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

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So, although this thread is turning into a rather intimate conversation between me and myself, I just want to add that the issue seems to be resolved after a little time in the bottle. It is rather thin (I think that Notti just won't leave anything sweet in a beer), but not watery; one might just call it "light". The taste really is surprisingly rich, it is packed with flavour, unlike what you'd expect from a beer at only 3.5% abv. There is some fruitiness to it, a combination of the hops (I find Tettnanger a bit fruity, maybe it was not the perfect sub, but I like it) and the dark crystal, but mostly cocoa and some roasted bread (a bit pretzel-like, I'd say). I'm really happy with the way it's turned out.

Cheers,
Daniel

Well, at least you have at least one person who is quietly reading what you are posting. I'll brew this style in the future and I like that I can get some first hand experience from here.

I think will swap the yeast and change the grain bill a bit. I like the fact that you used roast barley instead of chocolate as I don't like the licorice type out flavour that chocolate malt imparts. I might go with dehusked roast barley to keep astringency in check.

I'll also be adding about 20% wheat or wheat malt or spelt malt to help head retention and body. I'll probably use chevallier as base malt, as it brings lots of flavour.

Yeast wise, it'll be imperial pub I guess, or something similar less attenuative.

It'll be definitely a modern interpretation of a dark mild, not a historic one.
 
Well, at least you have at least one person who is quietly reading what you are posting. I'll brew this style in the future and I like that I can get some first hand experience from here.

I think will swap the yeast and change the grain bill a bit. I like the fact that you used roast barley instead of chocolate as I don't like the licorice type out flavour that chocolate malt imparts. I might go with dehusked roast barley to keep astringency in check.

I'll also be adding about 20% wheat or wheat malt or spelt malt to help head retention and body. I'll probably use chevallier as base malt, as it brings lots of flavour.

Yeast wise, it'll be imperial pub I guess, or something similar less attenuative.

It'll be definitely a modern interpretation of a dark mild, not a historic one.

You could consider throwing some rye or flaked rye in there for the beta glucans. Should give some extra body. And rye is delicious.
 
You could consider throwing some rye or flaked rye in there for the beta glucans. Should give some extra body. And rye is delicious.
That's a great idea. Up to a certain percentage, I like the the flavour of rye. But if this threshold is passed, I'll don't like it anymore. I had an ipa yesterday, 15 guns, or 13 guns, don't remember... That one had rye in it but in a nice way.maybe I can somehow find out how much it was.
 
That's a great idea. Up to a certain percentage, I like the the flavour of rye. But if this threshold is passed, I'll don't like it anymore. I had an ipa yesterday, 15 guns, or 13 guns, don't remember... That one had rye in it but in a nice way.maybe I can somehow find out how much it was.

I've heard most people say it should be kept under about 15% of the grist if you don't want it to be too noticeable, though there are of course styles that go much higher (roggenbier, most notably).

I made a rye dark mild a while back that tasted quite nice (though I bottled it too soon so I ended up with gushers). I did 63% golden promise, 13% C60L, 13% rye, 7% carapils, and 4% US chocolate (350 SRM). As you can imagine, with that grist it was only mildly dark. :D

Brulosophy also did an episode on rye recently that's worth a listen.
 
I've heard most people say it should be kept under about 15% of the grist if you don't want it to be too noticeable, though there are of course styles that go much higher (roggenbier, most notably).

I made a rye dark mild a while back that tasted quite nice (though I bottled it too soon so I ended up with gushers). I did 63% golden promise, 13% C60L, 13% rye, 7% carapils, and 4% US chocolate (350 SRM). As you can imagine, with that grist it was only mildly dark. :D

Brulosophy also did an episode on rye recently that's worth a listen.

Sounds good! I will look out for the brulosophy episode, I like their stuff. Gives always good ideas.
 
It's been more than three months now since brewday and so I got to sample my take on this recipe (see here) in different stages:

- At bottling day, which was 2 weeks after brewday, it was extremely thin and watery.
- 4 weeks post brewday, the beer seemed fuller (although still light) and offered a surprisingly rich aroma and flavour for such a small beer
- About 6-8 weeks after brewday the beer hit its peak: a strong chocolate character from the roasted barley, mixed with aromas of red berries from the crystal malt and a touch of hop character. Light, with no perceptible sweetness, which makes for an unusual, but very pleasant combination of lots of flavour with the qualities of an easy-drinking pint.
- Since then, its been in a slow but steady decline, most notably the chocolate is fading

All in all it has been a great beer. It also looked absolutely stunning (I'll post some pictures below): It was dark, but not black, with a very nice red when help up against the light. A lot of people here seem to get great brews within just 2 weeks, but I found this not to be the case for me, which might be due to the use of roasted barley.

