Dark Mild Reaper's Mild, 1st place 2011 HBT Competition

[azscoob]

Just tasted this, mashed at 154 w/WLP002. Thumbs up! It doesn't taste watery at all, perfect blend of British fruity esters and toasty chocolate flavor.

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.

 

[rexbanner]

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

 

[azscoob]

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!!!

 

[rexbanner]

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!

 

[azscoob]

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!

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!)

 

[rexbanner]

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!)

 

[azscoob]

Aah, looks good! starting to drool now.

 

[BREWCREW44]

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

 

[azscoob]

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!

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

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

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]

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!

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.

 

[azscoob]

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.

I would rather answer a few how do I do this questions now than answer the what did I do wrong questions later!

 

[GRBC]

Cheers! A little roasty for my taste, but still very drinkable. Thanks.

 

[SenorPepe]

This beer is fantastic! Just thought I'd mention. I used WY 1335 and it came out great. I'd never had anything like it but now I think I'll keep this one around most of the time. Cheers.

 

[azscoob]

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.

 

[menisale]

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.

 

[azscoob]

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.

 

[Rubes]

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?

 

[rexbanner]

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]

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.

 

[Rubes]

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.

Is Caramel 60 different than Crystal 60?..

 

[SwampassJ]

Is Caramel 60 different than Crystal 60?..

A post not long ago described them as sifferent malting/crystallization procedures but as far as I know the malsters usually interchange the names between the two without rwally listing amy sidferwnces. But for our purposes they should.be the. Same for us.

Phone post.

 

[Rubes]

Thanks guys.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

Wow I can't believe I've never brewed Orfy's or your version of his Mild recipe. Thanks very much for posting, and thanks for the extra info about 2-row+victory vs marris otter, that is very helpful.

 

[azscoob]

Wow I can't believe I've never brewed Orfy's or your version of his Mild recipe. Thanks very much for posting, and thanks for the extra info about 2-row+victory vs marris otter, that is very helpful.

Glad I could help!

 

[stevet]

Here is my posting of Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale that took 1st place, category 11 in the 2011 HBT homebrew competition, and was a part of the "Orfy's mild mini-comp".

5 lb 8 oz Maris Otter (Crisp, UK)
1 lb 8 oz Crystal 60L (Crisp, UK)
6 oz Chocolate malt (Crisp, UK)

1 oz UK Fuggle 4.30% at 45 minutes
1 oz UK Fuggle 4.30% at 15 minutes

Brewhouse efficiency for this recipe is set to 75%

Mash at 158 degrees for 60 minutes at 1.25:1 ratio, mashout with 1 gallon of boiling water and Vorlauf till first runnings are clear. Double batch sparge with 170 degree water to get to pre-boil volume.

Pitch yeast at the starting fermentation temp of 65 degrees and ramp up to 68 degrees after 3 days at initial fermentation temp.

After 10 days of primary fermentation rack to a keg or bottling bucket and carb to 1.8 volumes.

A few notes about this beer:

If you have never tried a Northern English Mild, you are missing out on a great full flavored session beer that is both an inexpensive beer to brew and it is a quick beer to go from grain to glass, it can be ready to drink in a couple weeks if you push it.

I always have a great time brewing this beer, if I don't have Maris Otter, I use 4.5 lbs of 2-row and a pound of victory malt to approximate the MO, don't have victory? Just toast a pound of your 2-row at 350 degrees for 16 minutes and let it sit in a bag for a week prior to brewing. It also lends itself well to other English hops, and if Notty is not your thing, use S-04 or WLP002.

As requested be included in the recipe, the yeast that was used for my competition beer was a long forgotten packet of Nottingham yeast that had an expiration date of March 2006, it would appear it made a fine beer after all that time!

Going to try this one this weekend

 

[azscoob]

Going to try this one this weekend

After you try this beer, you are going to want to get brewing another batch because it is going to disappear quickly!

I am going to be brewing this one real soon, probably going to be a double brewday, going to brew my Bitter Brit ordinary bitter at the same time.

 

[Coldies]

I did a batch a while back and this stuff came out great. Good session beer thats full of flavor.I'm gonna brew it again soon and I 'm gonna use some Wyeast "Thames Valley" that I have lying around. Looking forward to it.

 

[PleasantValleyHops]

Just brewed tonight. Smelled awesome whole time. (all brews do so). But im hoping for a great session beer for more brewing. And if it turns out great i have 6 empty kegs that need filling so i cam brew a big batch if i want. Thanks for the recipe. Hope it turns out great like everyone eho brewed it here

 

[azscoob]

As long as you keep your temps in check you should have a nice full flavored session ale.

I enjoy drinking this one on the weekends when working around the house, or anytime I need to still function after having a couple beers.