend a "characterful" yeast for milds. I'm going to order my first liquid yeast in a couple of weeks time (kudos to Matt as UBrew. He says he'll order it in for me but not charge me postage costs) as I think my brew corner will be down to 20C by then. It's going to be Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale yeast. I've read it throws up a huge krausen so I'll need a blow off tube but I'll also be able to top crop - I'm planning on making a Krausen collection jar.
 
Yes, dark crystal plus choc will be toasty rather than sweet. Northdown and Bram X both complement roast malts well. You could use either hop as a single hop. I might make a small batch, but lift the IBUs to 30-35.
 
clibit said:
Yes, dark crystal plus choc will be toasty rather than sweet. Northdown and Bram X both complement roast malts well. You could use either hop as a single hop. I might make a small batch, but lift the IBUs to 30-35.
Click to expand...

Got a load of Bramling X in the freezer. The Owd Oak uses fuggles to single hop with but I don't have any (got progress though), so I might use the Bramling instead
 
I've never actually tried a commercial mild. In London mild's are a rare as hen's teeth, even at the beer festivals (the uiquitous 'spoons festival) I've been to, they never carry milds. The only place I know that has a mild on permanently is one Sam Smiths pub along the river near work in Kingson upon Thames
 
MyQul said:
I've never actually tried a commercial mild. In London mild's are a rare as hen's teeth, even at the beer festivals (the uiquitous 'spoons festival) I've been to, they never carry milds. The only place I know that has a mild on permanently is one Sam Smiths pub along the river near work in Kingson upon Thames
Click to expand...

Bram X will be nicer than fuggles IMO. If I do it I may do an 80C hop steep to add hop flavour. Possibly.
 

Similar threads

dreaddan
Help me fix my homebrew.
2
Replies
33
Views
3K
dreaddan
dreaddan
Benfleet Brewery
Benfleet Brewery Brewdays
Replies
19
Views
2K
Benfleet Brewery
Benfleet Brewery
T
Hitchcraft Brewdays
Replies
4
Views
585
thehitch
T
BottlesCansCraft
NEIPA - more bitter than expected, what did I do wrong?
2
Replies
26
Views
4K
TNP
T
U
Orange Honey Wheat - Recipe critique
Replies
8
Views
659
Jim Brewster
Jim Brewster

Latest posts

Back
Top