By-Tor
Well-Known Member
I'm brewing this in 2 weeks.Right now i'm drinking APA recipe i got from azscoob,alot of good recipes come out of Grain Reaper Brewery.Holloween is soon, can't wait to stop by for some award winning samples!!
Dark Mild Reaper's Mild, 1st place 2011 HBT Competition
- Thread starter azscoob
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SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
Mashed in at 1.15quarts to lbs of grain at 154 and then mashed out with an additional 4 quarts of boiling water to hit 168 degrees. Ended up with 82% efficiency with an OG of 1.041. Chilling in the deep freezer to 64 degrees before I pitch some WLP 005. Now time to go sparge my bitter.
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I'm not sure if there will be a party this year, since adopting our son things have been upside-down around the house. Thee will be some beers on draft to try though, see you Halloween!
I have been getting similar numbers on my system.
corwin6654
Well-Known Member
Brewed this up last Friday with a bunch of new brewing equipment I just got. It's my first brew with a new false bottom in my mash tun to replace the stainless steel braid that had collapsed. Also the first time I used pure oxygen (new williams brewing oxygen kit), and my first brew in my fermentation fridge with temp control. I'm excited to see how it turns out! I hit an OG of 1.042, so better efficiency with my new false bottom. I let it ferment until Monday night @ 65 F, then kicked er up to 68. I'll probably check the gravity this weekend and if it's done bottle. If it's good, it will be entered in a local competition on 10/22. Thanks for the recipe!
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
You have some nice new toys there!
You are going to love this beer, good luck in that comp, keep me posted how you do.
hawgwild81
Well-Known Member
I hoping to make this on Saturday depending on wether or not my grains arrive on time. This will be my first attempt at all grain so I had a noob question.
What exactly does it mean to mash at a 1.25:1 ratio? Thanks for the help and thanks for sharing the recipe! Can't wait to try it.
What exactly does it mean to mash at a 1.25:1 ratio? Thanks for the help and thanks for sharing the recipe! Can't wait to try it.
corwin6654
Well-Known Member
It means when you are first mixing your grains with water, to mix 1.25 quarts of water for every 1 pound of grain.
hawgwild81
Well-Known Member
Thanks corwin!
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain, thats what the 1.25:1 is
Thanks guys, Im a bit slow today...
Thanks guys, Im a bit slow today...
FromZwolle
I don't want to be cremated, I want to be malted.
yep. that shouldn't be a problem. most if not all the fermenting should be done by then.
SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
4.5 gallons with WLP 005 finished at 1.014 has has a very nice earthyness and complex esters (not at all fruity).
1 gallon with 1/3 packet of nottingham, also finished at same FG which is oddly high for notty. Taste wise it is the same old notty that I still do not care for. Very dry, with that mineral taste. Does not taste like the same beer at all.
Bottled both at 1.8 volumes.
1 gallon with 1/3 packet of nottingham, also finished at same FG which is oddly high for notty. Taste wise it is the same old notty that I still do not care for. Very dry, with that mineral taste. Does not taste like the same beer at all.
Bottled both at 1.8 volumes.
BREWCREW44
Member
ok so I tried to find someone talking about ABV on this recipe and I didn't see it so I will ask. I put this thing through beer calculus and it says that the ABV is 3.6% is this true. I am aiming for a 10 gallon batch with 11 lbs maris 2 lbs cystal 60 and 3/4 lb chocolate - This beer has gotten a lot of good reviews but i'm not thrilled with the ABV. I know I can jack up the grains but I'm not sure if anyone has
Why would you want to up the ABV? Just asking.
English milds are generally < 4.5% which is I think what makes this a great recipe. Easy, sessionable drinker that is quick grain-glass.
English milds are generally < 4.5% which is I think what makes this a great recipe. Easy, sessionable drinker that is quick grain-glass.
BREWCREW44
Member
3.6% just doesn't appeal to me to much. I'm not looking to wrecked off of this beer by any means. I guess I was more suprised then anything else by how low the ABV is. Personally, I wouldn't want to make anything south of 4%
SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
Just add 2lbs of Marris Otter and you'll be at 1.044OG and if you can get it to finish south of 1.013 you'll be at 4%. You could also just add some dextrose but I don't recommend it.
SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
2 weeks in the bottle and I'll say it's much better (to my tastes) with 005 than the Nottingham. Next re-brew I'll try with either less crystal or a lower crystal like 40, and more pale chocolate.
MichaelBrock
Well-Known Member
I'm drinking this now and I quite like it. It does have a bit too much "roast" flavor though. I too think that next time I'll go with a paler chocolate.
SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
I did 6oz of pale chocolate. Needs more, its hidden by the crystal.
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I find this beer is a great balance of toasty roasty chocolate and the subtle fruit from the yeast, my yeast is propogated from that old packet so I may be getting odd flavors but if the temp is right I get a hint of over-ripe peach and plum.
British beers have really grown on me since I started drinking them warm (50 degrees). I can't taste c-60 at colder temps. The harmony of British fruity esters and C-60 is terrific.
