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I am now thinking of brewing a mild using Orfy's or similar recipe, mashing at 158 for 15-20 minutes, and using nottingham.

I think that will help make for a quick brew day-I am always up for time saving brewing ideas....
 
I've used both the Nottingham and Wyeast 1968 for this and for bitters. I can't tell any difference in taste and they attenuated in my hands similarly. The 1968 is hands down the most flocculant yeast I have ever used so I use it for my bitter as I can go from brew day to drinking crystal clear beer from bottles in 4 weeks.

GT
 
Got Trub? said:
I've used both the Nottingham and Wyeast 1968 for this and for bitters. I can't tell any difference in taste and they attenuated in my hands similarly. The 1968 is hands down the most flocculant yeast I have ever used so I use it for my bitter as I can go from brew day to drinking crystal clear beer from bottles in 4 weeks.

GT

OK, so I just picked up the goodies to make a batch of pale mild based on Jamil's recipe -- got a carboy of nut-brown goin right now, or I would have started right out with Orfy's recipe, which is a bit darker. Since it's such a low-gravity beer, can I get away with leaving it in primary for only 10 days or so before bottling?

This is gonna be my first all-grain beer ... I've set meself up for partial-mash batches, then realized that the grainbill on milds is so light, I can do the whole thing! Bought a pound of pilsner DME, though, just for insurance in case my wort comes out at 1.022 ...
 
mike_g08 said:
...mashing at 158 for 15-20 minutes...I think that will help make for a quick brew day-I am always up for time saving brewing ideas....

15-20 minutes will kill your efficiency.

Anecdotally, I brewed the same recipe on three different occasions and recorded a 60 minute mash, a 75 and a 90 minute mash. All at the same temp (154).

Each additional 15 minutes gained me 2-3 gravity points.

I now try and get an 80-90 minute mash to optimize my efficiency.

I gotta beleive that you'd get converse results with shortenned mash times.
 
mike_g08 said:
I am now thinking of brewing a mild using Orfy's or similar recipe, mashing at 158 for 15-20 minutes, and using nottingham.

I think that will help make for a quick brew day-I am always up for time saving brewing ideas....

A mash can convert in 20 minutes but it will be better to leave it at lease 40 minutes to make sure. I have only ever tested my mash twice, one of thos was at 20 minutes but I still go at least 40. I don't want to risk a brew for the sake of 20 minutes.
 
Is there a brand of LME you could use in an extract Mild that would help get the Marris Otter-type flavors? I've only used Northern Brewer LME and Munton's up to this point (in other recipes, haven't brewed a mild at all yet). I'm looking to make one soon and I was wondering if a specific LME brand would make a difference versus generic light LME or DME.
 
Also, the longer (than 60 minutes) you let the mash sit, even at 158, the drier the beer will finish. The beta will continue to work, albeit slower. I think for this style of beer where you want a rounder, sweeter finish, you should mash high and sparge once you have conversion.
 
jmiracle said:
Is there a brand of LME you could use in an extract Mild that would help get the Marris Otter-type flavors? I've only used Northern Brewer LME and Munton's up to this point (in other recipes, haven't brewed a mild at all yet). I'm looking to make one soon and I was wondering if a specific LME brand would make a difference versus generic light LME or DME.

Some places sell Maris Otter extract if I am not mistaken.
 
B3's MO LME is on backorder (B3 MO LME BO?), but William's is reporting in-stock for immediate delivery. Then there's the John Bull MO LME in tins; presumably not as fresh, but YMMV.

Next time round, I'm thinking of doing a partial mash with mild ale malt for the base malt, along with a touch of black malt for colour, instead of my recipe as it now stands. We shall see.

I am a huge fan of session beers! Good to see we're not all brewing IIPA, RIS and barleywine. :D

Cheers,

Bob
 
Appoligies if this has already been mentioned but this is quite a long thread to read through.

Often people incorrectly think milds should be low in abv, this is just completely wrong . It is true that more recent versions of milds have been fairly low in alcohol but then it wasn't that long ago that some more devious publicans would return the slops back to the mild barrel hoping the punters wouldn't notice until measures were put in place to stop that happening.

Milds are so called because by comparison to pale ales and bitters then are sweeter and low in hop bitterness. Sarah Huges Dark Ruby is a traditional mild with an abv of 6% made with 90% marris otter, 10% crystal (probably 80), mashed warm at 153 deg c with 30 ibus coming from goldings and fuggles. It's not a session beer but it is a cracking beer none the less:mug:
 
In regard to the short, high temp mashing, I haven't done it myself (yet), but I have heard of several brewers practicing this technique, or a variation of it.

