Dark Mild Reaper's Mild, 1st place 2011 HBT Competition

Williams 728
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Brewed this up a few weeks ago. Well a variation using Goldings and S-04 to be exact. OG spot on, FG 1.013.

First impression was that it was bland with an almost sickly sweet aftertaste. Check recipe, check brew notes, review what % non-base malt to use as general recommendations. Confused as h3ll. About 2 weeks after the first impression, damn! Completely unrecognizable from before. Nice body at first, almost no aftertaste, a damn fine pint. I've heard that milds are supposed to be ready to drink young, but I may have pushed the envelope on that one. All I can say is that it's on tap now and as soon as I tap the second keg I'll be starting another batch to make sure there's a couple ready when it kicks.

FWIW fermented at 18C. Didn't get much flavour from the yeast IMO at that temperature. Next time around I'll probably raise it to the questionable 20C mark for S-04 and see if it becomes more English-y.
 
Zepth said:
Brewed this up a few weeks ago. Well a variation using Goldings and S-04 to be exact. OG spot on, FG 1.013.

First impression was that it was bland with an almost sickly sweet aftertaste. Check recipe, check brew notes, review what % non-base malt to use as general recommendations. Confused as h3ll. About 2 weeks after the first impression, damn! Completely unrecognizable from before. Nice body at first, almost no aftertaste, a damn fine pint. I've heard that milds are supposed to be ready to drink young, but I may have pushed the envelope on that one. All I can say is that it's on tap now and as soon as I tap the second keg I'll be starting another batch to make sure there's a couple ready when it kicks.

FWIW fermented at 18C. Didn't get much flavour from the yeast IMO at that temperature. Next time around I'll probably raise it to the questionable 20C mark for S-04 and see if it becomes more English-y.
Click to expand...

I've drunk more pints of this than any other beer I brew, it's a year round favorite! I've been hitting 1.010 on my gravity for about a year now. With the carbonation set to 1.05 volumes, I just nudge the perlick faucet open and essentially "sparkler" the beer to get a nice creamy head. Magnificent! As for waiting, I have gone grain to glass in 7 days, and I've also waited a month, all different flavours depending on age but I really like 2-3 week range for my tastes. mmmm!!!!
 
Brewed this up this past Saturday, really smooth brew day. Hope that's a sign of good things to come in 2016. Hit the numbers nicely, now fermenting a bit cooler (62-ish), but will transfer to 68-ish in a day or two.
 
Bottled this one up today, 1/2 pint sample was very tasty.
Looking forward to 3 weeks from now, but I know just as well I won't be able to hold off that long.
 
Brewed ten gallons of this (only changes were I used the Willamette and WLP002 I had) over the weekend.

60 hours at 66f, went from 1.034 to 1.011, with fermentation all but stopped. Ramped it up two degrees over the next 12, and it dropped another point. Will keep it here for another day or two before I get around to kegging it.

Look forward to enjoying it for the Super Bowl, will report back.
 
azscoob said:
I've drunk more pints of this than any other beer I brew, it's a year round favorite! I've been hitting 1.010 on my gravity for about a year now. With the carbonation set to 1.05 volumes, I just nudge the perlick faucet open and essentially "sparkler" the beer to get a nice creamy head. Magnificent! As for waiting, I have gone grain to glass in 7 days, and I've also waited a month, all different flavours depending on age but I really like 2-3 week range for my tastes. mmmm!!!!
Click to expand...


Mine always goes on nitrous
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452713150.037332.jpg
 
I use this beer to simmer brats before grilling, and also for the accompanying onion gravy. Delicious.

20160106_184127-1.jpg
 
So this might be a little sacrilegious, but I brewed this up tonight as an extract recipe for 5.5 gallons:

4 lb Dry Malt Extract - Light

Steeping Grains
1.5 lb United Kingdom - Crystal 60L
0.375 lb United Kingdom - Chocolate

1 oz Fuggles 60 min
1 oz Fuggles 15 min

The color looked great, smelled great... We'll see how it comes out next week. I'll probably have to bottle this as I doubt the keg will be empty be then. Looking forward to a sessionable brown ale though
 
Citizen86 said:
So this might be a little sacrilegious, but I brewed this up tonight as an extract recipe for 5.5 gallons:

4 lb Dry Malt Extract - Light

Steeping Grains
1.5 lb United Kingdom - Crystal 60L
0.375 lb United Kingdom - Chocolate

1 oz Fuggles 60 min
1 oz Fuggles 15 min

The color looked great, smelled great... We'll see how it comes out next week. I'll probably have to bottle this as I doubt the keg will be empty be then. Looking forward to a sessionable brown ale though
Click to expand...
Nothing sacrilegious about brewing beer! Extract or not!
 
