Dark Mild Session Mild (E)

[Bob]

I'd not worry about it. Follow your own procedure and you'll be fine.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[MrWiggles]

I'd not worry about it. Follow your own procedure and you'll be fine.

Cheers!

Bob

Thanks, I figured I would be fine. But it looks like my brew day will be moved to sometime later this week since my LHBS closed at 4 on saturdays... I didn't realize this 'till I was already there, 65miles away from home...

 

[Bob]

Oh, dang! That's a bit of a commute. In fact, one might even go so far as to remove the L from LHBS in your case.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[MrWiggles]

Oh, dang! That's a bit of a commute. In fact, one might even go so far as to remove the L from LHBS in your case.

Cheers,

Bob

You're pretty much right, but it's the best I can do given my situation (living in Alabama...)
So I changed up this recipe a bit, I'll post it on it's own (with props to you for the inspiration of course) if it turns out good.
it is as follows:
5.5lbs light or amber LME (can't tell, I think it's light)
8oz crystal 60
6oz chocolate malt
4oz Briess special roast
.5oz fuggles (4.8%AA)
.5oz liberty (3%AA)
1oz sweet orange peel
2-3oz chocolate extract liquid (at bottling)
WLP011 White labs European Ale yeast.
I shall call it... Fuggerty's Chocolate covered Orange (mild ale) or something to that extent.
Also, How do you think I should implement the sweet orange peel? Boil 1oz @60mins or .5@60 and .5@15 or flameout?
Also, I am going to have 5-10 litres condition in mini kegs for the 'Real Ale' touch.

 

[Bob]

Also, How do you think I should implement the sweet orange peel? Boil 1oz @60mins or .5@60 and .5@15 or flameout?

Add it with five minutes left in the boil or at flameout. The only thing a full boil will do is boil off all the volatiles you're trying to infuse.

Also, I am going to have 5-10 litres condition in mini kegs for the 'Real Ale' touch.

Outstanding!

Bob

 

[MrWiggles]

So I steeped and sparged the grains, added the 5.5lb lme at flameout and the orange peel at about 10mins... somehow I got 1.034 with (measured by bucket) 4.5 gallons and somewhere around 16-18 IBU. My brewcalc said I should have had 1.045(which I knew was wrong) but I cant help but think something went wrong. I'm not going to worry about it, I'll just be a little more sad that I have fewer bottles when it's all done. I tasted my gravity sample and it was quite good with an upfront, slightly smokey and citrusy maltiness smoothed over with the freshly boiled hop aroma and bitterness...I think this one is going to come out great, thanks again for the recipe!

 

[Bob]

I don't think anything went wrong at all. First of all, you're right on-spec. It's just that your volume came in a little low. All malt extract syrups are not alike. They are brewed to different gravities, and will provide different gravity Points Per Gallon (ppg). I expect about 1.036 - 1.037 ppg for LME.

I'm glad the flavors are where you want them to be, and hope you enjoy every last bottle!

Bob

 

[tagz]

Bottled this up today. I ended up leaving in the primary for 3+ weeks, because my dog passed. But, I finially got a taste today and I'm very pleased with the results. It has all the roasty, chocolatey flavors you would want and a nice crisp palate. From the siphon tube, it looks like it's going to be a deep red, brown color, and I used finings so it should have a nice glow. I went with 2.0 for carbonation. I'll give an update in about 2 weeks!


Based on the initial taste, I think this might make a batch to give away at Christmas and made a label dedicated to the old boy.

 

[Bob]

I'm terribly sorry to hear of your loss. We lost our Leopold this summer; you've inspired me to rename this after him.

I miss him terribly. I just went looking for photos to share with you, and now I'm crying like a little girl...

I hope the beer turns out well for you!

Bob

 

[jfr1111]

So the beer is called Leopold's Mild now ? Very nice name, especially when you know why. A dog is really a man's best friend. Mine had to be put down 10 years ago and I still get the "dust in the eye" syndrom when I think about him.

I'm really thinking about this being my first forray into AG or partial. I know it's extract, but it just looks too good and I haven't been able to find a decent session ale since I have moved away from Quebec and its bars. Sure, we have a nice microbrewery (a very nice one I might even say), but they specialized in Belgian and high grav brews, altough they do have one ESB, but it's not really to style (still delicious, but 6% ABV). Same thing for the beer store that carries almost a hundred different microbrews: Belgian or IPA almost wall to wall. I think we Quebecers are getting more Belgian than the Belgians themselves !

I might just add some toasted oats (less than 2%) just to give it a fuller mouthfeel and even more head retention. I like my brews with a good thick foam on top

 

[jfr1111]

Bought the grain for this one (online even), will give update when I'll start brewing this. Had to sub the special roast for Victory, but I have no doubt it'll be a smash anyway. It'll make a nice easy foray into BIAB territory.

 

[Bob]

Special Roast is fine. I've used it before in this recipe. It'll b different, but still quite tasty. I also think a little oats will be an excellent addition. I don't know if I'd toast them - there's already a broad spectrum of roasty-toasty flavors in there - but the foam enhancement won't suck.

