According to CAMRA, May is Mild Month. Anyone brew one?

[catdaddy66]

Thanks for the reminder! I have now added it to my 'to be brewed' list which is 6 recipes deep.

My last batch was in August last year and my 5 gallon batch was gone before October. It was so much better than I expected that it may round out my house list of styles to keep on hand.

 

[rhys333]

Thanks for the reminder! I have now added it to my 'to be brewed' list which is 6 recipes deep.

My last batch was in August last year and my 5 gallon batch was gone before October. It was so much better than I expected that it may round out my house list of styles to keep on hand.

Awesome. Care to share the recipe?

 

[catdaddy66]

Awesome. Care to share the recipe?

Sure...

6.75# Pale Malt
.75# C60
.25# Black Patent
.125# Chocolate
2.75# light DME (to get proper OG)

Mashed at 154° for 60 min and sparged at 168° for 15 minutes.

6.5 gal boiled and 5.25 gal in the primary... OG was 1.042 and FG was 1.009 for an abv of 4.3%.

1oz Fuggles (5.0aa) at 60 min

us-04 to yeast

 

[rhys333]

Sure...

6.75# Pale Malt
.75# C60
.25# Black Patent
.125# Chocolate
2.75# light DME (to get proper OG)

Mashed at 154° for 60 min and sparged at 168° for 15 minutes.

6.5 gal boiled and 5.25 gal in the primary... OG was 1.042 and FG was 1.009 for an abv of 4.3%.

1oz Fuggles (5.0aa) at 60 min

us-04 to yeast

Looks good. I'm thinking something along the same lines for my next one, with roasted barley in place of chocolate. Also that 15% flaked barley addition.

 

[shoreman]

I've got a Rye Mild on tap right now that I brewed with conan, delicious.

Pale malt, flaked rye, crystal 80L, chocolate - nugget hops. 3.4%ABV.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Anyone tried using 15 to 20% in a dark mild?

Why would you? Even at the height of WWII when the Luftwaffe had destroyed many maltings and the government was forcing breweries to use flaked barley as an energy-saving measure, they typically only used ~8% - and went back to using maize as soon as imports resumed. I'd say that's a pretty good hint that it's not a great idea.

Anyone used Mangrove Jack M15 Empire in a mild? I've not used it but have some in the fridge, it's got a bit of a mixed reputation but that seems to be because people try and use it in imperial stouts and then discover it dies at 8% alcohol. But it's got a reputation for being fruity and adding to mouthfeel, so mild would seem to be its natural home.

As another thought - now would be the perfect time for a partigyle, use most of the first runnings for a big dark beer to be saved for Christmas, and use 10-20% of the first runnings and the second runnings to make a mild. Maybe add some spices to the Christmas beer, could probably use WLP540 for both fermentations (it's a British yeast that came to Rochefort in the 1960s from the Palm yeastbank).

 

[rhys333]

Why would you? Even at the height of WWII when the Luftwaffe had destroyed many maltings and the government was forcing breweries to use flaked barley as an energy-saving measure, they typically only used ~8% - and went back to using maize as soon as imports resumed. I'd say that's a pretty good hint that it's not a great idea.

My primary reason to try adding 15% flaked barley is to see what would happen. Also for the grainy character and body it brings. I tend to brew to style the first few times, and then push the boundaries in subsequent batches. Some of my best beers fall into the latter category.

 

[lump42]

I won't be brewing mine in May, but it will be on tap. I use 15% rolled oats in my recipe, lends a bit of body so it drinks like a 5-6% at only 3.5-4%.

 

[kevin58]

How about a mild recipe from one of London's biggest brewers as made during the heyday of milds in the 1800's...

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2017/05/lets-brew-1838-barclay-perkins-x-ale.html

 

[Miraculix]

Why would you? Even at the height of WWII when the Luftwaffe had destroyed many maltings and the government was forcing breweries to use flaked barley as an energy-saving measure, they typically only used ~8% - and went back to using maize as soon as imports resumed. I'd say that's a pretty good hint that it's not a great idea.

Anyone used Mangrove Jack M15 Empire in a mild? I've not used it but have some in the fridge, it's got a bit of a mixed reputation but that seems to be because people try and use it in imperial stouts and then discover it dies at 8% alcohol. But it's got a reputation for being fruity and adding to mouthfeel, so mild would seem to be its natural home.

As another thought - now would be the perfect time for a partigyle, use most of the first runnings for a big dark beer to be saved for Christmas, and use 10-20% of the first runnings and the second runnings to make a mild. Maybe add some spices to the Christmas beer, could probably use WLP540 for both fermentations (it's a British yeast that came to Rochefort in the 1960s from the Palm yeastbank).

I only used the M42 in a pale ale experiment I bottled a week ago. It certainly shows good and fruity english esters, but might have an attenuation that is a bit high for such a delicate thing as a mild. My experiments had all around 80% attenuation. But flavour wise, I would recommend going with m42. Also flocculation was nice. Don't know how compact it will get in the bottle but I hope it will be like us05, so basically sticking to the bottel when pouring into a glas.

 

[Miraculix]

My primary reason to try adding 15% flaked barley is to see what would happen. Also for the grainy character and body it brings. I tend to brew to style the first few times, and then push the boundaries in subsequent batches. Some of my best beers fall into the latter category.

I just recently had the same question in my mind. Therefore I brewed three times the same pale ale, once as a smash, once with 20% flaked barley and once with 20% oats. Every other parameter stayed the same. Still waiting for the bottles to carbonate fully, but the first tests did surprise me because they did not show much of a difference.

Oat and barley were not clearing properly, and the oat one had a nicer body and the hops were somehow slightly more pronounced compared to the others, but I am not sure if I could have distinguished them blindly.

 

[rhys333]

I just recently had the same question in my mind. Therefore I brewed three times the same pale ale, once as a smash, once with 20% flaked barley and once with 20% oats. Every other parameter stayed the same. Still waiting for the bottles to carbonate fully, but the first tests did surprise me because they did not show much of a difference.

Oat and barley were not clearing properly, and the oat one had a nicer body and the hops were somehow slightly more pronounced compared to the others, but I am not sure if I could have distinguished them blindly.

Interesting results. Did you notice an oiliness to the batch with oats in it?

 

[Miraculix]

Interesting results. Did you notice an oiliness to the batch with oats in it?

Nope. I guess the yeast consumed the excessive oils. What I noticed was that the oat batch formed a krausen in half of the time of the other two batches and that it did ferment more vigorously and it also finished much earlier than the other two. So it did contribute positive factors for yeast health, which could be explained by the fatty acids they provide.

Let's see how the final beers will compare. I will open a thread for this one once the bottles are fully carbonated.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Gonna be doing a rye dark mild next, using the CML "real ale" yeast. Should be interesting!

 

[brhenrio]

I brewed a mild that had great promise, but i suffered suckback and sucked a pint of starsan into my batch. Just trued it and right now it is not very good.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

How about a mild recipe from one of London's biggest brewers as made during the heyday of milds in the 1800's...

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2017/05/lets-brew-1838-barclay-perkins-x-ale.html

Some of Ron's Mild book is now available on Google Books, which may provide further inspiration, although I'd encourage you to buy it, it's little more than the cost of a pack of yeast. I've certainly seen one mild recipe there that is 1.088, they may go higher...