Dark Mild

[rodwha]

I’m a memeber of a couple British beer brewing forums and noticed some discussions on milds. Looking at the recipes I began to become a bit curious what they taste like as they aren’t really a roasty type of beer but didn’t seem quite like a brown ale either. And then I read articles and in them it mentioned how the style there is all but dead with many people calling it their grandpa’s beer.

Having a grain mill I have a smorgasbord of various grains, and already having had a list of what I planned to make spending my hobby funding for the month wondered if I had American versions of what was needed and found I indeed had quite a bit, and so I added what odds and ends I’d need to try it out.

I haven’t ever seen an authentic British mild here, but did find that a local brewery had two versions. One was a more to date version being 3.8% ABV (in a galaxy far, far away they used to be much stronger) and one that was in the low 5% that was aged in rum (or whiskey) barrels. Of course I had to try both and found them very much like mine.

I’m a fairly slow drinker (takes about an hour per beer typically) and so light beers just aren’t my thing and I consider anything from 4.7-5.2% to be a session beer. And when I create a lighter beer I often set the ingredients to hit my lowest ABV (4.7%) and won’t include the 0.2% the priming sugar will add just in case I don’t hit my numbers or get good attenuation.

We’ve recently been attending trivia nights with SWMBO’s friends and one happens to be a British fellow. I asked if he’s familiar with dark milds and he’s not so sure. Regardless I figured I’d brew one and see what he thinks. This is the 5 gal all grain recipe I worked up:

5.625 lbs Ashburne Mild
1 lb brown sugar (FO)
.5 lb C-90
.5 lb carafoam
.25 lb Briess chocolate
.75 oz Willamette @ 70/21 mins
.5 oz Willamette @ 7 mins
US-05

1.043/1.006
4.8% ABV
25 IBUs
17 SRM
80% efficiency

I call this my Texas Mild. Anyone brew a traditional one or do something like I did and diverge from tradition?

What’s great is I am pinching my pennies these days and was actually planning on brewing my jalapeño blonde ale as this British fellow was quite interested. As it turns out I have most of what’s needed and can brew this for an additional $9.31 for two cases of beer!

 

[Miraculix]

Afaik a modern dark mild has usually an abv around 3.5%, so yours is way too strong. Because of the low abv, I would skip anything that thins out the beer, like sugar and all those other adjuncts.

 

[rodwha]

Afaik a modern dark mild has usually an abv around 3.5%, so yours is way too strong. Because of the low abv, I would skip anything that thins out the beer, like sugar and all those other adjuncts.

True as far as the more modern version goes, which runs from 3% to 3.8%. However prior to that they were closer to twice that.

I’m a bit curious why you feel the sugar should be omitted. The style itself often uses it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mild_ale

 

[Miraculix]

Interesting. The recipes I studied never had sugar in it. I just brewed one up until now and that one was horribly bitter and astringent from the malt so my knowledge from experience is limited. But I am planning to brew a new one soon.

Sugar does not bring any flavour or body and as we have already a very limited amount of malt here, my idea was that it would be better not to limit the amount of malt used even further by replacing it partially with sugar. But that was more or less just my own train of thought...

You are of course right regarding those historic milds, there were really strong ones as the term mild was historically only used to differentiate between a young and an aged beer, not to describe particularly a certain style.

I guess by calling it Texas mild you have basically the possibility to design it completly to your liking. Next on my list is a Schwarzbier and then it might be a dark mild afterwards.

 

[rodwha]

Actually brown sugar, due to the molasses, will produce a bit of flavor. Having a smorgasbord of leftovers I decided to try brewing something using just brown sugar for the color and flavor. It was much like a cream ale or kolsch in that it was mild, but the sugar certainly gave it a flavor. I much prefer to have more robust flavors in my beers so I don’t brew too many things that but still appreciate them for what they are.

I love a Schwarzbeir! I accidentally brewed an ale version while attempting to brew a dark beer that tastes more like an amber using Midnight Wheat as a neighbor wasn’t interested in trying my black IPA thinking all dark beers are roasty and strong. As my black IPAs are not roasty I decided I wanted to make a deceptively dark beer but found using large amounts of Midnight Wheat create a Schwarzbeir-like taste, which is great too as I love them.

I’m not big on using sugars and whatnot for beer myself usually. But I do use Lyle’s Golden Syrup in my ESB as the recipes for Old Speckled Hen usually show it, and I use tons of honey along with honey malt in my honey wheat. And then there’s this mild which I may try without it one day.

 

[Miraculix]

A Black ipa will be also something I am going to try in the near future. I will try cold steeping carafa spezial 2 for the Schwarzbier to get it as dark as possible, with as little as possible flavour and roast impact from the roasted malt. Going to be good fun. I guess I will use that knowledge from there for a black IPA in the future.

But first, the dark mild.

 

[rodwha]

I’ve used 1/2 lb of Midnight Wheat, 1 lb of C-90, and 2 oz of Briess chocolate in a 5.5 gal batch and it turned out nicely.

