Drink More Mild!

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Effigy

Effigy

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Joined
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Location
Midlands UK
I'm a big fan of Mild - a brew that is rapidly dissappearing from Pubs here in the U.K.

In fact, my desire for a good, 'old fashioned' Mild, like I used to drink in my youth is what has drawn me to All Grain.

So, I get to start to fulfill my ambition tomorrow and brew my first Mild.

My recipe:

Batch size: 20L

3.840 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter
0.160 kg Crystal Malt
0.090 kg Black Malt
0.090 kg Chocolate Malt

39g Fuggles
S-04 Yeast

Est ABV: 3.75%

Should be simple enough, but I'm hoping it turn outs ok. Beersmith gives it good colour, and hopefully it will be sweet enough (but not too sweet!).

I'm sure that I will have to adjust the recipe a few times to get it right.

Is Mild a beer that you guys are familiar with in the U.S.? When I worked in the U.S. (Detroit) I never saw anything like it in the bars.
 
You won't find much Mild in the US, no. Check out Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale, I think you'll find you have nowhere near enough crystal in yours.

I love Mild ale as well, I've been reading up on the style historically and have even made a throwback mild that was pretty good (though I'm not sure I'd want it again). I've been making variations of Orfy's recipe and they always come out great.
 
Effigy said:
I'm a big fan of Mild - a brew that is rapidly dissappearing from Pubs here in the U.K.

Is Mild a beer that you guys are familiar with in the U.S.? When I worked in the U.S. (Detroit) I never saw anything like it in the bars.
Click to expand...

I've never seen anything like it in the bars here either, nor had I ever tried a mild. Several US states have laws restricting alcohol content in beer to 3.2% and for most of us growing up in the US mild beer had negative connotations. I like beer though and I sought recipes for milds so I could have a few in the evenings during the week without feeling "under the weather" the next morning at work. Here's one I brewed toward the end of last month and I like it very much:

My recipe:

Batch size: 5 gallons

3.3 lbs Golden Light LME
12 oz DME
8 oz CaraMunich
4 oz Chocolate Malt
12 oz Molasses

1 oz East Kent Goldings
Nottingham yeast

OG 1.038
FG 1.012

Cheers
 
That's the beauty of homebrewing...can't buy it? Brew it.

I just did a 10-gallon batch of a mild this past Friday.

I always like to keep a low mild, or other malty UK brew on hand.

My Irish Red Ale (4.5%) was a huge hit at a big family party a few weeks ago.
 
Effigy, I think your recipe looks good. In the US, there might be a microbrewery or -pub that makes one here and there, but for the most part they're non-existent. I guess at the right place, you might find a British one on draft, but that would be pretty rare. I've had them in the UK and I'm a big fan as well.

I brewed one recently using a little bit of Lyle's Treacle in the recipe. I'm overall happy with it, but I didn't use any chocolate malt because I just didn't happen to have any on hand. I think it's missing a certain something because of that. You have the chocolate, so you're good there. I think the yeast is key too. I used White Labs Burton Ale yeast because I wanted a good fruitiness, but if I were to go dry, S-04 would be my pick. Looks like a winner!:mug:
 
I'm due to brew another batch of it also. I enjoy Mild very much!

I don't know of many commercial examples here in USA. As Menschmachine noted, the very name "mild" is more often than not viewed negatively - if not with outright scorn - by American beer enthusiasts. If a brewery sells a beer which is stylistically a mild, they will almost always call it something else. Like "Session Ale" or "Amber Ale" or something. It's one of my favourite styles, and if I can find it fresh I drink it. ;)

Cheers,

Bob
 
There are about 5 local breweries that I can think off of the top of my head that keep a classic British Mild on more often than not. One of them even re-did their menu to include and they'll always have at least one session beer on and they will rotate traditional lower gravity British offerings.

In this day and age of big, hoppy and bold offerings, it's really nice to sit back and enjoy a handful of low alcohol, full flavoured beers, and a good Mild is is mighty nice anytime of the year.
 
My most recent brew is a mild. I brewed Jamil Zainasheff's award winning Mild recipe. It's DANG tasty, and I assume it's too style as he's a BJCP national judge etc. Talk about inexpensive, I did 3 session brews back to back to back and averaged less than $20 bucks per batch.

Can't remember the recipe right now. Click the link to my blog as I have the recipe posted there!

