Crisp Dark Mild - Recipe Input

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Hi all,

I've been wanting to brew a dark mild and found the recipe posted on Crisp's website (https://crispmalt.com/en-us/recipes/dark-mild/). I've made some adjustments for my system and preferences, but wanted to poll this community to see if anyone has brewed it. Even if you haven't brewed it, I'd be grateful for any input as I've never brewed a mild before and recipes vary greatly.

I'm specifically curious about the ratio of chocolate malt to the others in the bill. Most mild recipes seem to call for a 2:1 ratio of crystal malts to darker grains, but this flips that script on its head with light chocolate malt being the most prominent speciality malt in the bill.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Dark Mild

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.029
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 3.92%
IBU (tinseth): 18.72
SRM (morey): 16.84
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
6.5 lb - Best Ale (81.7%)
0.55 lb - Pale Chocolate (6.9%)
0.33 lb - Dark Crystal Malt 240 (4.1%)
0.33 lb - Wheat Malt (4.1%)
0.25 lb - Amber (3.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 18.72

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Start Temp: 164 F, Target Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 3.1 gal
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Starting Grain Temp: 65 °F

 

[Miraculix]

Sounds good to me. I'd expect a lower abv of about 3.2% though, this is more of a stout abv here.

I'm also not that sure about the amber malt, but that's just a matter of taste.

If you decide to lower the abv, upping the crystal percentage to about 12%to 15% is fine in such a thin beer in my experience. Just don't use only the dark one for a higher crystal amount dark mild. 50/50 medium/dark should do it. The dark one can get a bit harsh otherwise.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Thanks Miraculix! I'm brewing on a fairly new system (this will be my fourth batch), and I'm still getting it dialed in. I'm ranging between 71 - 75% efficiency, so I'm hedging this recipe a bit on the off chance that it comes in a bit below 75%, which would drop it closer to the lower ABV you noted.

I think I might knock out a little bit of the base malt to add some light or medium crystal malt (to bring the ratio of chocolate to crystal closer to 1:1).

Appreciate the feedback! Out of curiosity, do you have a dark mild recipe that you like to brew? Would love to compare notes.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks Miraculix! I'm brewing on a fairly new system (this will be my fourth batch), and I'm still getting it dialed in. I'm ranging between 71 - 75% efficiency, so I'm hedging this recipe a bit on the off chance that it comes in a bit below 75%, which would drop it closer to the lower ABV you noted.

I think I might knock out a little bit of the base malt to add some light or medium crystal malt (to bring the ratio of chocolate to crystal closer to 1:1).

Appreciate the feedback! Out of curiosity, do you have a dark mild recipe that you like to brew? Would love to compare notes.

My last normal dark mild was ages ago. I think I would basically copy the recipe above cut out the amber and use 6% medium crystal and 6% dark crystal. About 6% of something roasted. I would probably go with midnight wheat, as I like my milds to be really smooth. You could swap up to half of the base malt for wheat malt to give it more foam and a bit more smoothness. That's what I would try.

Wouldn't go overboard with hops. No fancy late additions. Just 20 ibus from 60 minutes is enough. Some noble-ish hops like magnum should do.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

My last normal dark mild was ages ago. I think I would basically copy the recipe above cut out the amber and use 6% medium crystal and 6% dark crystal. About 6% of something roasted. I would probably go with midnight wheat, as I like my milds to be really smooth. You could swap up to half of the base malt for wheat malt to give it more foam and a bit more smoothness. That's what I would try.

Wouldn't go overboard with hops. No fancy late additions. Just 20 ibus from 60 minutes is enough. Some noble-ish hops like magnum should do.

Think I'm going to go with the recipe as tweaked below. Introducing a little midnight wheat to the bill for color while retaining the traditional malted wheat for that tart/spice character (as well as some nice head retention). I've added some lighter crystal to balance the dark crystal, and I've reduced the base malt a bit.

Thanks for your input, I'll let you know how it turns out after I brew it in the next few weeks!