Problem is that I brewed this beer for my parents' party, and they talked me up a lot. I'm worried that people aren't going to like it because it is so much different than most beers. BM's Centennial Blonde was a HUGE hit at the last one, and the pressure is on to impress people with just how good homebrew beer is. For people not used to British beers, it might be a little too odd. Wish me luck. Worst case scenario I keep whatever's left over
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
British beers have really grown on me since I started drinking them warm (50 degrees). I can't taste c-60 at colder temps. The harmony of British fruity esters and C-60 is terrific.
Problem is that I brewed this beer for my parents' party, and they talked me up a lot. I'm worried that people aren't going to like it because it is so much different than most beers. BM's Centennial Blonde was a HUGE hit at the last one, and the pressure is on to impress people with just how good homebrew beer is. For people not used to British beers, it might be a little too odd. Wish me luck. Worst case scenario I keep whatever's left over
So you are sayin there isn't a downside?? Good Job Man!!!
Actually it went pretty much perfectly--half the keg was drained
. Also, a botanist offered to let me use her huge amount of land and help me grow some organic barley and hops. Not too bad!
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
Actually it went pretty much perfectly--half the keg was drained
Glad to hear it was a hit! I would go for the hop farming over barley, the growing isnt the issue, I hear malting it is a huge chore.
Post a pic of a pint! or better yet, throw a bottle in the mail to me! (I kid!)
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
Aah, looks good! starting to drool now.
BREWCREW44
Member
Hey I have read all 19 pages of this thread and I can't seem to figure out the boil size. I see the batch size is 5.5 and the mash ratio is 1.25:1. How many gallons do you boil? Thanks
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I start the boil with 7 to 7.2 gallons in the kettle and over the hour it boils down to 5.5 gallons your system may vary though, if you are unsure of the evaporation rate on your brew pot, do a test boil on a known volume of water, bring it to a boil, let it go for an hour and measure the remaining volume (I suppose you could boil for a half hour and double the boiled off volume.). with my keggle I know the evaporation is 1.5 gallons per hour so I base my pre boil volume accordingly to get my target volume post boil.
If you are still fuzzy on the process don't be shy to ask!
If you are still fuzzy on the process don't be shy to ask!
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The boil volume is dictated by the amount of evaporation YOU get, not from someone else. It varies tremendously from one brewer to the other.
M_C
BREWCREW44
Member
Hey thanks for that - I have only brewed about 4 batches with 2 turning out and 2 being epic fails so that is some good info to know going forward.
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
BREWCREW44 said:
I would rather answer a few how do I do this questions now than answer the what did I do wrong questions later!
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I am happy you like the recipe! Some of my friends don't suspect the roasty side of this, but quickly warm up to it and it is now a favorite of theirs.
I brewed this on 11/15 and it came out pretty good. I took the keg up to my LHBS on Saturday and they had a couple glasses each. The feedback was good. The one true judge felt it was a little high on the bitter and maybe a little light on the malt.
So I see the errors of my way was to mash at 152 instead of the suggested 158. I assume if I had mashed at the higher temperature it would have solved both of these areas.
Thank you for the great recipe. The next time i will follow it.
So I see the errors of my way was to mash at 152 instead of the suggested 158. I assume if I had mashed at the higher temperature it would have solved both of these areas.
Thank you for the great recipe. The next time i will follow it.
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azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I brewed this on 11/15 and it came out pretty good. I took the keg up to my LHBS on Saturday and they had a couple glasses each. The feedback was good. The one true judge felt it was a little high on the bitter and maybe a little light on the malt.
So I see the errors of my way was to mash at 152 instead of the suggested 158. I assume if I had mashed at the higher temperature it would have solved both of these areas.
Thank you for the great recipe. The next time i will follow it.
Good self diagnosis, the higher mash temp sweetens it a tick and brings out the malt backbone nicely, this plays well with the bitterness to balance the beer out.
My LHBS has Crystal malt, but I have no idea what the lovibond is on it and neither do the people who work there. It could be anything. How drastically will it affect the flavour if I use a Crystal that's too light or too dark compared to what's in the recipe?
C-60 tastes like caramel, that's the only way I can describe it. Lighter crystal is sweeter, darker crystal is less sweet and more burnt tasting. I think this beer would turn out OK with c-40 or c-80, but it definitely wouldn't be the same. If your LHBS doesn't know this stuff, it might be time to start ordering stuff online.
On another subject, I entered this beer in a comp and it bombed. Respectively, the three other beers I entered all got over 35, and my IPA took first with a 42, but this got a 25. I don't understand...what happened? The judges all said it had a roasty, astringent taste that overshadowed the rest of the beer. Since it was BJCP and both judges had similar comments and scores, I'm inclined to believe them, but I did not notice any of the flavors they did, and I still have this beer on tap. It tastes caramely, with a slight touch of chocolate roast.
The only thing I can think is that maybe the beer changed when it warmed up during shipping or something. I have my water profile dialed, too. What could it be? I used wlp002 instead of nottingham, maybe the astringency they are referring to is the British yeast bite?
MichaelBrock
Well-Known Member
My batch of this beer has a strong burnt flavor as well. In my case I'm thinking that it is due to the "dark chocolate" malt I was provided by my LHBS in an attempt to meet the 350-550 L that azscoob specified in the recipe. It has an almost ashy flavor. If I do this again, I'll definitely tone that back. I do however, find that the burnt flavor is actually less noticeable if I drink it warm.
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