English Mild help

[Abbas]

I have a break from responsibilities today so I figured why not turn it into a brew day. I’ve been wanted to brew an English Mild and figured why not. I’m planning on running to my home brew store in a couple hours.

Below is the recipe I’m working on, but not sure if someone can help me tweek it.

I also wanted to bring this up closer to 3.8-4 abv in beer smith, but when I do it’s showing the OG as over.

6lbs Maris Otter
8oz Chocolate Malt
8oz Carmel Malt 60L
1oz EKG 60 minutes
1oz BCG 5 minutes
WLP002

Right now that’s putting me at 3.32 abv which was a little lower than I was hoping.

 

[ProblemChild]

subscribing to see how this goes. Need to brew this style myself

 

[bucketnative]

Throw in another pound of base? Seems the easiest.
or
Maybe 8 oz biscuit, 8 oz Marris Otter added?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I also wanted to bring this up closer to 3.8-4 abv in beer smith, but when I do it’s showing the OG as over....

Right now that’s putting me at 3.32 abv which was a little lower than I was hoping.

This is a classic example of the ridiculous strait-jackets that the rigid US concept of "style" puts on brewers. British brewers haven't read the BJCP guidelines, and nowhere is that more obvious than mild, which historically was any unaged beer, dark or light, typically of 7-9%. Even today when most people think of mild as a weak, dark beer, there's still several examples of pale mild around, and a handful of much stronger ones such as the Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild which is one of those "benchmark" beers that breaks all the rules. But just last week I was in a pub with a 6% Victorian mild on the bar.

So don't sweat it too much - yes, the classic milds have a pretty hard ABV limit of 3.8%, but there is a small group of stronger ones that come in at 4.6-5.5% or so which start overlapping with porters. So I have some sympathy with the BJCP discouraging you from going too much over 1.038, but there's a bit of flex there. Just don't go over 3.8% ABV if you're going for "classic" mild.

Part of it is that the heartland of the style is the West Midlands and there's no yeast from there that's readily available, WLP002 is probably not quite right for mild, it's not a London style. If you believe the attribution of Wyeast 1318 then it will have made some mild in its time, and WLP028 is a good all-round yeast for British styles. I've not used it but I suspect Mangrove Jack M15 is a perfect yeast for mild, and despite coming allegedly from Rochefort, WLP540 is a British yeast in a similar vein that I suspect would work well.

One thought - why not partigyle, make a porter from say 70-80% of the first runnings, then mix the rest with the second runnings for your mild?

BCG????

 

[Abbas]

Throw in another pound of base? Seems the easiest.
or
Maybe 8 oz biscuit, 8 oz Marris Otter added?

I ended up adding 1lb biscuit.I know it’s a little heavy on the biscuit, but I wanted to get interesting and your idea sounded great!

This is a classic example of the ridiculous strait-jackets that the rigid US concept of "style" puts on brewers. British brewers haven't read the BJCP guidelines, and nowhere is that more obvious than mild, which historically was any unaged beer, dark or light, typically of 7-9%. Even today when most people think of mild as a weak, dark beer, there's still several examples of pale mild around, and a handful of much stronger ones such as the Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild which is one of those "benchmark" beers that breaks all the rules. But just last week I was in a pub with a 6% Victorian mild on the bar.

So don't sweat it too much - yes, the classic milds have a pretty hard ABV limit of 3.8%, but there is a small group of stronger ones that come in at 4.6-5.5% or so which start overlapping with porters. So I have some sympathy with the BJCP discouraging you from going too much over 1.038, but there's a bit of flex there. Just don't go over 3.8% ABV if you're going for "classic" mild.

Part of it is that the heartland of the style is the West Midlands and there's no yeast from there that's readily available, WLP002 is probably not quite right for mild, it's not a London style. If you believe the attribution of Wyeast 1318 then it will have made some mild in its time, and WLP028 is a good all-round yeast for British styles. I've not used it but I suspect Mangrove Jack M15 is a perfect yeast for mild, and despite coming allegedly from Rochefort, WLP540 is a British yeast in a similar vein that I suspect would work well.

One thought - why not partigyle, make a porter from say 70-80% of the first runnings, then mix the rest with the second runnings for your mild?

BCG????

