Dark Mild Mild - Best of Show New England Regional Homebrew Competition 2011

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Bacon488

Active Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
42
Reaction score
3
Location
Portland
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
S-04
Yeast Starter
No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.037
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
21
Color
22
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 @ 67F
Tasting Notes
Malty, roasty, nutty, chocolatey, biscuity goodness with surprising body for low ABV
In the fall of 2011 my brother and I went from a vague notion of brewing something quick to formulating a recipe and then brewing it over the course of a single day. We went with a low-gravity English Mild and S-04 yeast to help us achieve our goals of maximum flavor-to-gravity ratio, fast fermentation, and strong flocculation because we wanted to serve it at a gathering two weeks later.

Imagine our shock when we entered this 3.3% ABV whim into our first ever competition and it won BOS.


Ingredients:

5.0 lb Maris Otter 3L
1.0 lb Victory 25L
0.5 lb Chocolate 450L
0.5 lb Crystal 60L

1.25 oz East Kent Goldings 4.50% AA

Steps:

Mash @ 150F

1.25 oz East Kent Goldings 60 min

Add Whirlfloc in last 5 min.

Whirlpool and chill, then oxygenate (we use a stone).

Rehydrate one packet S-04 yeast in ~90F water and pitch.

Ferment at 67F - fermentation should only take a few days.

Diacetyl rest in the low 70s for a few days to make sure the yeast clean up after themselves.

Keg or bottle and carbonate to only about 1.3 volumes. Serve at cellar temperature for best experience.
 
That looks good; I like to keep low gravity browns on tap most of the time and this looks like a good one to try sometime. That's quite a thing to win BOS with a mild. Congratulations!
 
Just stuck five gallons of this in my fermenter, and I'm looking forward to trying it. I may also lay a bottle or two on friends who think the ABV of my saisons is a bit much...

I diverged from the recipe in a couple of places: 1.5 oz of hops instead of 1.25, and I pitched the yeast directly into the yeast per the instructions on the package. That was sheer laziness; I've had a long, hot day.

I started out bottle washing, so I could bottle a saison that's been in the primary longer than I planned. While I was at it, I scrubbed up enough for this batch too, and some of them were Samuel Smith bottles with the foil on the neck. I generally don't reuse bottles that have a brewery name on them, but I decided these were too appropriate for the style to pass up.

Have I ever mentioned I hate foil? I used lots of Oxiclean (well, Sun Oxygen Cleaner at a fraction of the price), dish soap and hot water, and I had to scrape a lot of it anyway. Nothing more fun than hanging over an outdoor sink of hot water, on a summer day in the desert....

After I bottled the saison, I started mashing this mild. First time I've used the mash tun I put together from an Igloo drink cooler, and I'm pleased with it. But the recipe uses less grain than I'm used to, and I had to add an extra quart of strike water to cover the thermometer. If I start doing more milds I'll probably move the thermometer down a couple of inches, and plug the old hole.

While I was mashing, I started to add sugar to a petite saison I forgot to prime when I bottled it. But I guess it got tired of waiting, and started carbonating a little anyway. When I opened one up I got a bit of foam, and when I added the sugar I got a geyser. So much for that - I'm going to just leave the rest of it alone for a while, and see how far it gets on its own.

To round off the day, I didn't have the hoses for my immersion chiller and pre-chiller with me, and had to settle for an ice bath. Which is really no big deal; it wasn't so long ago that an ice bath was the only option I had, before I made my chillers. But I felt misused and abused anyway... :p

The color is good, and I liked the taste of the sample. I skipped the OG reading so I guess I'll have to live without ever knowing my ABV, but I'm pretty sure it was in the ballpark. I had a good crush; my mash tun held the temp's between 151 and 148; and I wound up with exactly five gallons in my carboy and less than two cups in my brew kettle. Half of that was crud even though I had my hops in a bag; apparently Whirlfloc really does precipitate stuff. It's my first time using it; I've always been pretty casual about dumping everything into my fermenter and doing an extreme cold crash before bottling.
 
I scaled this one down to a 1 gallon recipe and bought the grains yesterday. I presume the original recipe is 5G. I couldn't find EKG hops so I went with US Golding. Some of the grains I got were organic. I hope to brew it up this week. I've never had a mild, so I'm really looking forward to it.
 