Schlante,
Phillip
 
Never had a Mild - it's is on my long list of beers to find or try though! I WOULD like to taste a beer before I brew it so I have a clue if I did it right! LOL
 
i've been brewing mostly milds the past six months. i enjoy the quick turn around, and am really moving away from the overpowering hops, kitchen sink specialty grain additions and higher alcohol content that a lot of homebrews have.
 
So a "Mild" is a less hoppy "Ordinary Bitter"? Do they have the same low carbonation levels too (1.0-2.2 volumes)? The "Ordinary Bitter" is in the rotation.
 
Aubie Stout said:
So a "Mild" is a less hoppy "Ordinary Bitter"? Do they have the same low carbonation levels too (1.0-2.2 volumes)? The "Ordinary Bitter" is in the rotation.
Click to expand...

Nah, there are some differences. I think of an ordinary bitter as being fairly dry, fairly light in color, some malt character but not overwhelming. Milds are a bit sweeter, a bit more caramel character, a bit darker and some having a bit of a roasted character to them. BJCP says that some examples might be seen as a lower-gravity brown porter.

Mild's aren't really bitter, while bitters, while not possessing tremendously high IBUs, have a pretty firm bitterness.

This may not be quite the proper way to think of them, but I think of an ordinary bitter as being related to an English Pale Ale, and a mild as being related to an English Brown.
 
Aubie Stout said:
So a "Mild" is a less hoppy "Ordinary Bitter"? Do they have the same low carbonation levels too (1.0-2.2 volumes)? The "Ordinary Bitter" is in the rotation.
Click to expand...

1) Basically though often they are darker like a brown ale. I tend to think of Mild as a low gravity Brown Ale, but thats probably not entirely appropriate either.
2) Yep

Orphy's published some good recipes and knows his way around an English Pub so I think his Mild recipe is likely to be a winner. I think it may be time to put that in my todo list. My last mild (based on Jamil's recipe) was not too bad but I do think it could use more crystal.

Craig
 
My October is very busy so I may not be able to back this up.... just getting an interest level.

As a group effort...
What about 10 milds (or more) in 10 days in the 10th month with swap?
 
olllllo said:
My October is very busy so I may not be able to back this up.... just getting an interest level.

As a group effort...
What about 10 milds (or more) in 10 days in the 10th month with swap?
Click to expand...

You know....

I'm making the_Wife brew a batch up at Jester's house (if she wants to hang out with the brewers, she needs to brew, dammit!). I was going to have her brew a medium-strength English Brown ale... but I was also thinking about doing a parti-gyle. I bet, if I made her English Brown large enough, the grain bill I'm thinking about for her brown (Marris Otter, medium crystal, brown malt) would work really well at a lower gravity level for a simple Mild.

That wouldn't hit the "October" requirement, but it would still be fresh enough come October to share.
 
i've been trying to brew small session beers for some time now. it wasn't until i enjoyed a couple of craft brew milds and some homebrewer's examples that i knew what i was looking for. My Little Red Hen Ale is almost perfect. it's what i have on tap right now :)
 
olllllo said:
My October is very busy so I may not be able to back this up.... just getting an interest level.

As a group effort...
What about 10 milds (or more) in 10 days in the 10th month with swap?
Click to expand...

I'm game.

So we have a ten day window to go from grain to glass?

Then we bottle and ship...say...within 5 days from that (day 10) date?

I like the pressure. :D

We'd be forced to restrict this to keggers.
 
Hmm, I really enjoyed my Kitchen Staff Mild, the second beer from my parti-gyle barleywine experiment. Sounds like a great excuse to brew it again. What are the parameters of the swap?

Chad
 
I see AHS has a Dark Mild Clone - Black Cat Real Lancashire Ale (Moorehouse's)

It's ranked 410 out of 448 kits sold (number of sales is the ranking) but has one review

Comment on Thursday 13 March, 2008

I really enjoyed this beer. The color is jet black with a very light tan head. Smooth taste and very refreshing. This one I will be making again.
Click to expand...

3.4% ABV rated B+

About - Black Cat Real Lancashire Ale

The mild ale designation is certainly appropriate. Although there's a lot of it, the taste is mild, as is the exceedingly light body, and they go together like hand in glove. The beer fairly evaporates in the mouth and is as drinkable as oxygen is breathable.
Click to expand...

I might have to try this!
 
