Dark Mild Recipe Feedback

[BreezyBrew]

Hello HBT'ers! Looking for some feedback on my most recent version of the mild recipe that I make. I realize that while magnum isn't a traditional hop, I wanted to use something very clean to get the malt profile dialed in. Here's what I am looking at brewing:

Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.26 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 21.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 9.9 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.1 %
8.0 oz Amber (Crisp) (27.5 SRM) Grain 5.5 %
4.8 oz Pale Chocolate (Crisp) (400.0 SRM) Grain 3.3 %
4.8 oz Special B (Castle Malting) (152.3 SRM) Grain 3.3 %
4.1 oz Golden Naked Oats (3.0 SRM) Grain 2.8 %
3.1 oz Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (415.0 SRM Grain 2.1 %
0.64 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 29.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast


Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

[BreezyBrew]

So I brewed the recipe as is with one minor change. I boiled for 90 minutes. Its about 24 hours after pitching and the wort tasted delicious. Looking forward to see how this one turns out!

 

[sptaylor70]

Kind of a heavy mild, on the edge of being a brown ale. Nice idea.

Your might swap out the pale chocolate and Carafa for just plain British chocolate malt, or just settle on pale chocolate and swap your amber for brown malt - simplify your grain bill, slightly, and keep everything British.

Might be worthwhile to split your bittering between a FWH and 60-minute boil. Thinking about something like Bramling Cross or Northdown for your next version?

 

[RonPopeil]

Looks similar to a grain bill I did yesterday. I only bittered to 21 IBU on 1.043 OG.

 

[Bob]

This sounds like a yummy beer! The line between Brown Ale and Dark Mild is blurry. This smacks a bit too heavily of Brown Ale for me - Mild tops out at 1.040 and 20 IBU in my book. But that doesn't really matter. It's fun to pick nits with the style sheets, but if in the end you're drinking good beer, what does it matter?

I think you could simplify your grist. In my experience, homebrewers tend alarmingly to overcomplicate their recipes. It never helps. Check out my Dark Mild recipe. The only reason the Special Roast is even in there at all is because it adds a malty "oomph" extract tends to lack.

If yours were my beer, it'd be Pale and Amber malts with just enough Special B and Chocolate for body, color, and a bit of flavor.

I adore Magnum. Magnum and Target are two of the best bittering varieties available.

I'm glad your ferment is progressing nicely and tastes good. Good luck!

Bob

 

[BreezyBrew]

This sounds like a yummy beer! The line between Brown Ale and Dark Mild is blurry. This smacks a bit too heavily of Brown Ale for me - Mild tops out at 1.040 and 20 IBU in my book. But that doesn't really matter. It's fun to pick nits with the style sheets, but if in the end you're drinking good beer, what does it matter?

I think you could simplify your grist. In my experience, homebrewers tend alarmingly to overcomplicate their recipes. It never helps. Check out my Dark Mild recipe. The only reason the Special Roast is even in there at all is because it adds a malty "oomph" extract tends to lack.

If yours were my beer, it'd be Pale and Amber malts with just enough Special B and Chocolate for body, color, and a bit of flavor.

I adore Magnum. Magnum and Target are two of the best bittering varieties available.

I'm glad your ferment is progressing nicely and tastes good. Good luck!

Bob

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

The last time I made this recipe, I used carafa II special and carapils. This time I thought I would add more chocolate/coffee/roast notes with the pale chocolate, since just the carafa II wasn't complex enough on the dark side. I thought oats would be a nice addition over carapils to build in more flavor.

I like the suggestions, i'll probably trim some of the dark malts back next time around... maybe just use one next time depending on how it turns out. My main goal was to build in as much flavor as I could since the ABV is so low. As far as hops go, on my system, they seem to register about 5 - 10 IBU's lower so I don't think they will be too over the top (hopefully).

Will post how this turns out when it gets carbed up, but may be a few weeks since I am getting married on the 28th. Happy Brewing!

BTW, Brewing in the Virgin Islands... life must be tough!

 

[Weezy]

It's on the fringes of the style for sure with Special B and the golden naked oats being a bit exotic, and I personally prefer a hint of English fruity/resiny hops coming through... but this looks quite Tasty! let us know how it turns out.

 

[Braufessor]

I brew a lot of milds and enjoy a complex grain bill (like yours). I am looking for roasty/full beer that seems to exceed its surprisingly low alcohol.

I experiment a lot with this style as it is my favorite.... especially on a beer engine. But, some general things I have found success with:

75-80% base/20-25% specialty ratio
Some things I have done with base - all maris otter, all Briess ashburne mild malt, blend of maris and munich, blend of maris and ashburne. My preference is the Maris otter/Ashburne Mild Malt blend...... 45% Maris Otter, 35% Ashburne Mild Malt for about 80% of total grist.

Specialty Grains:
I like a complex mix that blends well into something smooth, rich and full. Grains I use regularly to attempt this:
Pale Chocolate
Brown Malt
Golden Naked Oats
Flaked Barley
British Crystal 120

I use a fairly even blend of these at 3-5% of grist to make up the 20-25% of the total grain bill.

May add an ounce or two of regular chocolate to tweak color.

Yeast - 1968, 1469 (on the cool end) and 1318 have all done well for me.

Hops - 1 ounce of EKG for 60 min. Aiming for about 17-18 IBU

Gravity - Hitting the high end of 1.038-1.040 usually. Gonna experiment more with bringing this down a bit by reducing base portion in equal amts.

If I was going to critique one thing in your recipe, it would be the Special B...... that may be personal preference. I am not a big fan of it, and it is a strong flavored grain. I would reduce or eliminate that - personally.

Milds are a GREAT beer though..... converted an awful lot of BMC drinkers to "dark beer."

 

[Bob]

... may be a few weeks since I am getting married on the 28th...

Congrats! May you enjoy a long and fulfilling time together.

BTW, Brewing in the Virgin Islands... life must be tough!

As the saying goes, it don't suck much. Actually, it can be a pain in the tuchus for a variety of reasons, but to live and work here is a dream come true.

Bob