In fact, the development aligns with previous experiences I've had when brewing with roasted barley: it makes the beer thin at first, then gives you this amazing aroma of chocolate, and then it slowly fades over time and all that remains is a very crisp, sometimes slightly acrid, finish.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

img_20190406_193648-jpg.624345


img_20190406_193732-jpg.624346


Cheers,
~ Daniel
 

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It's been more than three months now since brewday and so I got to sample my take on this recipe (see here) in different stages:

- At bottling day, which was 2 weeks after brewday, it was extremely thin and watery.
- 4 weeks post brewday, the beer seemed fuller (although still light) and offered a surprisingly rich aroma and flavour for such a small beer
- About 6-8 weeks after brewday the beer hit its peak: a strong chocolate character from the roasted barley, mixed with aromas of red berries from the crystal malt and a touch of hop character. Light, with no perceptible sweetness, which makes for an unusual, but very pleasant combination of lots of flavour with the qualities of an easy-drinking pint.
- Since then, its been in a slow but steady decline, most notably the chocolate is fading

All in all it has been a great beer. It also looked absolutely stunning (I'll post some pictures below): It was dark, but not black, with a very nice red when help up against the light. A lot of people here seem to get great brews within just 2 weeks, but I found this not to be the case for me, which might be due to the use of roasted barley.

In fact, the development aligns with previous experiences I've had when brewing with roasted barley: it makes the beer thin at first, then gives you this amazing aroma of chocolate, and then it slowly fades over time and all that remains is a very crisp, sometimes slightly acrid, finish.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

img_20190406_193648-jpg.624345


img_20190406_193732-jpg.624346


Cheers,
~ Daniel
Wow! That is a gorgeous beer! Just beautiful!
For me the time it takes for my beer to be good depends a lot on the style. IPAs that are dryhopped are best fresh. Stouts tend to take longer, but it's always changing until it hits it's peak. I once had two crates of 10,5% Belgian Trappist beer that was just awful, I mean bad. Almost went into the drain (only reason it didn't was because I felt bad for the bacteria that would have to live with it...) , But after like a year and a half, forgotten and lost to the innards of my garage, I found them. I tried one and it was totally different. It was a very very good pint. Dark, creamy and with so many different layers.
I bottle carbonate my beers, which means there is live dormant yeast in there with the beer. I think this is the reason for the ever evolving tastes. (i say this with nothing more than what I think and could of course be totally wrong):ban:
 
I'll be getting the ingredients for this on my next trip to the LHBS in a week or two. I'm really looking forward to it as I grew up in Birmingham (the UK one) where mild was a fixture in every pub, and then moved to the US 15 years ago. I've only had the odd glass of it here and there on trips back since.

None of the few mostly-extract ones I tried in my first bash at homebrewing hit the mark, although they turned out drinkable enough in their own right for the most part. I'm now coming back to the hobby after a five year break and am set up well enough for all-grain. I hope that this (and this recipe) will make the difference. My process is a way off perfection, but I'm confident my attempt at this recipe is going to better than my previous milds by a long shot.

Thanks for sharing it!
 
I'll be getting the ingredients for this on my next trip to the LHBS in a week or two. I'm really looking forward to it as I grew up in Birmingham (the UK one) where mild was a fixture in every pub, and then moved to the US 15 years ago. I've only had the odd glass of it here and there on trips back since.

None of the few mostly-extract ones I tried in my first bash at homebrewing hit the mark, although they turned out drinkable enough in their own right for the most part. I'm now coming back to the hobby after a five year break and am set up well enough for all-grain. I hope that this (and this recipe) will make the difference. My process is a way off perfection, but I'm confident my attempt at this recipe is going to better than my previous milds by a long shot.

Thanks for sharing it!
You'll enjoy this. I brew ur regularly during football season!
 
Just kegged the original recipe of this. My initial tasting included some toffee and roasted flavors, but very light on the palate. I'm looking forward to a finished tasting in a week or two after it's carbed.
 
Brewing this as I type. I'm doing it as per the 5 gallon AG recipe in the second post, except I've scaled it down to 3 gallons (without being especially careful to get it dead on) and am using Scottish Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1728).

I also have the ingredients for a 5 gallon version ready in a few brews time. That one uses the recipe exactly apart from the yeast, which will be London ESB (Wyeast 1968).
 
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Brewing this as I type. I'm doing it as per the 5 gallon AG recipe in the second post, except I've scaled it down to 3 gallons (without being especially careful to get it dead on) and am using Scottish Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1728).

