Mild Ale help.

[Kyle_T]

Hello boys and girls,

As the title suggests, I am in need of some help with a recipe, it will be my second AG brew and it would be nice to have a concrete list to work from, I am trying to recreate a mild from the era c1914 - 18 and I'm trying to keep it to 4 malts and 1 hop for simplicity, mild being my favourite tipple it seemed a logical and relatively simple idea.

The recipe thus far is

Brew Length: 23L
OG: 1.038
FG: 1.010
ABV: 3.6%
IBU: 24
SRM: 20 / EBC 39.4

3kg Marris Otter Pale Malt.
270g Crystal Malt 120.
78g Black Malt.
40g Chocolate Malt.

22g Fuggles 6.24% AA - 90 mins.
12g Fuggles 6.24% AA - 10 mins.

Yeast: Safeale S-04

Any help in getting this right will be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Baz Chaz]

I've only brewed one mild, don't know if you're looking for a light coloured mild, but Brewmate has your recipe coming out @ colour(ebc) as 35.7 which is not very dark

My (23 ltr) grain bill was
MO 4.590kg
Black malt 295g
Crystal 160g
Torrefied 81g

the colour (ebc) was 58.1 which is considerably darker :!:

 

[Dr Mike]

If you want to recreate a historical mild, have you checked out Ron Pattison's blog ?

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/

AIUI dark (ie nearly black) milds are a relatively recent creation (post WWII even) and the colour often comes from dark invert sugars or caramel colourant.

How did your's turn out Baz? With that amount of black malt, I would have thought it might be quite 'Stoutish'

 

[Baz Chaz]

How did your's turn out Baz? With that amount of black malt, I would have thought it might be quite 'Stoutish'

Just looked back at my tasting notes, it was brewed 10/01/2011 didn't last long, one of the old guys from the Bowls Club who was rather partial to a drop of mild took quite a shine to it :!:

Start 1054 Finish 1013
ABV 5.3% a strong dark mild, a real winter ale.
EBU 27
EBC 140
"Strong and dark, but quite sweet"
"Quite fruity aroma and taste, but finishes nice and bitter"
"Best drunk fairly young, early sample very promising"
"Superb base for a casserole"

 

[Dr Mike]

Sounds nice. :thumb:

The Old Contemptible ale I did at the end of last year had only 180g of Chocolate malt in and ended up a bit more Stout-like than I was expecting, particularly as it has aged. Still a cracking pint though. Is black malt smoother tasting than chocolate, despite being darker ?

Back to the OP's recipe, you could probably get away with more crystal malt. Say 15% or even 20%.

 

[Kyle_T]

Thanks for the pointers so far, an alternative based on 15% Crystal Malt could be:

4kg Marris Otter.
720g Crystal Malt 120
87g Chocolate Malt

How does that look?

 

[Dr Mike]

Looks good. Should come out a dark ruby sort of colour. You could try putting 5% wheat malt in to improve head retention and some say it rounds out the flavour nicely as well.

 

[Kyle_T]

Would that be torrified wheat?

3.8kg Marris Otter
720g Crystal Malt 120
230g Torrified Wheat
87g Chocolate Malt

Something like that?

 

[Dr Mike]

Not quite the same thing. Torrified wheat also improves head retention but reportedly has a more grainy flavour than wheat malt. Not out of place in a mild so would be fine if that is what you have in. :thumb:

 

[Kyle_T]

I haven't ordered any of the grains yet, I was advised to throw it in here before hand so I knew what to buy without having to place a second order. I shall swap that for the wheat malt.

 

[Dr Mike]

If you haven't got your grains in yet, you could also swap in mild-ale malt in place of the Maris otter pale. No first hand experience with this but said to give a richer malty flavour.

 

[Kyle_T]

I'll stick with the MO for the minute, just to get a grip on things. Someone has mentioned the mild ale malt before, as it stands:

Brew Length: 23L
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.013
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 19.2
SRM: 24.7 / EBC: 51

Grain Bill:
3.8kg Marris Otter
720g Crystal Malt 120
230g Wheat Malt
87g Chocolate Malt

24g Fuggles 6.24% AA - 90 Mins.
12g Fuggles 6.24% AA - 10 Mins.

Yeast: Safeale S-04

 

[Dr Mike]

Looks good :thumb:

For yeast, you can't go wrong with Safale S-04 in a malt-accented style IMHO.

 

[Kyle_T]

Updated the recipe, if that all sounds grand I shall order the grain tomorrow for it and host a brew day later in the week.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Nice one Kyle, hope our comments helped reather than interfered :thumb:

 

[Kyle_T]

They did indeed. I am much obliged to you all. I shall order it tomorrow morning and tell you of the results.