First of all, I'm new here and would like to thank in advance all of you for putting together such a great place to talk about beer. Before I get into the detail of my question, I'll give a little background on myself and my process.
I am a recent homebrewer, and in fact have yet to taste my first batch, a partial mash Pale Ale that I'm going to transfer to a 5 gallon 2ndary this weekend and dry hop. The fermentation was vigorous, starting sunday night (when I made the brew) and pretty much settling by wednesday afternoon.
Aside from all of the obvious reasons why one would homebrew, one of my main incentives to brew was my love for English Bitters and Real Ales the latter which I have, through reading, come to associate with English Milds. As many of you know, it is hard to find truly quaffable examples of these styles stateside. What I want to do, in the interest of $$ and technique, is mash up a nice all-grain Mild recipe to put right on the yeast cake from the recently transferred Pale. My limitations are that I want to adapt the method that (I believe) DeathBrewer talked about and do the whole process on the stove top. I have read quite abit (John Palmer, Papazain as well as plenty of random internet advice) and feel pretty confident about temp maintenance for the mash etc.
So, in sum, do you guys have any suggestions for a nice English Mild that can be brewed from around 12# of grain and achieve an ABV >= 3.0-3.5. And for this style what do you think of doing only a light bittering hop and a more robust dry hop, leaving out the hopping at the 40 min mark of the boil. Thanks for reading through this, and for any advice you have.
I am a recent homebrewer, and in fact have yet to taste my first batch, a partial mash Pale Ale that I'm going to transfer to a 5 gallon 2ndary this weekend and dry hop. The fermentation was vigorous, starting sunday night (when I made the brew) and pretty much settling by wednesday afternoon.
IMO don't rack to 2ndary that soon, let it sit for at least 2 weeks, ideally 3-4 then transfer for the dry hop addition. Give the yeast time to finish their work and it will also help with clarity.
So, in sum, do you guys have any suggestions for a nice English Mild that can be brewed from around 12# of grain and achieve an ABV >= 3.0-3.5.
The one in my pulldown is always well-received, though you'll not go wrong with Orfy's!
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And for this style what do you think of doing only a light bittering hop and a more robust dry hop, leaving out the hopping at the 40 min mark of the boil. Thanks for reading through this, and for any advice you have.
I'd not dry-hop a mild; the style showcases the delicate malt flavors and a robust dry-hop would distract, IMO.
IMO don't rack to 2ndary that soon, let it sit for at least 2 weeks, ideally 3-4 then transfer for the dry hop addition. Give the yeast time to finish their work and it will also help with clarity.
It's my first batch though, I was close to drinking 5 gallons of hopped wort last weekend. 3-4 weeks would probably kill me!
My sched. was going to be 8 days primary, 2 weeks 2ndary, 2 weeks bottle. If I do 2 weeks primary would you suggest 2 weeks for 2ndary as well, or longer?
Edit: So the reason I was thinking of a dry hop was to get some of the citrusy hoppy aroma without the bitter. I'm going to lack the strong fruity notes of a real nice Mild b/c I'm using a American Pale yeast (WYeast 1056 I believe), with this yeast and light hopping do you think it'll be too malty?
First beers are the hardest because of the wait. Do you only have one primary? Generally you want to give your beer at least 3 weeks before you bottle. This can be done all in primary or a mix of primary and secondary. The reason we tell you to wait before racking is that yeast does more than just ferment beer. If left on the yeast cake, the yeast will clean up off flavors and clear your beer.
If you only have one primary, leave it 2 weeks and rack to secondary. My advice is to buy another primary now since you will want multiple batches going eventually.
Another thing, generally it takes 3 weeks at 70° in the bottle to get full carbonation. You can certainly try them at 2 weeks but be aware that they will not be as good as they are at 3 weeks. They get even better at 6 weeks in the bottle so make sure you save some so you know what properly carbonated and aged beer tastes like.
If you like milds, Orfy's Mild Mannered Mild is fantastic.
Welcome to HBT!
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Thanks so much guys (and gals presumably), I think I've found the type of recipe I'm looking to do, one that is amenable to stove top all grain.
I have no clue as to the ester profile of the WYeast American Pale that I'm using, but since it's a similar family, do you all think that it will work well with the Orfy or flyangler recipes? I think this is turning out to be a better idea than I originally thought b/c I can drink the Mild much younger and wait on the American Pale.
WLP005 has a wonderful english character to it. I have used in several times and have loved it.
American Pale yeast may not fit the style appropriately.
Thanks so much guys (and gals presumably), I think I've found the type of recipe I'm looking to do, one that is amenable to stove top all grain.
I have no clue as to the ester profile of the WYeast American Pale that I'm using, but since it's a similar family, do you all think that it will work well with the Orfy or flyangler recipes? I think this is turning out to be a better idea than I originally thought b/c I can drink the Mild much younger and wait on the American Pale.
There's some latitude in selection of the yeast strain by the style guidelines for Mild - but I prefer a characterful but restrained English yeast in mine. If you want some fruitiness, 1056 won't be of much use to you as it is quite clean and neutral. If you'd like to keep cost down, Windsor or US-04 are fine choices for dry yeast.
English Mild/Bitters
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