I also have the ingredients for a 5 gallon version ready in a few brews time. That one uses the recipe exactly apart from the yeast, which will be London ESB (Wyeast 1968).

I made some modifications to the recipe myself, but I'd nontheless advise to stick to the choice of yeast or at least a close substitute. I can imagine the large amount of crystal malt, in particular combined with the high mash temperature, to be a bit overbearing if you're not using a highly attenuative strain that gives the beer a dry finish (Notty does exactly that, even when the FG is relatively high, as in my brew).

1728 might be fine (I've never brewed with it), but I think 1968 is not a good choice here.
 
The milds I've made in the past (mostly using extract) have come out on the thin side. If these come out a bit thick and sweet I won't be too disappointed as I'll at least have a window to work with.

Assuming that the 1968 is locked in (which it more-or-less is, without messing up the schedule I have planned for multiple beers from a yeast and/or an extra 2+hr round trip to the LHBS) any recommendations for small tweaks? Mash a bit lower? Add some DME or corn sugar to make a slightly stronger beer?
 
The milds I've made in the past (mostly using extract) have come out on the thin side. If these come out a bit thick and sweet I won't be too disappointed as I'll at least have a window to work with.

Assuming that the 1968 is locked in (which it more-or-less is, without messing up the schedule I have planned for multiple beers from a yeast and/or an extra 2+hr round trip to the LHBS) any recommendations for small tweaks? Mash a bit lower? Add some DME or corn sugar to make a slightly stronger beer?

Given these circumstances, it certainly makes sense that you'd use that yeast. In my mind, yeast is the crucial ingredient in any beer and imho it only makes sense to say "I brewed a beer following recipe XYZ" when the yeasts are at least very similar. In my admittedly limited experience, WY 1968 and Nottingham are entirely different beasts. If you want to produce a similar final product (which will harldy be possible), then you'd have to redesign the whole recipe. Or you can just take the rest of the recipe as it is, knowing that you're brewing something rather different from the Mild Mannered Ale. I honestly can't say if it's going to be good, but it is quite certainly going to enlarge your "window to work with".

I really liked this beer, although I don't like Nottingham particularly. My ideal mild will feature a different yeast, and that alone means I'll have to leave this recipe behind and move in a different direction in order to come back and end up with a similar - except for the yeast expression - final result. My latest attemt was a split batch with WLP 023 Burton Ale and WY 1318 London Ale III. It's still conditioning in the bottle, but the samples I drew during bottling were quite promising :)
 
This is a slight variation on what I term a classic ‘Brown’ recipe (base + .5 lb med crystal + .5 lb choc). Several yeasts and hop combinations can be used as well as base malt qty to move thru several styles of “brown beer” (15-20 SRM) which is a great way to control inventory and experiment using a solid foundation. Add American hops and yeast = American Brown Ale. Add British hops and yeast = British Brown Ale. Etc. Etc. Increase base malts from classic for Stock or Old Ale. Reduce for a Mild. Etc. Good solid recipe IMO.
 
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Thanks Monkeymath. It's an interesting question where the boundary lies between following a recipe or not.

Given my curent level of expertise, there's a good case that I can never claim to have followed one: I know nothing about my water chemistry, ferment at ambient temps (although I choose the place where the temps are most stable/appropriate), and have shoddy technique. Is a massively different yeast a bigger or smaller difference than these?

But shoving hops, yeast and whatever together in at least plausible proportions is working for me so far. Beer is ranging from drinkable to actually quite good. And the more I brew, presumably, the better I'll get, provided I keep paying attention. Today I came as close as I ever had to rebrewing the same recipe and so giving me a more controlled comparison (same ingredients with the exception that the earlier was a partial mash with 3lb of DME and the latter one replaced that with 5lb of grain).

A dark mild is definitely one that I want in regular rotation. Maybe I'll get closer to the one given here; maybe I'l adjust other aspects of the two I have lined up to get a beer I like. The future's bright mild; the future's orange brown.
 
Just wanted to chime in that this is a great recipe. I brewed it as close as I could with the most suitable UK equivalent to Thomas Fawcett malts available at my LHBS. The roast comes through quite nice, but it still has enough body since I mashed a little higher than usual (I thought 152 initially but I looked at my notes and I overshot strike temp and ended up settling on 154). Notty was naughty and stopped at 1.015, leaving just enough body so as to not be watery (quite poetic, that was). Once another keg kicks, I plan to move this onto my Intertap faucet with the stout tip to give it a nice creamy pour. Stoked!
 

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