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Dark Mild

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.025
Efficiency: 73% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.034
Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV (standard): 3.42%
IBU (tinseth): 19.46
SRM (morey): 20.9
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
5.25 lb - Best Ale (74.6%)
0.5 lb - Crystal Light - 45L (7.1%)
0.5 lb - Pale Chocolate (7.1%)
0.33 lb - Wheat Malt (4.7%)
0.33 lb - Dark Crystal Malt 240 (4.7%)
2 oz - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 19.46

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Start Temp: 164 F, Target Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min,

 

[Miraculix]

The midnight wheat doesn't do anything here except colour. Not sure if it's necessary if the pale chocolate gets it dark enough. Otherwise, good choice.

A small percentage of wheat malt in a small grist like this doesn't do a thing. I would up it to at least twenty percent to tap into foam enhancing territory.

Otherwise, looks good!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've been wanting to brew a dark mild and found the recipe posted on Crisp's website...I'm specifically curious about the ratio of chocolate malt to the others in the bill. Most mild recipes seem to call for a 2:1 ratio of crystal malts to darker grains, but this flips that script on its head with light chocolate malt being the most prominent speciality malt in the bill.

You have to remember that Crisp are a maltster, and not a sugar producer, so they obviously want you to use lots of malt and no sugar. Sugar is a key part of all commercial milds until very recently, so Crisp are adding a relatively dark crystal as a way to get some of those dark caramel/toffee flavours that a proper mild would get from dark sugars. And because they're using a dark crystal, they need less of it than the light/medium crystals that get used. In those milds that use crystal - which is not that many. It's a regional thing, most common in NW England (eg Boddies 1987 ELM is 8% crystal 75L, 7% invert #1, 1.7% chocolate) and for odd breweries elsewhere, but eg across the Pennines Tetley were just tipping caramel into a pale beer with no crystal or speciality malts at all. If you look at this overview of mild grists from the 1970s-ish, you'll see that most didn't use any dark malts and often only 5% crystal, but there was 15-25% adjuncts which would be mostly sugar with some maize (typically).

CAMRA's ill-informed fight against adjuncts and sugar in particular has meant a) dark brewing sugars are getting harder to buy and b) breweries are tending to look for all-malt solutions. And there's some very nice beers being made out there, but they're maybe drifting away from the soul of mild. So concentrate - given the ingredients available to you - on maximising dark-sugar flavours without necessarily having too much sweetness (, don't have too much roastiness or bitterness, don't go too high in ABV and don't sweat about "style" too much - and you should end up with something mild-y.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

You have to remember that Crisp are a maltster, and not a sugar producer, so they obviously want you to use lots of malt and no sugar. Sugar is a key part of all commercial milds until very recently, so Crisp are adding a relatively dark crystal as a way to get some of those dark caramel/toffee flavours that a proper mild would get from dark sugars. And because they're using a dark crystal, they need less of it than the light/medium crystals that get used. In those milds that use crystal - which is not that many. It's a regional thing, most common in NW England (eg Boddies 1987 ELM is 8% crystal 75L, 7% invert #1, 1.7% chocolate) and for odd breweries elsewhere, but eg across the Pennines Tetley were just tipping caramel into a pale beer with no crystal or speciality malts at all. If you look at this overview of mild grists from the 1970s-ish, you'll see that most didn't use any dark malts and often only 5% crystal, but there was 15-25% adjuncts which would be mostly sugar with some maize (typically).

CAMRA's ill-informed fight against adjuncts and sugar in particular has meant a) dark brewing sugars are getting harder to buy and b) breweries are tending to look for all-malt solutions. And there's some very nice beers being made out there, but they're maybe drifting away from the soul of mild. So concentrate - given the ingredients available to you - on maximising dark-sugar flavours without necessarily having too much sweetness (, don't have too much roastiness or bitterness, don't go too high in ABV and don't sweat about "style" too much - and you should end up with something mild-y.

This was a very insightful read, thanks for taking the time to put together such a thoughtful response!

I'm still tinkering with this recipe, but once I brew it I'll post the final recipe and full tasting notes with a photo. Appreciate everyone's input!

 

[Miraculix]

@Northern_Brewer has given some great input here as usual.

My points addressed above reflect my personal taste, not historic accuracy. I find it hard to find any bigger impact from sugars that go in the direction of dark fruits in my beers. Might be the wrong sugars, I don't know. I've tried a lot and the overall impact seems to be always quite small. Whereas with a good English crystal malt,a little seems to go a long way.

