Dark Mild Mild Mannered Ale (AG) (E) UK/US

Wow, this beer matures AMAZINGLY fast. The fruitiness I commented on in my last post has all but faded. Instead, there is an enjoyable roastiness that took its place. I am now very glad that I used Pale Chocolate instead of "regular" chocolate malt, since I really dislike strong roastiness, but this is perfect. At one week on the bottle and pleasantly petulant, I would rate this a strong 39/50. I will definitely be brewing this beer again, and cannot think of anything in particular that I would change at this point. Maybe add some extra Carapils for extra mouthfeel, but that't about it.

Thank you Orfy - this one is a winner!

Whoa. I wanted to do a porter but don't have any black malt so I decided I would do a mild instead. Casting about for a tried and tested recipe, I came across this thread. As luck would have it, I have all the ingredients. Quite good luck too considering the positive feedback this recipe has received.

One question, though. People are saying that this is to drunk young. In the case of people who bottle their brews, how long/short should one leave it in the primary before bottling?

I'm thinking 15 days. Wild guess though. I have not mastered the Jedi skill of judging when the secondary fermentation is over.

Phil

This is uncommonly good.

Thanks for the recipe, Orfy.

I'm going to try your porter next.

Hi Phil, thanks.

I missed your last question 15 days is perfect.
Hope you like the porter.

Brewing this up tomorrow (finally). Just two question: what's a good fermentation temp for this, high or low; and what Vols level should I aim for? Thanks!

Bottom end of the fermenting range volumes depends on your efficiency and boil rate also if you are going US or UK measurements.

I go for 30ish litres in the boil kettle so I can get 23L in the fermenter but if my efficiency is down I'll get less in the fermenter.

Batch sparging at this moment. I should clarify that by vols I meant carbonation level. I'd think low, like around 2, yes?

jacksonbrown said:

Batch sparging at this moment. I should clarify that by vols I meant carbonation level. I'd think low, like around 2, yes?

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I like mine around 1.3-1.5 personally. But try it at 2 and see how you like it. If you're only used to more highly carbed styles even 2 will seem quite low.

Carb'd at 1.8 vols, and have been drinking this for about a week now. It's delicious! It's mellowed out a bit from a week ago and the malt profile is really shining through. I love a good easy going beer like this, something I can enjoy two pints of and still walk in a straight line (that's right, I'm a light weight, what of it?!). Kudos.

I have a yeast cake from a Blond that I did with California Ale Yeast. Any thoughts on how this recipe would turn out if I used that yeast cake rather than Nottingham?

You'd lose some of the esters that make British beers great, but I bet it would still be awesome!

Nottingham is really clean as British yeasts go so it won't make that much of a difference.

Update: This keg is GONE! 2.5 weeks. That is the quickest swmbo and I have kicked a keg ourselves in what feels like ages (over a year for sure). Gonna be making this again soon.

I have everything ready to brew this tomorrow. One question,with a mash temp of 158° how can it get down to a final gravity of .009 ? I would think it would end up around .015 . Am I missing something?

Did a 10 gallon patch on Saturday the mash ended up at 157°. I did however end up a little higher on the OG . Calculated at 75% efficiency to hit 1.037 I hit 1.040 just a little shy of 11 gallons going into 2 Better bottles .Lag time about 10 hours nice slow fermentation @ 67° in swamp coolers.

I've never had it reach down to 1.009, mine usually tails out at 1.012. I attribute this to Notty, I think it'll eat just about anything.

I'll be happy with 1.012

After 3 days its at 1.016 little fermentation going on now. Sample was very good green but good. I hope it drops a few more points in the next week or so

Well after 15 days it bottomed out at 1.013 . I kegged this on Monday now I need to wait a few days for it to carb

I'm brewing an 8 gallon version of this right now. The mash smells sooooo good. :rockin:

Just brewed a 5.5 gallon batch tonight. I don't really know what to expect from this one but I am excited to see how it turns out.