As for making a black as night deceptive dark ale I’ve been trying adding the bulk of the MW at the sparge. It’s still a work in progress and I feel I need to let go of striving for around 40 SRM when 30 is still black enough really. That would certainly reduce the roasty issue. Seems I ought to try this again.

 

[Yooper]

I haven't brewed a mild in a long time, but I really like them. Quite a few years ago we brewed a mild mini-competition. Our goals were different, in that we wanted low ABV session beers, and we were to go 10 days grain to glass (shipping them out by day 10 to our trade partners).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...d-mild-10-milds-in-10-days-in-month-10.77758/

It may be interesting to use to see our recipes and tasting notes. I think mine came in at 3.3% or something like that, and it was really an enjoyable beer. If I was going to make it "bigger", I'd probably go with an English brown (Southern style).

Side note- of the folks on the list, I still talk to three of them, and one of the youngest (if not the youngest) has died. It make me smile, and then sad, remembering that great group of friends.

 

[Miraculix]

I haven't brewed a mild in a long time, but I really like them. Quite a few years ago we brewed a mild mini-competition. Our goals were different, in that we wanted low ABV session beers, and we were to go 10 days grain to glass (shipping them out by day 10 to our trade partners).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...d-mild-10-milds-in-10-days-in-month-10.77758/

It may be interesting to use to see our recipes and tasting notes. I think mine came in at 3.3% or something like that, and it was really an enjoyable beer. If I was going to make it "bigger", I'd probably go with an English brown (Southern style).

Side note- of the folks on the list, I still talk to three of them, and one of the youngest (if not the youngest) has died. It make me smile, and then sad, remembering that great group of friends.

Would you mind sharing your recipe?

Edit: found it!

Yoopers info:

5.25 gallons

7 pounds Golden Promise
8 ounces Crystal 60
6 ounces Crystal 120
4 ounces chocolate malt
2 ounces black patent

1 ounce EKG 60 min (6.2%AAU)
1/2 ounce EKG 10 min

Mashed at 153-ish due to temp problems ended up 152-ish.
Nottingham yeast.
OG 1.041
FG 1.010
IBUs 26
Color 21 SRM
Fermented at 66 degrees.


Looks pretty much like what I had in mind when thinking of my mild I am going to brew. Last time I ruined it with Amber and brown malt, this time I will skip those two and bring in a 90 and a 120l Crystal instead.

 

[rodwha]

I haven't brewed a mild in a long time, but I really like them. Quite a few years ago we brewed a mild mini-competition. Our goals were different, in that we wanted low ABV session beers, and we were to go 10 days grain to glass (shipping them out by day 10 to our trade partners).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...d-mild-10-milds-in-10-days-in-month-10.77758/

It may be interesting to use to see our recipes and tasting notes. I think mine came in at 3.3% or something like that, and it was really an enjoyable beer. If I was going to make it "bigger", I'd probably go with an English brown (Southern style).

Side note- of the folks on the list, I still talk to three of them, and one of the youngest (if not the youngest) has died. It make me smile, and then sad, remembering that great group of friends.

Very sorry to hear about your loss but glad you have fond memories to think back on.

I have the newer BJCP guidelines downloaded and it states that’s its a newer interpretation of brown and doesn’t show the southern vs northern. The wiki wasn’t very useful either. So how does a dark mild compare to a southern brown ale? Is it merely stronger but in essence the same thing?

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I just did a mild that I loved, my third try at the style and my best by far.

80% marris otter
6.7% crystal 60
6.7% special B (similar to crystal 120 and I have alot of it on-hand)
4% chocolate malt (350SRM)
2% black patent (500SRM)
color in beersmith 24SRM

single infusion mash at 154F for one hour, batch sparge
22IBU east kent golding first wort hop
OG 1.036, FG 1.008 3.7% ABV

I adjusted my water to 60ppm Ca, 12ppm Mg, 21ppm Na, 65ppm sulfate, 85ppm chloride. and a target mash ph of 5.5.

This was really great, my best attempt at a mild yet. I served it at 55 and carbed to ~1.2 volumes IIRC, both of which I think was key to how great it tasted. In the past i've just put in my keezer at 40F and they just didn't taste as good.

 

[Miraculix]

I just did a mild that I loved, my third try at the style and my best by far.

80% marris otter
6.7% crystal 60
6.7% special B (similar to crystal 120 and I have alot of it on-hand)
4% chocolate malt (350SRM)
2% black patent (500SRM)
color in beersmith 24SRM

single infusion mash at 154F for one hour, batch sparge
22IBU east kent golding first wort hop
OG 1.036, FG 1.008 3.7% ABV

I adjusted my water to 60ppm Ca, 12ppm Mg, 21ppm Na, 65ppm sulfate, 85ppm chloride. and a target mash ph of 5.5.

This was really great, my best attempt at a mild yet. I served it at 55 and carbed to ~1.2 volumes IIRC, both of which I think was key to how great it tasted. In the past i've just put in my keezer at 40F and they just didn't taste as good.