And as dark milds are small beers, a higher percentage of these crystals is necessary to bring up their taste to a level that is best according to my personal taste.

 

[UdonPete]

Have you seen Mean Brews :

Found this to be very good

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Have you seen Mean Brews :

Found this to be very good

Except the whole premise is wrong, you can do all the stats you like but if the input is based on "what does well in US homebrew competitions" then the output is going to be garbage.

It's like saying that the correct way to make pad thai is based on the recipes that won the Best Thai Food in Germany competition and concluding that true pad thai uses sauerkraut.

If nothing else, basing recipes off competition winners will tend to select for "extremes", and the whole point of mild is that it's a very modest, ordinary beer, so "champion mild" is a bit of a contradiction in terms.

 

[Miraculix]

Except the whole premise is wrong, you can do all the stats you like but if the input is based on "what does well in US homebrew competitions" then the output is going to be garbage.

It's like saying that the correct way to make pad thai is based on the recipes that won the Best Thai Food in Germany competition and concluding that true pad thai uses sauerkraut.

If nothing else, basing recipes off competition winners will tend to select for "extremes", and the whole point of mild is that it's a very modest, ordinary beer, so "champion mild" is a bit of a contradiction in terms.

Don't you dare speaking badly about my kraut thai!

 

[An Ankoù]

I make three different dark milds. One of them uses 10% caramalt, but not for darkening, of course. Not fond of the so-called crystal malt, but the Special B, W, X, Simpson's DRM seem to work well.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The trouble with mild brewed by US brewers is they miss out the compulsory ingredients I.e.
Beer tray slops
Cigarette ash
Crisps (chips)
Peanuts.

 

[Miraculix]

The trouble with mild brewed by US brewers is they miss out the compulsory ingredients I.e.
Beer tray slops
Cigarette ash
Crisps (chips)
Peanuts.

To give you a bit of pain relieve, I just happen to have bottled a dark mild this weekend with one bottle being probably more authentic than all of the others.

It was the last bottle from the fermenter which was missing about one third of it's volume. But oh little bottle don't fear the empty space. I've had a pint of the marvellous old ale I've brewed over a year ago in my hand which I finished already 50% of. In a artistically perfect manner, I managed to fill the void in the bottle with almost the entire remainder of the beer in my glass, capped the bottle and labelled the crown cap with xxx.

Now that I'm sober, I'm a bit scared of this bottle to be honest . But according to what you are saying, this is apparently part of the dark mild experience. I am authentic.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Have you seen Mean Brews :

Found this to be very good

Thank you very much for sharing, that was helpful!

I haven't heard anyone comment on the yeast selection. I plugged S-04 into the recipe because I have a few packets on hand, but I'd be grateful to hear folks' input on yeast preferences. I know 1968 is a popular choice, as is A09 Pub. Any input/preferences?

 

[Miraculix]

Thank you very much for sharing, that was helpful!

I haven't heard anyone comment on the yeast selection. I plugged S-04 into the recipe because I have a few packets on hand, but I'd be grateful to hear folks' input on yeast preferences. I know 1968 is a popular choice, as is A09 Pub. Any input/preferences?

I'd say don't sweat it too much. The smaller the beer, the smaller is also the impact of the yeast. In my opinion, s04 is a very good choice.

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi all,

I've been wanting to brew a dark mild and found the recipe posted on Crisp's website (https://crispmalt.com/en-us/recipes/dark-mild/). I've made some adjustments for my system and preferences, but wanted to poll this community to see if anyone has brewed it. Even if you haven't brewed it, I'd be grateful for any input as I've never brewed a mild before and recipes vary greatly.

I'm specifically curious about the ratio of chocolate malt to the others in the bill. Most mild recipes seem to call for a 2:1 ratio of crystal malts to darker grains, but this flips that script on its head with light chocolate malt being the most prominent speciality malt in the bill.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Dark Mild

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.029
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 3.92%
IBU (tinseth): 18.72
SRM (morey): 16.84
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
6.5 lb - Best Ale (81.7%)
0.55 lb - Pale Chocolate (6.9%)
0.33 lb - Dark Crystal Malt 240 (4.1%)
0.33 lb - Wheat Malt (4.1%)
0.25 lb - Amber (3.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 18.72

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Start Temp: 164 F, Target Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 3.1 gal
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Starting Grain Temp: 65 °F

If you're sourcing Crisp's malt use the Vienna. It's their take on mild malt, rebranded when mild went out of fashoin.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

If you're sourcing Crisp's malt use the Vienna. It's their take on mild malt, rebranded when mild went out of fashoin.