I love milds. I've got 3 recipes waiting in the wings. A mild dark, a pale mild, and a bitters. In fact, as soon as I get the knifeshop done, that's the next project.
 
BierMuncher said:
That's the beauty of homebrewing...can't buy it? Brew it.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I always love that aspect. Or if the commercial offering is overpriced. I recently made a Special Bitter (which I have never seen here anywhere, maybe somebody has one on tap...not sure), but have seriously thinking about a mild as I am looking to make a nice quaffable beer. I have been digging the English styles as of late. Probably because I have been focused on Belgian, German and American styles since I started brewing. It's kind of funny, but formulating that recipe for the guy who was looking to clone that English Pale is what got me started in this direction.
 
Effigy said:
I'm a big fan of Mild - a brew that is rapidly dissappearing from Pubs here in the U.K.

In fact, my desire for a good, 'old fashioned' Mild, like I used to drink in my youth is what has drawn me to All Grain.

So, I get to start to fulfill my ambition tomorrow and brew my first Mild.

My recipe:

Batch size: 20L

3.840 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter
0.160 kg Crystal Malt
0.090 kg Black Malt
0.090 kg Chocolate Malt

39g Fuggles
S-04 Yeast

Est ABV: 3.75%

Should be simple enough, but I'm hoping it turn outs ok. Beersmith gives it good colour, and hopefully it will be sweet enough (but not too sweet!).

I'm sure that I will have to adjust the recipe a few times to get it right.

Is Mild a beer that you guys are familiar with in the U.S.? When I worked in the U.S. (Detroit) I never saw anything like it in the bars.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm real interested. The thought of a 10 day way from brew day to my glass sounds like a good thing to someone with nothing bottled. So, how does this work--ie: mash times and temps, hops schedule, fermentation and bottling schedule, yeast used?

Is this something like 3-4 days primary and 6 to 7 days in the bottles? How would that work, as it still looks like 8# of grain used? Also, the black malt--can I substitute that one--I've got chocolate malt and roasted barley...
 
Also, I forgot to mention, I'm out of fuggles. I have simcoe, cascade, kent goldings and perle. So, which is a good substitute?
 
MVKTR2 said:
My most recent brew is a mild. I brewed Jamil Zainasheff's award winning Mild recipe. It's DANG tasty, and I assume it's too style as he's a BJCP national judge etc. Talk about inexpensive, I did 3 session brews back to back to back and averaged less than $20 bucks per batch.

Can't remember the recipe right now. Click the link to my blog as I have the recipe posted there!

Schlante,
Phillip
Click to expand...

Yes Yes!! This is a very good recipe. And cheap. Cost be about 20$ as well... and with better mash eff I could get it down closer to 15$.

I drank about 3 gallons in a period of 3 days. So good.....
 
chemist308 said:
Also, I forgot to mention, I'm out of fuggles. I have simcoe, cascade, kent goldings and perle. So, which is a good substitute?
Click to expand...

I have heard that you want to use a high alpha acid hop when substituting for bittering hops, that way you don't get a lot of hop material in your beer, you'd only have to use about a 1/4 to a 1/2 oz of Simcoe.

But I imagine that goldings would be pretty good. I don't know.
 
Simcoe would be totally out of place in a mild, even as the bittering addition. You are bound to get some flavor extraction, and the 'cattiness' of Simcoe will be pretty off-putting.

Goldings will be perfect.
 
Track down a copy of the Classic Beer Style Series, "Mild Ale". Great read and some good recipes. Last time I took a keg of Mild to a homebrew meeting, it was floated. When a fellow homebrewer asked for the recipe because his GF who "hates homebrew" drank two pints, you know you have a winner.
 
david_42 said:
Track down a copy of the Classic Beer Style Series, "Mild Ale". Great read and some good recipes. Last time I took a keg of Mild to a homebrew meeting, it was floated. When a fellow homebrewer asked for the recipe because his GF who "hates homebrew" drank two pints, you know you have a winner.
Click to expand...
+1 that is an excellent book. I particularly enjoyed the KMS Dark Mild. When you look at it in a glass you think it's going to have a really heavy mouthfeel. Because of the maize and the sugar it's actually deceptively light bodied. It goes down really easy and tastes amazing!

Linky: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381683/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I made a mild and think i would like the style (b/c i love brown ales), but mine came out kinda crappy. Tastes a little "earthy" in the finish. I think the low abv means less room for error and i haven't made that many beers yet. i'll have to give it another try.
 

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