Historic Recipe: Mild Ale c. 1909

Found this recipe while thumbing through the Classic Beer Style Guide for Mild Ale; this ain't no mild that we know at 1.060 and nearly 60 IBUs! I'm redacting it down to an 'experimental' volume of 3 gallons into the fermenter.

Interesting to see how the style evolved into the modern dark mild.

Caveat: I made minor substitutions from the recipe found in the book referenced above, swapping Challenger for the 2 oz of Goldings specified to keep hop vegetal matter to a minimum and Aromatic to approximate Amber Malt.

I've got about 10 minutes left for the saccharification rest.

[size=+2]Maclays's 56/Mild Ale (c. 1909)[/size]
[size=+1]23-A Specialty Beer[/size]



Size: 3.0 gal
Efficiency: 80%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 194.38 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.058 (1.026 - 1.120)
|=============#==================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (0.995 - 1.035)
|===============#================|
Color: 16.69 (1.0 - 50.0)
|=============#==================|
Alcohol: 5.74% (2.5% - 14.5%)
|============#===================|
Bitterness: 62.4 (0.0 - 100.0)
|=================#==============|

[size=+1]Ingredients:[/size]
4 lb Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
2 oz British Black Patent
.5 lb Aromatic Malt
1.5 lb White Wheat Malt
1.25 oz Challenger (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

[size=+1]Schedule:[/size]
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Dough-In - Liquor: 2.0 gal; Strike: 164.93 °F; Target: 152 °F
01:03:00 Sacch Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 152.0 °F
01:33:00 Lautering - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 152 °F, 10.0 min; Sparge #1: 1.4 gal sparge @ 175 °F, 10.0 min; Sparge #2: 1.4 gal sparge @ 175 °F, 10.0 min; Total Runoff: 4.17 gal

[size=-1]Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2[/size]

I actually made the recipe from the book, it's very tasty. But definitely don't tip it back like Orfy's Mild.

Hops in. Boiling away.

Damn modified malts. I bet you overshoot.

olllllo said:

Damn modified malts. I bet you overshoot.

Click to expand...

I'm on target so far, but if I overshoot, it'll be boiloff that does it. Using a different kettle from my usual so the rate is a little wonky.

Oh well.

Finished at 1.060, 82.3% efficiency with 2.8 gallons into the fermenter.

Good enough for gubment work.

Sounds good to me! I look forward to the review.

Did they have aromatic malt back then? And did the recipe use galena hops a few hours ago or did I imagine that?

Did they have aromatic malt back then?

Click to expand...

Dunno, had to exercise a smidge of creative license to approximate the amber malt.

And did the recipe use galena hops a few hours ago or did I imagine that?

Click to expand...

It did briefly, but I wanted to use a classic English hop in a higher AA%.

ahh, i see the added caveat now. what yeast did you go with?

KingBrianI said:

ahh, i see the added caveat now. what yeast did you go with?

Click to expand...

Good old reliable US-04.

I had to substitute as well. I used victory/biscuit in place of the amber malt. I used EKG for the hops but challenger is definitely an excellent choice as well.

Good for you! I wish you very good luck.

Bob

NQ3X said:

Good for you! I wish you very good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks Bob! I was hoping you'd chime in here.

With a little planning, I'll do the 1824 next methinks.

Jason

flyangler18 said:

...With a little planning, I'll do the 1824 next methinks...

Click to expand...

I wanted to try that one as well. I wasn't able to find a source for mild malt though. From my research it seems like it's just british pale malt with a higher amount of dextrins. I tried doing a mixture of dextrin malt and maris otter (maybe 20/80) but I have no idea if it came close. I started a thread on it sometime back that I'm sure the search could dig it up if I had the energy right now.

Search-fu! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/mild-ale-malt-69418/

:rockin:

I decided I wasn't as lazy as I thought and I went in search of it too. You beat me to posting though! Bob helped out in that thread quite a bit, he's a fountain of information, that's for sure!

As an aside, I regularly mash my own mild recipe high - 158° for 40 minutes - and Maris Otter is the base malt I employ for nearly every beer that I make.