Incredible, this is the recipe I just came up with almost to the point. Except that my crystals are 90 and 120 and 5% each and
I have black malt instead of black patent.

Will lower the abv to 3.1 % though. Which yeast did you use?

 

[ba-brewer]

I have the newer BJCP guidelines downloaded and it states that’s its a newer interpretation of brown and doesn’t show the southern vs northern. The wiki wasn’t very useful either. So how does a dark mild compare to a southern brown ale? Is it merely stronger but in essence the same thing?

Southern brown ale is now London brown ale in the historic section.
I believe the 2008 BJCP still had the southern borwn ale.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

Incredible, this is the recipe I just came up with almost to the point. Except that my crystals are 90 and 120 and 5% each and I have black malt instead of black patent.

Will lower the abv to 3.1 % though. Which yeast did you use?

I used WY1968 (london ESB ale), as I tend to run through one strain for a series of beers and it's the 'british strain' i had on-hand. I liked that one have used it for a few years. I pitch at 64 and ramp to 75 over 7-10 days. I noticed it changes after 5+ generations though, starts to slow down a bit and doesn't flocculate so much anymore, so i just pick up a new vial at that point. I just used omega's "pub" for the first time on pale ale I kegged last night and holy cow that yeast was really fast (1.060 to 1.010 in 8 days) and i've never seen a yeast drop so clear so fast. I think it was done in 3-4 days. it was pretty clean tasting at 64F (what I was going for), someone in my club used that in a british pale pitched at 68 and it threw alot of really nice esters, thats what i'll be doing next with that strain.

I would drop to 3.2-3.5% ABV on the mild next time for sure, i'm pretty conservative and didn't want to make something that tasted thin so I figured i'd start high and slowly step the ABV down over time. i dont have my notes on me and am thinking now I may have targeted a 152 mash temp, but i'm sure it's whatever is called for in brewing classic styles.

 

[Miraculix]

I used WY1968 (london ESB ale), as I tend to run through one strain for a series of beers and it's the 'british strain' i had on-hand. I liked that one have used it for a few years. I pitch at 64 and ramp to 75 over 7-10 days. I noticed it changes after 5+ generations though, starts to slow down a bit and doesn't flocculate so much anymore, so i just pick up a new vial at that point. I just used omega's "pub" for the first time on pale ale I kegged last night and holy cow that yeast was really fast (1.060 to 1.010 in 8 days) and i've never seen a yeast drop so clear so fast. I think it was done in 3-4 days. it was pretty clean tasting at 64F (what I was going for), someone in my club used that in a british pale pitched at 68 and it threw alot of really nice esters, thats what i'll be doing next with that strain.

I would drop to 3.2-3.5% ABV on the mild next time for sure, i'm pretty conservative and didn't want to make something that tasted thin so I figured i'd start high and slowly step the ABV down over time. i dont have my notes on me and am thinking now I may have targeted a 152 mash temp, but i'm sure it's whatever is called for in brewing classic styles.

Thanks for the info, much apreciated.

I guess I will end up using Lallemand London ESB, as I have a few packs flying around and I guess that should suit the style well. Regarding the temperature, I will bring it to room temp and just let it go without any controll simply because I do not have temp control. I will mash around 64c I guess, do not want to mash THAT low, but as the yeast does not eat maltotriose, I will have some body left anyway. Had good results with this yeast with a historic IPA recently. Bought it by accident, would have never thought about buying it actually pretty happy that I did, though.

Really looking forward to brewing it. I might end up brewing it already next week. Best thing about it, it should be ready to bottle in about 7 days

 

[kevin58]

If you really want to get in depth with Mild's you need to read Ron Pattinson's blog, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. Ron digs through official archives, court documents, vintage newspaper clippings and collects brew logs from the present all the way back to pre-1800's. He is especially fond of Mild and writes about them every chance he gets.

"Dark" Mild really only came about at about the time of the World Wars or a little after. From the early 1800's to the early 1900's Mild was light in color, had a decent quantity of hops and the OG's could be 1.100 or higher.

Here is an 1839 Mild from London brewer, Barclay Perkins with and OG of 1.104... SRM of 12 and IBU of 75+. Not typical for today's style definition but quite common for the time.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/03/lets-brew-wednesday-1839-barclay.html

 

[Yooper]

Very sorry to hear about your loss but glad you have fond memories to think back on.

I have the newer BJCP guidelines downloaded and it states that’s its a newer interpretation of brown and doesn’t show the southern vs northern. The wiki wasn’t very useful either. So how does a dark mild compare to a southern brown ale? Is it merely stronger but in essence the same thing?

Southern brown ale is now London brown ale in the historic section.
I believe the 2008 BJCP still had the southern borwn ale.

Yep, the Southern English brown is in the 2008,and that changed with the newest BJCP guidelines. In 2008, there was a Northern English brown, a "nut brown", and the sweeter and less bitter Southern English brown.