That's really helpful, thanks for the insight. I actually have about 8 lbs of Golden Promise left from a prior brew, so I think I'm just going to use that up as the base malt.

 

[wepeeler]

That's really helpful, thanks for the insight. I actually have about 8 lbs of Golden Promise left from a prior brew, so I think I'm just going to use that up as the base malt.

I won a homebrew comp at a local brewery with this recipe last month. We're working on scaling it up right now so I can help them brew it on a pro system. I used Golden Promise. 1 pack SO4. I used Fuggles in my first go around and much preferred EKG.

Made a Dark Mild which was a sleeper hit at a pour event I went to this past weekend. Stupid easy recipe.

88% GP/MO
4% Brown malt
3.5% Pale Chocolate
3% Crystal 120L
1.5% Blackprinz
Willamette/EKG for 20IBU
SO4 fermented at 67F

Tastes sooo smooth. Almost like a fully attenuated soda, for lack of a better description. Slight chocolate/roast, excellent malt profile, very smooth bitterness.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Yummmm, sounds tasty (and congrats on the W!). Maybe I'll just turn Winter 2024-25 into dark mild fest and try a few of the recipes I've come across, your included.

Cheers!

 

[Bramling Cross]

For what it's worth, here's where my mild has evolved to after a couple decades. On the whole, I'm okay with this recipe. It's about what I'd like it to be, but I can’t ever leave well enough alone. Ideally, I'd like to delete the light C-malt, but the beer suffers for its absence--its caramel sweetness seems to help unify the sugar and malt flavors. The Midnight Wheat at 1.5% is there only as a colorant and lends next to nothing to the ale’s flavor profile. With the weather finally cooling, I plan to evict the Midnight Wheat this winter by trying my hand at making my own caramel colorant (or ruining a perfectly good sauce pot and burning down my building--time will tell).

Don't overlook the non-iodized salt addition, I've found it to be important. It adds roundness to the recipe and helps to gather up all the aspects, shaves off their rough edges, and makes it into a unified whole. Which, I think, is important for a mild. You don't want any pointy bits sticking out. Those pointy bits have a nasty tendency of pointing you toward a different style.

And this is what it looks like:

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

For what it's worth, here's where my mild has evolved to after a couple decades. On the whole, I'm okay with this recipe. It's about what I'd like it to be, but I can’t ever leave well enough alone. Ideally, I'd like to delete the light C-malt, but the beer suffers for its absence. Its caramel sweetness seems to help unify the sugar and malt flavors. The Midnight Wheat at 1.5% is there only as a colorant and lends next to nothing to the ale’s flavor profile. With the weather finally cooling, I plan to evict the Midnight Wheat this winter by trying my hand at making my own caramel colorant (or ruining a perfectly good sauce pot and burning down my building--time will tell).

View attachment 862407

And this is what it looks like:
View attachment 862408

That's a beautiful beer, bravo! Tasty looking recipe, too.

Funny, I added Midnight Wheat back to my recipe on the 1,253th round of tinkering this week. I've settled on this recipe for my first go:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.027
Efficiency: 73% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.037
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 3.62%
IBU (tinseth): 17.54
SRM (morey): 21.14
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
6.25 lb - Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt (81.1%)
0.5 lb - British Crystal 50/60L (6.5%)
0.5 lb - Pale Chocolate (6.5%)
0.33 lb - Dark Crystal Malt II (4.3%)
2 oz - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.6%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 17.54

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Start Temp: 165 F, Target Temp: 154 F, 60 minutes

 

[Bramling Cross]

That's a beautiful beer, bravo! Tasty looking recipe, too.