The whole concept of what’s considered a Mild or not definitely gets confusing.

My final recipe ended up at a projected 1.042 OG (I hit it dead on which has never happened before!) my projected abv is 3.8.

I still went with the WLP002 since I read in elsewhere that it is a solid choice for milds (leaves a slight residual sweetness). I will need to look at some of these other yeasts for future recipes. I’ll let you know how this round turns out.

I’ve never brewed alone before, but have done it with my friend 3 times before. I have never explored patrtigyling, but will look into it for future batches. I ended up just picking up a 5 gallon pot so I could just brew in my kitchen and I cut my recipe in half.

B.C. Goldings. Didn’t end up picking it up and just bought 1oz of EKG since I cut my recipe in half.

2 questions... I don’t need a secondary do I?
When should I bottle?

 

[Abbas]

subscribing to see how this goes. Need to brew this style myself

I’ll keep it updated! My house smelled AMAZING when I was brewing this stuff last night. It smelled like a pretzel.

 

[Abbas]

Right now it’s hanging out in my laundry room in the closet. Ambient temp is about 67. Rest of my house is kept at 70, but that room is always coolest. True temp control is on my list of next investments.

 

[rhys333]

This is a classic example of the ridiculous strait-jackets that the rigid US concept of "style" puts on brewers. British brewers haven't read the BJCP guidelines, and nowhere is that more obvious than mild, which historically was any unaged beer, dark or light, typically of 7-9%. Even today when most people think of mild as a weak, dark beer, there's still several examples of pale mild around, and a handful of much stronger ones such as the Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild which is one of those "benchmark" beers that breaks all the rules. But just last week I was in a pub with a 6% Victorian mild on the bar.

So don't sweat it too much - yes, the classic milds have a pretty hard ABV limit of 3.8%, but there is a small group of stronger ones that come in at 4.6-5.5% or so which start overlapping with porters. So I have some sympathy with the BJCP discouraging you from going too much over 1.038, but there's a bit of flex there. Just don't go over 3.8% ABV if you're going for "classic" mild.

Part of it is that the heartland of the style is the West Midlands and there's no yeast from there that's readily available, WLP002 is probably not quite right for mild, it's not a London style. If you believe the attribution of Wyeast 1318 then it will have made some mild in its time, and WLP028 is a good all-round yeast for British styles. I've not used it but I suspect Mangrove Jack M15 is a perfect yeast for mild, and despite coming allegedly from Rochefort, WLP540 is a British yeast in a similar vein that I suspect would work well.

One thought - why not partigyle, make a porter from say 70-80% of the first runnings, then mix the rest with the second runnings for your mild?

BCG????

I'm brewing a 3% Russian Imperial Stout.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Man, that's a lot of biscuit.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I’ve never brewed alone before, but have done it with my friend 3 times before. I have never explored partigyling, but will look into it for future batches. I ended up just picking up a 5 gallon pot so I could just brew in my kitchen and I cut my recipe in half.

B.C. Goldings. Didn’t end up picking it up and just bought 1oz of EKG since I cut my recipe in half.

2 questions... I don’t need a secondary do I?
When should I bottle?

OK, it's probably best to hold off on the partigyle until you've got a bit more experience with "normal" brews.

Fair enough, we don't see BCG when we've got more than enough Goldings of our own!

Secondary - nope.

When you've got a steady gravity reading. Having said that, you want to be a bit careful with so much headspace, it's going to be quite easy to oxidise it once the yeast starts to run out of food. I'd probably give it 7-10 days and then bottle. I'd give the WLP002 a swirl ASAP though, toencourage it to stay in suspension for a bit longer.

 

[Abbas]

Man, that's a lot of biscuit.

Never brewed with it. The guy at my brew store said the same thing, but he told me I should go for it so I did

 

[Abbas]

OK, it's probably best to hold off on the partigyle until you've got a bit more experience with "normal" brews.

Fair enough, we don't see BCG when we've got more than enough Goldings of our own!

Secondary - nope.

When you've got a steady gravity reading. Having said that, you want to be a bit careful with so much headspace, it's going to be quite easy to oxidise it once the yeast starts to run out of food. I'd probably give it 7-10 days and then bottle. I'd give the WLP002 a swirl ASAP though, toencourage it to stay in suspension for a bit longer.

