Milds

[rodwha]

I was reading through the BJCP guidelines for beers that sounded interesting. This beer, in a darker (brownish) form sounds like a good thing to try out. I've been attempting to find out what exactly makes a mild but what I've found is fairly vague.

Would anyone mind sharing a recipe? What mash temp is common?

I'm thinking of shooting for a slightly higher ABV of about 4.5-4.7% though.

I read something that claimed the mild has all but died out there in England. It doesn't seem the case from what I've seen on this forum, though they were talking about commercial brews.

 

[glynb]

I recently read that mild meant originally "mild hopped". I love mild beers. I posted a recipe for a Boddingtons mild clone that turned out really nice in the recipe section here

 

[HisDudeness]

I believe MyQul is a bit of a Mild connoisseur I'm sure he can chip in some recipes

 

[clibit]

Originally mild beers were beers that were not aged. Milds have lost popularity, they have an old man image, but they have not died out. Quite a few are sold in disguise, they are not named as milds.

They vary quite a lot in grain make up. Nowadays milds are low strength beers usually below 4%. And they are low IBUs. Typically pale malt plus crystal or chocolate malt. 5-20% crystal. 2-5% chocolate. Fuggles and or Goldings. Around 20 IBUs. They are basically brown ales, but weaker. Copper coloured, or black.

Im not a fan of high amounts of crystal, or Fuggles. I like a mild that is around 5% chocolate malt, 95% pale, with other English hops like Goldings, Challenger, Brewers Gold, Bramling Cross, Northern Brewer, Northdown, First Gold, Admiral. An American hop like Centennial in low quantities would be a nice twist.

There two BYO articles that are are pretty comprehensive and uncontentious, Google byo brewing mild ales.

 

[Kyle_T]

Have a look here for information of making Mild:

https://theessexbrewer.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/making-an-authentic-mild/

 

[rodwha]

Why do you not care for Fuggles?

Would that be a pale or a darker chocolate?

I did find the BYO article from 2005.

 

[peebee]

You can deduce from some of the above replies that "mild" just fits the bill of the times it was made in. Yeap, "not aged" is a good start, but ales aren't aged like they were ("Porters", aged for over a year and pretty acid as a result). So modern "milds" tend to have adopted the "low hopped, low alcohol" stance. They are a challenge to get any meaningful flavour into them, hence why many are dark (rely on coloured malt for flavour). Pretty good when they work, but pretty bad otherwise. Hence the decline. They were popular a few decades ago for working men going to the pub after work and not wanting to get totally wasted before going home (but don't confuse "weak" with "weaker", some of these "milds" would have SGs of 1.050-1.060 or more), hence the "old man" image.

So I have taken up the challenge (can't cope well with "normal" beer after a good bang on the head!) and I do like crystal! So I'm playing with about 20% very dark crystal, about 2% black malt, about 15-18IBUs of Fuggles, and in an attempt to get more flavour; about 15% smoked malt (there is no historical reason for this). The smoked malt hasn't been a great success ("where d'it go"), I'll try 50-60% next time. Aiming for SG of 1.030, so you can see "flavour" really is a challenge! Mashing at 69degreesC in an attempt to create residual sweetness. Ferments in about 1.5 days! Use a low attenuative yeast ("Windsor"). Very little carbonation (1.2-1.3 volumes) as would have been normal, and I even have a "hand-pump" to serve it. 80L made so far, so still "work-in-progress".

If you try higher carbonation you effectively end up with "Brown Ale"!

 

[Kyle_T]

20% Very dark crystal and 15% smoked malt? Damn...

 

[clibit]

I like pale and dark crystals. I like mid range crystals in some beers, when not over used.

Fuggles, I just dont dig the flavour. I've had some nice beers
containing Fuggles, but on their own I'm not keen.

 

[cornyandy]

Mid Ales as described by a CAMRA friend. (He makes the same comment about Porter) (Can of Worms!!! Just in case)

 

[Kyle_T]

I like pale and dark crystals. I like mid range crystals in some beers, when not over used.



Fuggles, I just dont dig the flavour. I've had some nice beers

containing Fuggles, but on their own I'm not keen.

Agree. Mild doesn't have to be made from dark or roasted malts at all, many of the early examples were simply made of pale/crystal and brewers caramel.

Hopped by either Goldings, Challenger or Fuggles, several only had a bittering of addition.