Funny, I added Midnight Wheat back to my recipe on the 1,253th round of tinkering this week. I've settled on this recipe for my first go:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.027
Efficiency: 73% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.037
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 3.62%
IBU (tinseth): 17.54
SRM (morey): 21.14
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
6.25 lb - Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt (81.1%)
0.5 lb - British Crystal 50/60L (6.5%)
0.5 lb - Pale Chocolate (6.5%)
0.33 lb - Dark Crystal Malt II (4.3%)
2 oz - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.6%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 17.54

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Start Temp: 165 F, Target Temp: 154 F, 60 minutes

Thank you for the very kind words.

I think that'll make a great ale and I'd be happy to have a pint of that.

Having previously tried to use chocolate malt in a mild, I found that it was just too much for too little ale. Ultimately, those experiments resulted in my current brown porter recipe. I found myself staring nails at a glass of excellent ale that wasn't the mild that I had intended it to be when it finally dawned on me, "Hold on, this is the start of a brown porter!" It evolved from there.

As a glutton for punishment, I insist upon having a mild, a brown porter, and Northern and Southern browns in my portfolio. That's a crowded neighborhood! They're all dark but vary noticeably in terms of malt expression/sweetness/roastiness, etc so it's always a struggle for me to keep them starkly distinct from each other. That explains my reluctance to use chocolate malt in my mild.

Personally, I'd ditch the Midnight Wheat. You've got more than enough dark stuff in that ale. You're going to hit your color and more with that grist.

With all that said, I think you're going to really enjoy that ale. I wouldn't call it a mild, though. I would, however, call for a second pint.

 

[An Ankoù]

Looks delicious and the recipe's spot on for a mild. I tend to use black wheat malt nowadays, too. It seems smoother and less bitter than patent black malt.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Looks delicious and the recipe's spot on for a mild. I tend to use black wheat malt nowadays, too. It seems smoother and less bitter than patent black malt.

Thanks, I'm eager to brew it! Just have to wait out this drought in the Northeast. I brew outdoors on a stand burner, but we're under a "burn ban" on Lond Island so the brewing will have to wait until we get some rain. Stay tuned!

 

[Miraculix]

To give you a bit of pain relieve, I just happen to have bottled a dark mild this weekend with one bottle being probably more authentic than all of the others.

It was the last bottle from the fermenter which was missing about one third of it's volume. But oh little bottle don't fear the empty space. I've had a pint of the marvellous old ale I've brewed over a year ago in my hand which I finished already 50% of. In a artistically perfect manner, I managed to fill the void in the bottle with almost the entire remainder of the beer in my glass, capped the bottle and labelled the crown cap with xxx.

Now that I'm sober, I'm a bit scared of this bottle to be honest . But according to what you are saying, this is apparently part of the dark mild experience. I am authentic.

Drank that one bottle. Was a bit overcarbed but a really nice beer. I Start to understand why in the old days young and old ales were mixed in the glas. It results in an interesting flavour combination. In a good way.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

I brewed the recipe below yesterday. Overshot OG a touch, came in at 1.040. The 1469 yeast is bubbling away at 65F with a thick, "fudgey" krausen on top.

In a nod to Northern England and my love of Oasis and Manchester, I'm dubbing this one "Rkid Dark Mild," or "Da[rk] Ml[d]".

Very excited for this one, will report back when it's bottled and conditioned in late December/early January.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Da[rk] Ml[d]

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.75 gallons
Efficiency: 73% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.038
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 3.55%
IBU (tinseth): 17.71
SRM (morey): 19.77


FERMENTABLES:
6.66 lb - Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt (83.4%)
0.5 lb - British Crystal 50/60L (6.3%)
0.4 lb - Pale Chocolate (5%)
0.3 lb - Dark Crystal Malt II (3.8%)
2 oz - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.6%)

HOPS:
1.25 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.0, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.41
0.33 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.0, Use: Boil for 25 min, IBU: 3.31

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Whirlfloc tablet, Time: 30 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
1 oz - Yeast Nutrient, Time: 30 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - West Yorkshire 1469

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Target Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min

 

[UdonPete]

I brewed the recipe below yesterday. Overshot OG a touch, came in at 1.040. The 1469 yeast is bubbling away at 65F with a thick, "fudgey" krausen on top.

In a nod to Northern England and my love of Oasis and Manchester, I'm dubbing this one "Rkid Dark Mild," or "Da[rk] Ml[d]".