Have I clued you guys in to this data yet? That site is a lifeline for me sometimes. Talk about research!

Bob

NQ3X said:

Have I clued you guys in to this data yet? That site is a lifeline for me sometimes. Talk about research!

Click to expand...

You haven't. Shame on you!

Bookmarked for later reading.

Jason

Huh. I could swear...

Well, it's out there now! :fro:

I skimmed it, what a huge amount of stuff to read! I think I'll save that one for reading while I'm at work on Monday. Thanks!

I made this recipe a few years ago and it's more like what we call an ESB today. Milds covered a much wider range of gravities and bitterness back then than today's Milds.

I am a subscriber to " Shut up about Barkley Perkins " , Ron is a real nut when it comes to historic brewing data , I bought two of his books . It's real nerdly stuff for the Weather Channel watching shut-in types like me

I enjoy reading Ron's blog. His rant about the myth surrounding the origins of IPA was epic.

Fabulous blog! My kind of researcher - a skeptic.

One of my Army drill sergeants used to shout, "I'm from Missouri - you gots to SHOW ME!"



Bob

flyangler18 said:

I enjoy reading Ron's blog. His rant about the myth surrounding the origins of IPA was epic.

Click to expand...

Nice... In the end, it's always about stickin' it to 'the man'. :rockin:

Continuing with the historic recipes, here's the 1850 Whitbread London Porter which I plan on brewing tomorrow. The oven is preheating now to make some brown malt.

[SIZE=+2]1850 Whitbread London Porter[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]23-A Specialty Beer[/SIZE]
Author: Durden Park Circle
Date: 4/21/09



Size: 6.0 gal
Efficiency: 80%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 212.88 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.064 (1.026 - 1.120)
|==============#=================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (0.995 - 1.035)
|================#===============|
Color: 25.72 (1.0 - 50.0)
|================#===============|
Alcohol: 6.29% (2.5% - 14.5%)
|=============#==================|
Bitterness: 60.8 (0.0 - 100.0)
|=================#==============|

[SIZE=+1]Ingredients:[/SIZE]
5000 g Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
1000 g Brown Malt
300 g British Black Patent
1.5 oz Galena (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 ea Fermentis S-04 Safale S-04

[SIZE=+1]Schedule:[/SIZE]
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Dough In - Liquor: 4.0 gal; Strike: 166.49 °F; Target: 152 °F
01:03:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 152.0 °F
01:33:00 Lautering - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 150 °F, 10 min; Sparge #1: 2.65 gal sparge @ 180 °F, 10 min; Sparge #2: 2.65 gal sparge @ 180 °F, 10.0 min; Total Runoff: 7.86 gal

[SIZE=-1]Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2[/SIZE]

flyangler18 said:

I enjoy reading Ron's blog. His rant about the myth surrounding the origins of IPA was epic.

Click to expand...

Dude seems to have some anger and control issues.

Followed some guidelines in the Durden Park Circle book on homeroasting brown malt

30 minutes @ 200° to dry the malt
30 minutes @ 300°
30 minutes @ 350°

Stir every ten minutes at 350° to prevent scorching. I made 1000g of brown malt for the Whitbread Porter recipe listed above.

flyangler18 said:

Followed some guidelines in the Durden Park Circle book on homeroasting brown malt

30 minutes @ 200° to dry the malt
30 minutes @ 300°
30 minutes @ 350°

Stir every ten minutes at 350° to prevent scorching. I made 1000g of brown malt for the Whitbread Porter recipe listed above.

Click to expand...

Cool! You started with MO? Any chance you could post a side-by-side pic? I need to try home roasting...I imagine it makes the house smell wonderful.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Cool! You started with MO? Any chance you could post a side-by-side pic? I need to try home roasting...I imagine it makes the house smell wonderful.

Click to expand...

I did start with MO, and I'll try and snap a picture later for a comparison. According to the Durden Park book, the interior of a kernel brought to brown malt specification should be a pale brown 'like light packaging paper'.

The malt became more nutty as it was being toasted and the color of the husk deepened a bit.