Another common ingredient was brewers invert sugar between no. 1 and no. 3, this can be replicated to some extent with syrup and molasses.

Dark Mild is only a relatively recent term in the history of mild to separate it from the generic term of Mild. Somewhere it states the use of roasted and dark specialty malts is the cause of this...which is ********, just something else the American style snobs have altered to suit themselves.

 

[HebridesRob]

Originally mild beers were beers that were not aged. Milds have lost popularity, they have an old man image, but they have not died out. Quite a few are sold in disguise, they are not named as milds.

They vary quite a lot in grain make up. Nowadays milds are low strength beers usually below 4%. And they are low IBUs. Typically pale malt plus crystal or chocolate malt. 5-20% crystal. 2-5% chocolate. Fuggles and or Goldings. Around 20 IBUs. They are basically brown ales, but weaker. Copper coloured, or black.

Im not a fan of high amounts of crystal, or Fuggles. I like a mild that is around 5% chocolate malt, 95% pale, with other English hops like Goldings, Challenger, Brewers Gold, Bramling Cross, Northern Brewer, Northdown, First Gold, Admiral. An American hop like Centennial in low quantities would be a nice twist.

There two BYO articles that are are pretty comprehensive and uncontentious, Google byo brewing mild ales.

Clibit about nailed it here (as usual). I have some waiting to be casked but I can't report on success or otherwise yet, the colour's nice though. I used mild malt, it's roasted a bit more and adds more flavour. I don't think any roast taste is desirable but I used a smidgeon of light chocolate malt (4%). 6% of 100L Crystal and (possibly a mistake) 10% Torrified Wheat. I used a combination of Northern Brewer & Fuggles hops to 20 IBUs. I think it's important to get some body in there so a high mash temperature (69c?) is desirable, as is a yeast that won't attenuate too much and will add a few esters. I used S04, of which I think Clibit would disapprove .

 

[clibit]

I wouldn't thank you for a beer made with lots of medium crystal, Fuggles and SO4. I would think "what a waste of AG brewing time." ;-)

 

[Twostage]

I wouldn't thank you for a beer made with lots of medium crystal, Fuggles and SO4. I would think "what a waste of AG brewing time." ;-)

I think you've just created my next recipe :p

 

[TheRedDarren]

I have to say, I quite like a mild. In these days of high hopping rates and black lagers, a mild is a really refreshing style that 'works'.
I've just brewed another, mainly MO with a touch of crystal and a touch of chocolate. I bottled it a week ago and tested one last night and it was lovely, really smooth, slight chocolate taste and low ibu. Not much fizz yet but another week at room temperature with sort that out.
The other thing with a mild is they're ready to drink very quick, in as little as 4 weeks from brew day they are good to go. Plus if you don't like bottling, the style really suits a keg.

 

[Kyle_T]

4 weeks? They can be and sometime at their best after 2!

 

[peebee]

I have to say, I quite like a mild. In these days of high hopping rates and black lagers, a mild is a really refreshing style that 'works'.
I've just brewed another, mainly MO with a touch of crystal and a touch of chocolate. I bottled it a week ago and tested one last night and it was lovely, really smooth, slight chocolate taste and low ibu. Not much fizz yet but another week at room temperature with sort that out.
The other thing with a mild is they're ready to drink very quick, in as little as 4 weeks from brew day they are good to go. Plus if you don't like bottling, the style really suits a keg.

"4 weeks", that's enough to put an end to my brewing capers! But then I do cask not bottle (bottled "mild"?), so 1 week is quite long enough.

As previously mentioned "mild" has a reputation of being an "old mans'" drink. I have to accept that that is possibly why I drink it! But us old men get really offended if you use the "F" word ("fizz", eek!). Please moderate the language!

 

[rodabod]

Maybe this could help:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...-mgxwIVh7gUCh2VHQb_#v=onepage&q= mild&f=false

 

[rodwha]

Looking through the British base grains offered (Fawcett) I see Maris Otter (Crisp has their version too, which is what I go with when making ESBs), Pearl, Halycon, and Optic. Which would be more to style when making a darker mild?

What I cobbled together for a ~21L brew is to use ~1.1kg of carafoam and ~0.6kg of pale chocolate. That coupled with ~16kg of base malt, and using 28g of EKG @ 70 mins, and 14g @ 21 and 7 mins.