Some reading on the topic:

http://probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=18524

I am thinking a 158 degree, 30 minute mash (properly acidified), plus nottingham yeast, will yield a reasonable extract, and reasonable attenuation. (Assuming over-modified malts, in my case US Domestic 2-row pale)

I will need to give it a try....
 
Milds are making a come back Orfy and becoming more popular. Over the coming years I wouldn't be supprised if we don't see more of them being produced by the Micro's and traditional breweries at more traditional abvs, particularly with the current hop shortage.

What might change though is how they are labled with, the term mild being dropped from the pump clips and bottles, this is a trend that is already happening, presumably in an attempt to shake the cloth cap and whippet image and the memories of stale beer being served from the hand pump due to the mild barrels containing a cocktail of slops and low quality beer.

Protz's 300 beers to try before you die contains around 14 milds, all still in production and popular today. Hobsons Mild has been named Champion Beer of Britain at Camra's 2007 Great British Beer Festival.
 
Nottingham and a bit higher mash temp makes for some mighty fine maltiness.

Little off topic but close to the category, I've been spending the last many months working on getting the session ale down in various forms. Really been digging on Orfy's Single Malt Single Hop pictorial and going in that direction. I've done it with Marris Otter and East Kent Golding and Fuggles, American 2 row and Amarillo, Centennial, Liberty and Cascade.
 
I suppose a person could specify the era of Mild he/she wanted to achieve -- a pre-war mild, a post-WW2 mild, a Reformation-Era mild from when "mild" meant "young," not "bland."

Still, though, I can't subscribe to the theory that the beer that got North London through the Marshall Plan era isn't "authentic" mild beer ... surely there's room in the category for modern as well as historical versions of the tipple.

Someone, to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude, pointed me the other day to the Jamal Show on milds. I found it extremely helpful. Amongst other things, it caused me to realize that the "mild" I'd cooked up the previous day was probably going to taste insipid and awful, although I'll still drink it and like it because it's my first-ever all-grain batch. Here's a link to the archives, and the "Mild" podcast is about four screens down -- just click on it and it'll start playing.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive.php

cheers!

--Finn
 
BobNQ3X said:
I am a huge fan of session beers! Good to see we're not all brewing IIPA, RIS and barleywine. :D

Cheers,

Bob

You can do both. My last batch was a parti-gyle brew. The first runnings became an 1.104 (with a little help from some molasses) Old Ale/English Barleywine that will be aged until Christmas or so. The batch sparge runnings became 6.5 gallons of very nice 1.039 Mild that should be ready to drink next week. Same grain bill, different hops and yeasts, very different beers.

Chad
 
orfy said:
Most modern milds tend to be around 3.5%
Like all beers they evolve.

They are becoming rare in the UK pubs and hard to find in some places.

That stinks, but at least its not like the US where they've gone from nonexistent to rare...
 
orfy said:
I might of drank a pint or hundred of the stuff.



Mild around here is dark, roasty and at the lower end of the ABV range and with a very slight sweetness.

This is my recipe.
To Convert to Extract and grain use the equivalent DME or LME instead of the MO grain.

Mild Mannered Ale


3.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
0.75 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett)
0.15 kg Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)
30.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (45 min) Hops 15.1 IBU
30.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

ABV 3.6
IBU 23 (Top end of range)

Mash High.

Notes: ------ A classic northern dark mild like my Granddad used to drink.


Just made this one today, one of the best smelling mashes I have ever done. It was nice to do a small beer for once, was done in 3 hours start to finish.
 
Let us know how it turns out Ryanh1801 - I am planning on brewing orfy's mild also (extract version, though) so would love to know your results
 
I made Orfy's recipe on monday and I agree with Ryanh1801 - that was one great smelling (and tasting!) mash! I was going to bottle this one but I think it will actually be hitting a keg, I want it on tap as I think I'll be going through it fairly quickly.
 
Took a hydro of mine tonight siting right at 1.012, tasted pretty damn good. Planing on bottling this one up next week.
 
Well , after quaffing down an IPA and a stout I was in the mood for something....less filling...with taste and allow me to wake up easily at 5:45AM tomorrow. I had nothing. So after reading all of your post I think I will attempt this brew. Since I am only at partial mash stage I will play with the recipe a little to make this happen. It really does sound like an excellent addition to the keezer. Thanks guys, Charlie
PS will report as it ferments
 
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