English Brown Mild- Recipe Critique? (1st AG Brew)

[stratosteven]

Hi Folks, new to All Grain brewing and English Brown Milds and wanted to get some pointers and ask a few questions. Got this recipe by modifying a 5 gallon recipe I found on HBT.

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: English Brown Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 4 gallons
Efficiency: 60% (brew house)
Yeast Starter: No
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 days @ 66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Nah


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 3.70%
IBU (tinseth): 17
SRM (morey): 19.94

FERMENTABLES:
4.5 lb - UK - Maris Otter Pale (81.8%)
6 oz - UK - Brown Malt (6.9%)
6 oz - American - Victory Malt (6.9%)
3 oz - UK - Chocolate Malt (3.4%)

HOPS:
.5 oz - Fuggles Pellets, Boil 60 Min


YEAST:
Wyeast 1469- West Yorkshire (recommended)
-OR-
I've got some Safale US-05 gobbling through an amber ale right now, i kind of like the idea of reusing it. Probably a little less appropriate for the style though. I don't have much experience with either yeasts, thoughts?


Mash grains in 1.6 gal water at 153F for 90 min.
Sparge with 3.5 gal @ 169F.

I've got a 3 gal pot and a 5 gal pot, would I have enough space in the 3 gal pot to mash? Only a 4 gal boil so I'm assuming my other pot will be fine for the sparge/boil.

The 5 gal recipe listed a primary fermentation of 21 days, would that change since my batch size is smaller?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pondjt]

Looks good to me. I don't think you'll need 21 days though. I do a similar brew. You should be at FG in a couple days and at 1.040 there won't be much to cleanup. I bet you can rack after a week, maybe two. Let taste be your guide.

 

[MVKTR2]

Generally speaking what you've got will yield a very nice beer. I would prefer this beer be brewed with the English Ale variety rather than the cleaner US05. The one thing that I know from experience is anything under 1.045 needs something added for body, dextrin malt, wheat malt, flaked oats/rye malt. It wouldn't hurt to put a full lb of dextrin malt or one of the others, just adjust the base malt down to maintain the 1.040 O.G.

 

[McKnuckle]

You have 17% roasted malts in that beer. I would replace 7% with a dark crystal such as 120. That's quite traditional and will add some caramel complexity and body without resorting to dextrine malt, which adds little in terms of flavor.

Definitely use the 1469. It's a great yeast that will give the malt quality a pillowy softness after a few weeks. Pitch at 63 and allow to rise no higher than 68.

P.S. Right now I happen to be drinking a blend of 2 bitters I brewed with 1469. Mmmmm

 

[stratosteven]

You have 17% roasted malts in that beer. I would replace 7% with a dark crystal such as 120. That's quite traditional and will add some caramel complexity and body without resorting to dextrine malt, which adds little in terms of flavor.

Definitely use the 1469. It's a great yeast that will give the malt quality a pillowy softness after a few weeks. Pitch at 63 and allow to rise no higher than 68.

P.S. Right now I happen to be drinking a blend of 2 bitters I brewed with 1469. Mmmmm

Ahh, I see. I'll probably replace the Victory with C120 then.

I'm a little worried about temperature regulation- I live in New Orleans and I don't have central air. It's going to start getting warm, I'm not sure how long or closely I'll be able to regulate the temperature. I'm limited to the old wet t shirt treatment right now. What can I expect if the temperature rises above 68?

 

[McKnuckle]

Lots of ways to do this... But I wouldn't kill the victory entirely. I'd steal half the brown and a little of the base malt (M.O.) to hit about 6-7% dark crystal. Victory will be good to keep in there as a middle ground between the M.O. and the dark malts.

 

[MVKTR2]

Ahh, I see. I'll probably replace the Victory with C120 then.

I'm a little worried about temperature regulation- I live in New Orleans and I don't have central air. It's going to start getting warm, I'm not sure how long or closely I'll be able to regulate the temperature. I'm limited to the old wet t shirt treatment right now. What can I expect if the temperature rises above 68?

Fwiw Victory, my favorite malt, though technically a roasted malt isn't considered as a roasted malt by some recipe calculators and many homebrewers including me don't calculate with it as a roasted malt but rather as 'Highly Kilned'. Biscuit & Amber malts fall in this same characterization. It simply doesn't impart roasted character in the way of roasted malts in the range of 200+ lovibond.