Did a 20 gallon variation. Used 22 lbs two-row instead of Maris Otter. C-60 and Choc as prescribed.

For yeast I used some frozen from a batch of Centennial Blonde, that originally came from slurry from a local microbrew. I used 1 cup frozen in a 1 gallon starter for 24 hours. The local brewery will fill a growler for me and I'll typically pitch about a pint per 20 gal batch of pretty much whatever I'm brewing. It takes off like a rocket.

I bought Notty for the first batch I did some time ago, and then used this American Ale yeast.

OG was 9 brix, so right in that 1.035 neighborhood.
 
I'm drinking this bad boy right now after force carbing in the keg. It's pretty good, definitely a session ale.

One thing I'll stress is the importance on the Maris Otter malt, and it was stressed in the recipe. Apparently in my haste to convert the recipe on the short notice brew day, I converted the MO base as if it were 2-row. It's definitely missing some bready flavor. If I do an extract batch again, I'll either get MO extract or get some of that Victory malt in the recipe. However I just picked up a larger kettle, so next time this could be a great first all grain BIAB batch :tank:

QdbUc6m.jpg
 
Hey all...I'm going to brew this soon, but am looking to make a bit of change.
I am a little "chocolated out" recently and wonder what else might make a nice sub for a little different character yet still fit the style.
I don't want to totally change the profile here, but maybe a little change.
Any suggestions for something that might fit?

Thanks!
 
Followed this recipe and after about 50 hours I see no signs of fermentation. Anybody else have this? Could it be the low og rather than bad notty?
 
I've not brewed this yet but I've used notty. Either it's too cold, you pitched too hot, or it was a bad packet of yeast. Notty never took more than 24 hours to show signs of life for me. I pitch at 60°F and ferment at 62°F-64°F.
 
WestMichBrewer said:
Hey all...I'm going to brew this soon, but am looking to make a bit of change.
I am a little "chocolated out" recently and wonder what else might make a nice sub for a little different character yet still fit the style.
I don't want to totally change the profile here, but maybe a little change.
Any suggestions for something that might fit?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Bought supplies for this last night. I was going to brew it as-is, but saw Crisp Brown malt so threw in a couple oz of that.
Brewing this weekend, I'll let you all know how it goes in a few weeks.
 
It'll be fine with the 05. The notty has a mild English ester thing going on. But in my opinion they're very close and hard to tell the difference unless you're really familiar with them.
 
@jlinz you didn't make note of a production run number did you? Is it possible your LHBS mishandled the yeast or was it mail order?
 
Just read through the entire thread, and plugged this into Beersmith, absolutely a must brew!! Just so happens I have a packet of Nottty that isn't doing anything. I did change over to Willamette, and EKG. Toying with the idea of a double batch, one in Notty, the other in 1968 which I love. Will be about two weeks, but I'll post back my results which ever way I roll. Thanks azscoob for what looks to be a great recipe. [emoji322][emoji482][emoji106]
 
azscoob said:
@jlinz you didn't make note of a production run number did you? Is it possible your LHBS mishandled the yeast or was it mail order?
Click to expand...

Lot 1080486V
Exp 08/2016

I remember noticing that the yeast was clumpy coming out of the pack. I wouldn't put neglect past the lhbs here. I went back for another packet and they had one pack left that was expired that they were still selling for full price...:confused:
 
jlinz said:
Lot 1080486V
Exp 08/2016

I remember noticing that the yeast was clumpy coming out of the pack. I wouldn't put neglect past the lhbs here. I went back for another packet and they had one pack left that was expired that they were still selling for full price...:confused:
Click to expand...

Good to note if there are more threads that come up with notty problems... It's happened in the past!
 