Appreciate the help!

 

[Abbas]

I have a little under 2.5 gallons of liquid. Not sure how much priming sugar/water to add to bottle. Any suggestions?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You don't want to overdo it, at the same time for bottles I think you need a bit more than the guides suggest - around 4g/l.

 

[kevin58]

What if I told you that Mild, as it was originally brewed was not dark... not lightly hopped... andnot low in ABV? Opens up a world of possibilities don't it.

Here's a recipe from the brew logs of one of London's largest brewers in the 1800's, Barclay Perkins... You won't have to poke around much in Ron's blog to find more.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2017/06/lets-brew-1862-barclay-perkins-xx.html

 

[Abbas]

I bottled yesterday and tasted it before I did. I'm overall impressed, and can't wait until it's carbonated and cold. My fiancee broke my hydrometer so I didn't get to test the FG unfortunately. I'll keep you guys posted on final product and let you know what others think of it.

What if I told you that Mild, as it was originally brewed was not dark... not lightly hopped... andnot low in ABV? Opens up a world of possibilities don't it.

Here's a recipe from the brew logs of one of London's largest brewers in the 1800's, Barclay Perkins... You won't have to poke around much in Ron's blog to find more.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2017/06/lets-brew-1862-barclay-perkins-xx.html

Great read, but definitely not the flavor profile or ABV I was going for on this one. I was trying for a very sessionable and malt forward beer. The whole "mild" category is deeply confusing, but this is the kind of "mild" I wanted to brew.

You don't want to overdo it, at the same time for bottles I think you need a bit more than the guides suggest - around 4g/l.

Thanks for the help throughout the brew. I went with your recommendation of 4g/l.

 

[kevin58]

I bottled yesterday and tasted it before I did. I'm overall impressed, and can't wait until it's carbonated and cold. My fiancee broke my hydrometer so I didn't get to test the FG unfortunately. I'll keep you guys posted on final product and let you know what others think of it.



Great read, but definitely not the flavor profile or ABV I was going for on this one. I was trying for a very sessionable and malt forward beer. The whole "mild" category is deeply confusing, but this is the kind of "mild" I wanted to brew.

"Mild" has definitely had a twisting, turning evolution. To start with, "Mild" was never a style to begin with. The word "Mild" in the very early 1800's simply meant served young or not aged. You could be served a mild pale ale or a mild porter or any style of beer that was served soon after fermentation was complete.

Somewhere in the early to mid 1800's the term mild was used to describe a particular beer. Any time you see a beer described with X's they are talking about a "mild". X being the lowest in alcohol with XX, XXX and even XXXX which approached barleywine strength.

Taxes and shortages in materials during WWI brought the strength of milds way down. The color started getting darker too. There was a slight rebound in 1920 when the war ended but again, when WWII broke out less than 20 years later the strength dropped and the color got even darker.

This post war version is what the the style guidelines all use to define mild to this day.

 

[Abbas]

For beers with low gravities like this one, is it still recommended to wait a full 3 weeks before opening a bottle?

 

[Abbas]

Figured I’d give an update for anyone following along. Tried it yesterday because I couldn’t wait. It’s definitely not done carbonating. One more week and it will be good to go. Flavor was pretty good: malty, perfect balance of bitterness, not hoppy, not fully carbonated and the head dissipated rather quickly. Overall very drinkable. The only thing that seemed like it was missing was a touch of sweetness. I’ll reassess at 3 weeks and then again at 4 and post pictures.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Yeah, I generally try to leave it 2 weeks for bottle conditioning but 10 days is probably enough. Filling one plastic bottle is a good way to track carbonation.

 

[Abbas]

This is 3 1/2 weeks post bottling. Overall I think it turned out great. Carbonation is light, but not undercarbonated, which I believe matches the style. The head dissipates relatively quickly. Color is dark brown copper to Amber (pictures I took make it look more red than what it is).

The smell is bready, malty, yeasty, and slightly sweet.
The taste is malt forward, with bread, toast, light bitterness from the hops, a subtle sweetness at the beginning and a dryer finish. I felt like it was a well balanced sessionable beer. I’m loving it and impressed for my first attempt.

My fiancée said it was very good and she’s an honest critic. Can’t wait to have some other people try it and get some additional feedback.