I scaled this one down to a 1 gallon recipe and bought the grains yesterday. I presume the original recipe is 5G. I couldn't find EKG hops so I went with US Golding. Some of the grains I got were organic. I hope to brew it up this week. I've never had a mild, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Here's a good article on the style; I learned a lot from it.

https://byo.com/stories/item/1151-mild-ale-its-not-dead-yet
 
Update: 12 hours after pitching.

I pitched at 74 degrees, and set the fermenter at 67. It's at that temp now, and putting on quite a show as it swirls in the carboy. I'll miss that if I ever go to buckets...

English mild 007.jpg
 
Update: 12 hours after pitching.

I pitched at 74 degrees, and set the fermenter at 67. It's at that temp now, and putting on quite a show as it swirls in the carboy. I'll miss that if I ever go to buckets...

What are you doing for an airlock on that?
 
What are you doing for an airlock on that?

I'm using a waterless silicone airlock. Some people call them vented stoppers....

I'm keeping an eye on the krausen, though. If it gets too high, I'll slap on a blow-off tube instead.

add: It's basically a stopper with holes in it, and a flapper valve that covers them. This link has a good picture of one disassembled: http://www.homebrewers.com/product/FE479/Silicone-Airlock.html
 
I scaled this one down to a 1 gallon recipe and bought the grains yesterday. I presume the original recipe is 5G. I couldn't find EKG hops so I went with US Golding. Some of the grains I got were organic. I hope to brew it up this week. I've never had a mild, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Mashed and in the boil kettle now....
 
I see two distinct colors there; are you also fermenting something else? Or are you maybe fermenting the first and second runs separately?

The mild is the one on the left. The one on the right is a Mack and Jack's African Amber that's about ready for bottling. I can't check its gravity because I broke my glass test jar yesterda!
 
How long did you let this set in primary, before racking it? Mine has been there a week as of tomorrow, and I don't see any noticeable action. Of course, the silicone stopper I'm using doesn't have any bubbles to watch...

I was planning to let it set for ten days before checking it. Does that sound about right?
 
How long did you let this set in primary, before racking it? Mine has been there a week as of tomorrow, and I don't see any noticeable action. Of course, the silicone stopper I'm using doesn't have any bubbles to watch...

I was planning to let it set for ten days before checking it. Does that sound about right?

If you're asking me - you got yours started before me. I did mine just Thursday. In fact, the picture is before fermenatation kicked in.

I was planning on just going primary for a couple weeks then if gravity is stable, bottling. Since its supposed to be low gravity I think it might finish pretty quick. With small batches like I do, I don't usually rack since I can't afford to lose too much.

The fermentation was furious for Friday and part of saturday, but it has mellowed out and I put a regular airlock on since it doesn't look like it will need the blowoff. I always fit a blowoff on the 1 gallons since there's not a lot of headspace.

I added a third to that pipeline yesterday - a simple belgian ale, using the recipe from Midwest's "Monks Cowl". I have a nice spectrum of colors there.
 
How long did you let this set in primary, before racking it? Mine has been there a week as of tomorrow, and I don't see any noticeable action. Of course, the silicone stopper I'm using doesn't have any bubbles to watch...

I was planning to let it set for ten days before checking it. Does that sound about right?

Sorry, I haven't been watching this thread, but Troy sent me a message, so thanks! This recipe should hit terminal gravity in just a few days. It's super low-gravity and S-04 is a strong fermenter. Pretty much the driving factors in the design of the recipe. It was in a keg by the 10 day mark the first time it was brewed. S-04 can produce diacetyl, so a few days to clean up in primary is a good idea.

Those silicone stoppers are great, but yeah... Not much to watch. I would be shocked if you're not at terminal gravity by now, and more than likely the yeast have cleaned up the diacetyl by now. The only way to know is to measure gravity and give it a whiff/taste.

Good luck with this! For such a simple, inexpensive recipe with a quick turnaround time, I think it's pretty darn good.
 
I've never had a mild, so I'm really looking forward to it.

EJay, my brother and I had never tasted a mild until we poured ours, so just like us, you'll be introduced to the style by the work of your own hands!
 
That looks good; I like to keep low gravity browns on tap most of the time and this looks like a good one to try sometime. That's quite a thing to win BOS with a mild. Congratulations!