Brewed this around three weeks ago and tapped yesterday. I was concerned about the amount of crystal but went with it. I brewed Orfy's Mild Mannered a few years ago and found it a bit watery and didn't really enjoy it. This beer is far better and has the mouthfeel of a bigger beer which I attribute to the crystal. I was a touch short on OG (1.032) and FG was 1.013 for a whopping 2.5% beer. Great beer and will satiate my need for a dark beer over the future winter months. I used WLP002 rather than Notty.
 
jlinz said:
It could have been the rehydrating process somehow. Just out of curiosity, do you usually sprinkle the notty dry or rehydrate for this recipe?
Click to expand...

on most recipes that call for dry I just sprinkle in, but in my early days I used to rehydrate... But another container and thermometer use would often be a rushed thing so I just started monitoring my pitching temps closer and called it a day..
 
Finished off my first batch of this that was an extract brew and it was pretty good, I really like this recipe. My first partial mash version of this just finished fermenting and I need to find time to start the next batch. I'm keeping this one going for sure.
 
Kegged some of this tonight. Tastes delish, can't wait!

Unfortunately, I didn't have any 06 notty. I settled for some 002.
 
WestMichBrewer said:
Bought supplies for this last night. I was going to brew it as-is, but saw Crisp Brown malt so threw in a couple oz of that.
Brewing this weekend, I'll let you all know how it goes in a few weeks.
Click to expand...

I converted this to 3 gallons, added a couple ounces of Crisp Brown malt, used EKG hops and fermented with Wyeast 1098 from a starter.
It was ready for kegging after a couple weeks in primary.
I added gelatin and an ounce of corn sugar (boiled in water) to the keg because it was going to be sitting around a few weeks before making it into the fridge, so thought it might make use of that time and carb up a bit. One ounce of sugar is not sufficient to reach the proper carbonation for 3 gallons of this beer, but I just wanted a head start so I could drink it right after tapping.

I like the beer.
The flavor is quite good, but not very strong and that should be expected from such a low gravity. Maybe the Notty would do better than the 1098 in this area - not sure?
Also, I can drink a couple pints without feeling any alcohol effects - this is a nice thing during the week.
It did come out clear from the gelatin and as expected it was partially carbed from the start due to the sugar.

If you are looking for a nice recipe for a mild but balanced beer, this will do it for you!
 
This thread... five years old. Got to be worth waking it up again with a rebrew and some pics.


My most recent batch of Maris Otter throws lots of proteins on a boil... here a slow syphon reveals a big 'cauliflower' in the bottom of my kettle.
xLC91Os.jpg


Syphon off bright clear wort into my fv... lovely hint of deep ruby underneath that that silky blackness.

NNOFw9s.jpg



And in 5 days, reached 1.010, cold crashed for a couple of days to drop the remaining yeast in suspension.
0pjTTcK.jpg


Day 8, transfer into a keg for carbing up...


Day 9. done.

Gl2dKjo.jpg



I made it to 10 IBU with Wilamette and Bramling Cross), my OG was a little higher than the recipe (better efficiency) so slightly higher ABV.

Crowd pleaser. Good balance of the chocolate roast and crystal malts. Lots of body, works well low-carbed.
 
confused on one of the malts.

Crystal 60 (Crisp) - I don't see where I can get that..is that referring to Crisp Brown Malt, which comes in color that range? Don't want to substitute an american c60 if that isn't going to impart the same character.
 
Is it possible to get this from glass to grain in 3 weeks while bottling?
I need some session beers for my NYE party. I was supposed to brew last weekend but with one week less now I would be pushing it with most other styles.

Anyone try this with low color chocolate malt instead of the normal one?
It should hit it's peak quicker then or not?
Or would it then just not have the right flavor?

Thanks :mug:
 
Quick reply here... If you're on top of your process... can produce a bright wort and pitch a healthy quantity of yeast... ferment it out quickly and drop then yes... you've (just) got enough time to warm condition for a few days and then let it equilibrate in the bottle.

My batch... I made 40litres, split into one half kegged... the other half I'd only bottled last night. The extra time in the FV for bottled version had the same time in primary but I left it in the cool for 9 more days before bottling yesterday. It was great tasting going into the bottle... so I anticipate that it'll become more refined.

Working for you... low levels of carbonation for the style. Nottingham attenuates well in this wort, falls quickly and sticks to the FV like it's glued down. I'd imagine you'd get a great result with WLP002/WY1968.

Give it a go. If you come to test it on the 30th... and it's not quite there then you'll have an excellent haul come mid January.

More guidance here
 

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