Very excited for this one, will report back when it's bottled and conditioned in late December/early January.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Da[rk] Ml[d]

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.75 gallons
Efficiency: 73% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.038
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 3.55%
IBU (tinseth): 17.71
SRM (morey): 19.77


FERMENTABLES:
6.66 lb - Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt (83.4%)
0.5 lb - British Crystal 50/60L (6.3%)
0.4 lb - Pale Chocolate (5%)
0.3 lb - Dark Crystal Malt II (3.8%)
2 oz - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.6%)

HOPS:
1.25 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.0, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.41
0.33 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.0, Use: Boil for 25 min, IBU: 3.31

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Whirlfloc tablet, Time: 30 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
1 oz - Yeast Nutrient, Time: 30 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - West Yorkshire 1469

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Target Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min

Just about to cold crash my version - used S-04 so will be interesting to compare

 

[DuncB]

My Mild brewed on Saturday.
Where recipe says 300g coconut sugar was in fact, 100g of coconut sugar, 100g of Demerara and 100g of white inverted and slow cooked for a total of about 3 hours. Reversed the inversion with bicarb.

Mashed at 69 for 60 minutes.

 

[UdonPete]

My Mild brewed on Saturday.
Where recipe says 300g coconut sugar was in fact, 100g of coconut sugar, 100g of Demerara and 100g of white inverted and slow cooked for a total of about 3 hours. Reversed the inversion with bicarb.

Mashed at 69 for 60 minutes. View attachment 863620

Interesting, not a conventinal dark mild but It will be interesting how it turns out

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

My Mild brewed on Saturday.
Where recipe says 300g coconut sugar was in fact, 100g of coconut sugar, 100g of Demerara and 100g of white inverted and slow cooked for a total of about 3 hours. Reversed the inversion with bicarb.

Mashed at 69 for 60 minutes. View attachment 863620

A bit crystal heavy for my taste,but seems like a decent brew. You can find some milds that were crystal heavy but most post ww2 milds seem to have been around 4-8% crystal.
Some flavour hops as a 20 min addition and/or a hopstand or whirlpool won't hurt, use a light hand though. You want a complimentary hop flavour not a dominant feature.
I've got a mild on tap right now that is pretty simple and nice:

Base 50/50 mix simpson MO/Vienna
5% Simpson dark crystal
5% Simpson chocolate
5%wheat malt
12% invert 3
Caramel colour to get it proper dark

Challenger bittering addition at 60min
Hopstand 0.75g/liter of homegrown "böle" hops.
1.035-1.008 20 ibu

 

[duelerx]

Except the whole premise is wrong, you can do all the stats you like but if the input is based on "what does well in US homebrew competitions" then the output is going to be garbage.

It's like saying that the correct way to make pad thai is based on the recipes that won the Best Thai Food in Germany competition and concluding that true pad thai uses sauerkraut.

If nothing else, basing recipes off competition winners will tend to select for "extremes", and the whole point of mild is that it's a very modest, ordinary beer, so "champion mild" is a bit of a contradiction in terms.

Lol this is spot on in the homebrew community

 

[cire]

There is only one rule for my Mild Ale, never serve it cold, 50F or slightly warmer. By all means store it lower if necessary, but give it time to warm or a short blast in a microwave

There are some fabulous Milds, others not so great, but I feel serving a Mild at any temperature where the beauty of the meld of dark malts and sugars are squandered, is just one reason why Milds are not fully respected.

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

There is only one rule for my Mild Ale, never serve it cold, 50F or slightly warmer. By all means store it lower if necessary, but give it time to warm or a short blast in a microwave

There are some fabulous Milds, others not so great, but I feel serving a Mild at any temperature where the beauty of the meld of dark malts and sugars are squandered, is just one reason why Milds are not fully respected.

Amen. I tend to enjoy most of my English/Irish/Scottish ales on the warmer side (at least the maltier ones).

The krausen on the 1469 is THICC and gooey. Aromas coming through the airlock are enticing. Really excited for this one in a few weeks.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I feel serving a Mild at any temperature where the beauty of the meld of dark malts and sugars are squandered, is just one reason why Milds are not fully respected.

Ditto for overcarbonation, it can utterly destroy the balance of most British beers, and the lighter ones like mild in particular.