Seemingly all the responses reflect a wish to maintain character & mouthfeel in a 'small' beer. There are multiple ways to achieve the goal of good character/mouthfeel in a small beer.
1-mash high, it isn't' unusual for mild ales to be mashed at 156-158.
2-use adjunct, dextrin, oatmeal, or wheat/rye malts to give long chain molecules and maintain mouthfeel
3-use lots of roast, character, and/or caramel malts that add unfermentable elements to the beer maintaining mouthfeel
4-yeast selection, choosing a yeast with a lower attenuation rate leaves more sugars/body behind(generally speaking)

Usage of 1 or all 4 of the above methods may be employed.

Assuming you're using the Wyeast 1469, the recipe you have should generally yield a fairly dry roasty beer with a touch of body due to yeast selection. If you use the US05 which depending on mash parameters and pitch rate will easily eclipse 80% attenuation, the beer could be very dry and thin, especially pitching a huge amount from a yeast cake. (if you go with the US05 use maybe 1/4 of the yeast cake, even 1/5 would work).

Here are the wYeast parameters for the West Yorkshire yeast:
'This strain produces ales with a full chewy malt flavor and character, but finishes dry, producing famously balanced beers. Expect moderate nutty and stone-fruit esters. Best used for the production of cask-conditioned bitters, ESB and mild ales. Reliably flocculent, producing bright beer without filtration.

Origin:
Flocculation: High
Attenuation: 67-71%
Temperature Range: 64-72'F (18-22'C)
Alcohol Tolerance: 9%ABV'

That is ideal and exactly what you're looking for in this beer. Unless you think you have too much roast malt character I wouldn't mess with the grain-bill except to add something for body/character. Maybe mash at 154, if using 153 make sure it doesn't fall or do 30 minutes at 153 & 30 minutes at 158.

About 50-60% of my brews are less than 4.5% abv brews. I've found yeast selection, mash temp, & use of the right adjunct/dextrin grains produces the best beers for me.

Now as for your fermentation temp question... I live less than an hour due north of New Orleans as the crow flies. A $5 rubbermaid/sterilite container from a big-box store used as a swamp cooler works wonders. Here's what I do... use 2 containers, one inside the other so that there is a layer of air-space/insulation, enough water to come to the 3-3.5 gal mark on my fermenter, 2-liter & 1 gallon jugs filled 3/4 full frozen in my deep freeze (2 of each or 3 total will do fine), and a fairly heavy blanket to cover the fermenter & swamp cooler completely holding in the cool air. I have central air but it is hardly economical to keep the house 65F during deep south summers, . Use the larger frozen bottles when leaving in the morning or if the temp is rising on you, the smaller ones to maintain cool temps. This winter I used this method to make my first lager. I work from home but it is surprisingly efficient especially for ales where you may not be swapping bottles but every 12 hours or so.

Good luck!

 

[stratosteven]

Wow! Thanks so much for such a detailed and helpful response. Good to know a swamp cooler setup will be sufficient. Also thinking about getting one of those cool brew bags, but I guess that's not really necessary.

I'm definitely going to keep the victory malt in there, I'll add a few ounces of crystal and subtract a little bit of the Maris Otter. You have me sold on the West Yorkshire yeast, but I am going to split my US-05 into mason jars and save for later

 

[daksin]

I would like to second the idea of keeping plenty of unfermentable sugar in there. Low gravity beers can be unpleasant if too dry and thin. If I want sweetness in a low gravity beer (which I don't know if you do or not) I will mash hot and FAST- 30 minutes at 160 does well. You get full conversion (conversion is faster at high temps) and very little beta-amylase activity. I don't think you need to use adjunct to attain that character, but that's a personal choice- many ways to skin a cat and all that.

Good luck, and let us know how the beer turns out!

 

[stratosteven]

Finally got a chance to brew this batch last night. Grain bill ended up as follows-

4.5 # Maris Otter
6 oz Victory
6 oz Crystal 120
3 oz Brown
3 oz Chocolate

I mashed for 90 minutes. I had a difficult time maintaining temperature- with my burner as low as it would go, the center of the pot would spike up to almost 170 while the sides of the pot would hang out around 150. I learned pretty quickly that I'd have to stir often if I kept that burner going. Eventually stabilized to around 154.

Was mashing for 90 minutes really necessary? Doesn't seem like it, especially considering how hot I mashed. The good news is I hit 74% efficiency! Brought my OG up pretty considerably.

I had a hell of a time cooling the wort down initially, took over an hour to get from boiling to 75 in the water bath. I pitched at 70, and when I checked this morning my temp had jumped to 75. I added ice and insulated a little better, hopefully I'll get it to hang around in the high 60's. Should I be concerned?

Good news is, looks and smells great! The yeast is working away.