Thanks! We're still surprised, almost 3 years later. I mean, a mild?

It was practically ignored in the homebrew tap lineup when we and some friends camped out at a beer festival. :)
 
Here's a good article on the style; I learned a lot from it.

https://byo.com/stories/item/1151-mild-ale-its-not-dead-yet

Good article! I'm pretty sure that another BYO article is the one that got my brother and I thinking about Mild:

https://byo.com/stories/item/1397-speed-brewing

We began with a general idea of brewing something that could be ready to drink in a short amount of time. This article names a few styles that fit the bill, and we settled upon Mild and then got into some quick and dirty style research. I don't think we saw the article you linked but it would have been handy!

None of the recipes in those two articles include Biscuit/Victory malt, but I think that it adds a nice nutty/toasty character to the style.
 
What FGs did you get? I replaced my broken test jar today and am already down to 1.012. Any idea how far down it will go?

I never got a post-boil OG due to breaking the jar. Still getting some airlock activity, though it isn't nearly the show it was a few days ago.
 
What FGs did you get? I replaced my broken test jar today and am already down to 1.012. Any idea how far down it will go?

I never got a post-boil OG due to breaking the jar. Still getting some airlock activity, though it isn't nearly the show it was a few days ago.
My batch should be ready to check. Unfortunately my hydrometer is in my pickup, and my pickup is at work with a bad starter. I've been commuting by bicycle for a few days, and keep forgetting to stuff the hydrometer into my backpack.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to replace the starter tomorrow. And if I have time, I may get my FG and just bottle it in the evening; I have little doubt it's done.
 
Troy - you bottle yours yet?

I think I bottled mine on 7/4 - FG remained at 1.012.

I'm not sure how long this one will take to carb. Its low gravity (I think...) and also low-carbonation, so it might be ready a lot sooner than the customary 3 weeks I normally wait.
 
Troy - you bottle yours yet?

I think I bottled mine on 7/4 - FG remained at 1.012.

I'm not sure how long this one will take to carb. Its low gravity (I think...) and also low-carbonation, so it might be ready a lot sooner than the customary 3 weeks I normally wait.
I bottled mine weekend before last; I'm going to pop one about the middle of next week. That will have been two and a half weeks, and I imagine it'll be ready.

add: my FG was a 1.010...
 
I'm drinking this now. It isn't anything I'd like to guzzle a lot of, but it hits the spot when I come home from work hot and tired. I never really thought of dark beers as thirst quenchers before...
 
I just popped my first. Tasty - I've never made anything with chocolate malt before and I think that's a real treat.
 
I gave a couple of bottles of this to a coworker. His girlfriend said it tastes like coffee, and she wants more so she can start having it for breakfast....:drunk:
 
I'm still enjoying this. I might not make it again right away, but I like it.

One thing about this one: I'm getting big chunks of sediment. Normally when I have used S04, it sticks pretty tenaciously to the bottom of the bottle. On this batch, the yeast 'chunks' up and ends up in the glass if I'm not super careful. Is anyone else running into this?
 
Just bottled this today. Overestimated my efficiency and only ended up at OG 1.033, but FG was 1.008, giving me a 3.3% ABV beauty! Hydro sample tasted great.
 
I'm still enjoying this. I might not make it again right away, but I like it.

One thing about this one: I'm getting big chunks of sediment. Normally when I have used S04, it sticks pretty tenaciously to the bottom of the bottle. On this batch, the yeast 'chunks' up and ends up in the glass if I'm not super careful. Is anyone else running into this?
I haven't had this problem. In fact, I haven't noticed any sediment worth mentioning even when I do a bottoms-up while pouring it...
 
I brewed this yesterday afternoon and at 8am this morning, it was very active and at 72 degrees. I put it in the the garage to come down to around 68, next to my other burping babies. Came in at 1.037 OG so we'll see how it ends up.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

ImageUploadedByHome Brew1412871665.928216.jpg
 
Looking good!

I just popped the cap on one of mine. Wow, this sure benefited from some cold conditioning. It was really good before, but now is crystal clear and mellow. I'll probably have to brew up some more.
 
I gave a couple of my homebrews to a coworker, and his girlfriend glommed onto the English mild. She says it tasted like coffee, and if she could she'd start every day with one....:drunk:
 
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