Mild Ale Malt Substitutions

Say hey!

My next brown ale recipe calls for mild ale malt which my LHBS and many other vendors do not carry. I asked the LHBS to order some Maris Otter to use as a substitute, but somewhere along the line the order got lost and I'm now without MO for this grain bill found in Radical Brewing:

8.5# Mild Ale Malt
3# Biscuit
1# Toasted Flaked Oats
0.5# Brown Ale Malt

I toasted the latter two in my oven to get a oatmeal cookie like flavor.

Now I'm stuck with using 2-row and whatever else I can add to duplicate the flavor of MO or mild ale (which I understand has a higher SRM than 2-row).

I've been throwing around the idea of adding half a pound to a pound of melanoiden malt on top of everything else. I've also read that going 50/50 with 2-row and munich or vienna might fit the bill. Maybe dextrine?

Does anyone have any ideas of how to ramp up the maltiness and SRM through altering the grain bill? I plan on mashing around 157* this Sunday on my new outdoor setup!

I might also add that I could put this brew off a while and make a SMASH while I wait for the MO to come in, if that is the only viable option

I'd just sub Vienna for Mild Ale malt one for one. Vienna has become my favorite base malt for all but the palest of brews anyway. I do wish more shops carried British mild malt but it is hard to find nowadays.

Funny, I was going to use Vienna in my SMASH. Maybe the sequence of events should flip flop so I can get an idea of what Vienna really tastes like.

English mild ale malt is more or less the same as using MO and mashing a bit higher (say, 2F). That's been my experience based off using it twice (which I will admit, is probably not worth a damn). If you want to get a darker beer, or a maltier one, try boiling down some of the first runnings and adding them back to the main boil when done.

FWIW there are some very nice mild recipes in this forum using Maris Otter base malt, and some recommendations for Gambrinus ESB malt. I may try the ESB malt this spring and compare to my Vienna malt brews. Mild is a favorite style I brew a few times each year.

Just make your own mild malt. I got this "recipe" from HBT somewhere:

170 degrees for 15 min
raise to 200 degrees for 30 min
raise to 230 degrees for 1 hour

When I did it, I stirred it every 15 min until the last 1/2 hour. Smells SOOOOO good.

Well I made the toasted oats and brown malt kind of like this, but I think mild ale malt comes from a different kind of barley like MO does. Some of the distinctive qualities come from how it is malted, too.

Do others agree that vienna might be a good substitute?

I would sub Vienna for the MO as well, then I would brew the same beer again when the MO comes in and use that so I could do a side by side tasting!

Grumpybumpy said:

Well I made the toasted oats and brown malt kind of like this, but I think mild ale malt comes from a different kind of barley like MO does. Some of the distinctive qualities come from how it is malted, too.

Do others agree that vienna might be a good substitute?

Click to expand...

What did you do to toast the brown malt? If I recall, the temps to do brown malt are MUCH higher than mild. Either way, looks like a great recipe--and I agree with the last poster -- make 2 beers and find out the difference!

I toasted pilsner malt at 350 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Smelled like popcorn!

Thanks for the input guys! I'm going to try using vienna this time around. Headed to the lhbs tomorrow at lunch, so please weigh in if you have some more insight!

Also, how do people feel about a pound of melanoiden to fake a decoction mash? I'm biab so it would be a tad difficult to attempt a real decoction, especially with new equipment