So glad you revived this thread. I have been deliberating over which brew would be next, and I think I have just found it. This will hopefully be my first brew on the newly planned keezer as well!! Let me know how it turns out.

First keg is just about kicked big hit with the neighbors and my family ... next one is going to my nieces wedding on Sept 6th She ask me to brew her a beer and to surprise her. Well this one will be a little short of 5 gallons since its ready to go and I am thirsty .... I'll be brewing this again

Anyone have a pic of this brew?

Sounds like I'll definitely have to put this one in the pipe line.

Here is a low quality pic of mine:

Thanks!

That looks awesome. Darker than I expected. Going to have to pick up the malts tonight!

A proper Northern mild should be black.

Orfy said:

A proper Northern mild should be black.

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For some reason I had mild = brown in my head.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm off to pick up my specialty grains tonight!

Do you guys think that substituting Willamette for the Fuggles would be okay or should I really get the Fuggles since its my first time making it?

Willamette is a Fuggles variant. If you can't get Fuggles it's an excellent substitution. The flavour is slightly different but the hops aren't a dominant flavour in this recipe anyway.

That said, Fuggles FTW so if you can get some you should.

I brewed this as my first extract batch in a while on Tuesday, and man did this thing take off. I had one sachet of old Notty sitting around, and I had very vigorous fermentation in about 4 hours. It smells fantastic, and the OG sample tasted great. I think I may let this one go for a little bit longer than 10 days so that I can make it the first beer I have on tap at home.

I did an all grain 5 gallon version of this brew. Things seem alright, I was wondering if others had tasted their hopped wort and gotten some bitterness (more than hops?). I think otherwise things went well.

The first mash temp started a bit high (161 for about 15-20 min before I got it down to about 157).

I also used 2.5 gallons of very hard Kansas City tap water, with the rest being bottled spring water.

Finally, I used 1 oz of Kent Golding for 60min and 1 oz at 0 min.

I think it will turn out alright (1/4 inch of krausen 11hrs later) but I was wondering if you guys were getting a really smooth wort, or one with some bitterness.

tia

Picked up the ingredients to do an extract of this by the weekend. I rounded some, but I'm hoping that it shouldn't matter too much.

5 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1 lb. Crystal 60
.333 lb. Chocolate Malt
1 oz Fuggles (45 min)
1 oz Fuggles (15 min)
Safale 04 (LHBS didn't have Nottingham)

Orfy,

Would you serve this cool and low on the carbonation?

Thanks,

BW

rwagner23 said:

Picked up the ingredients to do an extract of this by the weekend. I rounded some, but I'm hoping that it shouldn't matter too much.

5 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1 lb. Crystal 60
.333 lb. Chocolate Malt
1 oz Fuggles (45 min)
1 oz Fuggles (15 min)
Safale 04 (LHBS didn't have Nottingham)

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Wagner-

did you use DME or LME for this bad boy? I'm excited to make it

Used LME. It brewed up nicely yesterday with no problems. Fermentation is starting a bit slow, but it is only 12 hours so no worries.

Woohoo, thanks for the recipe Orfy. I entered this beer into a Nashville competition and pulled down a third place. I haven't received my score sheets in the mail yet so I dunno the judges remarks; just thought you'd like to know!

nealf said:

Woohoo, thanks for the recipe Orfy. I entered this beer into a Nashville competition and pulled down a third place. I haven't received my score sheets in the mail yet so I dunno the judges remarks; just thought you'd like to know!

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That's awesome... Congrats!

I was out at dinner last night had to get the house English Mild to see how this recipe stacked up against theirs. I actually liked this better and I don't think that's be cause it was mine

Well done. I'm glad this little beer is well received.

Long live Dark Mild.

Well gonna bottle this after 12 days in the primary. It isn't really dark at all though. I think I messed up the steeping of the grains process a bit (that would be a first for me). Probably didn't fully extract all the goodness from them. Oh well. If I do it again I'll either do that or up the chocolate malt to more than 1/3 of a pound.

Orfy

I'm new to the style, what do you recommend in terms of mash temperature?

Thanks!