I was thinking about just calling the beer "Leopold". I dunno...

Cheers!

Bob

 

[MrWiggles]

Should be bottling tomorrow, will update when I do. Side note though, 5l minikegs at my not-so-LHBS are $12! I noticed my local Bruno's grocer sells Warsteiner minis for 20$ so I may have to have some folks help me kill a couple after the bama/florida game tomorrow. Also noticed they have the miller/coors TAD-style mini kegs... I'm moving again within a week or two so I'll be attempting to find a dorm fridge for my mini mini-kegerator...
Side note, redux: Somehow my ingredients for this came out to 44$ at my LHBS, if it werent that much this recipe would be a staple for me...

 

[Bob]

Are you freakin' kindding me?! $44? That's murder. You're better off ordering online and paying the shipping!

I just did the math on NorthernBrewer.com and it came out to $36.53. I mean, I can see patronizing a local small business, but paying a 25% markup? That's a bit...wow.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[jfr1111]

Brewing this this weekend Bob. Will give you news !

Also, my total for this was around 25$ if I remember right, but I paid shipping on it plus a bunch of other stuff, so more around 30$.

30$ for 5 gallons is dirt cheap. Getting something of this quality in Quebec would be murder: our local micro has an ESB (not the same, I know, but still) and it's 3,5$ A 500ml BOTTLE.

PS: Do you have a recipe for an historical porter ? I don't want somethign chewy and ultra sweet, more of a warming session for the winter. Might be fun to brew.

PPS: Thanks again.

 

[Bob]

Sure! I've got several. The trouble with historical Porter is that it more often than not doesn't look, taste or smell anything like what we'd call Porter these days!

Tell you what - look out for a thread in the Recipes/Ingredients sub-forum. I'll list a few historical Porter recipes.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[jfr1111]

Thanks, it's just something I might want to try: I haven't had much experience with modern porters, so I'm golden

 

[MrWiggles]

Are you freakin' kindding me?! $44? That's murder. You're better off ordering online and paying the shipping!

I just did the math on NorthernBrewer.com and it came out to $36.53. I mean, I can see patronizing a local small business, but paying a 25% markup? That's a bit...wow.

Cheers,

Bob

I know! I am really confused as to how that happened... maybe the 5$ bag of sweet orange peel or the 8$ vial of WL yeast (which I have two pints of sitting in the fridge to re-use now) or what. But it came out much more pricey than I was expecting. The Newcastle clone I bought from them before was only about 25-30$ so it's not like they're trying to rip of their customers. Anywho, I bottled last night and came out with two 5l mini kegs and 20 bottles full. Pretty good haul considering it was only 4.5gal to begin with plus the leftover from siphoning. Although I will say I was slightly disappointed that the orange flavor didn't come through when I tasted my gravity sample, but with the chocolate extract added it tasted like a light porter almost... It had the cocoa/roasted coffee/malty flavor that I loved in the "Tommyknocker's Cocoa Porter" but lighter. All in all I still think this will be a wonderful beer.

 

[jfr1111]

Came out with 1.052 gravity for 3,5 gal of wort (batch as supposed to be 5 gal). Bought a bottle of spring water to to off, contaminated the top by using an old butter knife to try to open it wich dropped into the water.

Well I'll have a strong mild... Maybe it could pass off as a bitter since I'll have the IBUS of a 5 gal boil with 3,5 gal of wort

But it'll be beer. Next time, note to self, don't buy bulk spring water, just two 2 liter bottles with screw caps.

 

[MrWiggles]

Came out with 1.052 gravity for 3,5 gal of wort (batch as supposed to be 5 gal). Bought a bottle of spring water to to off, contaminated the top by using an old butter knife to try to open it wich dropped into the water.

Well I'll have a strong mild... Maybe it could pass off as a bitter since I'll have the IBUS of a 5 gal boil with 3,5 gal of wort

But it'll be beer. Next time, note to self, don't buy bulk spring water, just two 2 liter bottles with screw caps.

Just say it's an Imperial Mild and call it a day.

 

[Bob]

Please don't call it that. Every time we slap "Imperial" in front of an existing style name, God kills a kitten. You wouldn't want a cute little kitten to die, would you?

Seriously, as a brewing historian that irritates the crap out of me. There's a reason Russian Imperial Stout is called "Imperial", and it ain't because it's got a higher gravity than other export stouts.

I wish all the "Imperial" style names other than RIS would die in a fire.

@JFR: Whoopsie! I'm glad you're not too broken up about it. I use the bulk water in my non-hoppy beers all the time (my well water is pretty hard). I don't have a good way to get those damn caps off, either.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[MrWiggles]

But but buuuuut http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...tract-ale-kits/imperial-mild-extract-kit.html
Northern Brewer makes it legitimate!

 

[Bob]

Pah.

You know what that beer is?

Old Ale. BJCP 19A.

"Imperial Mild". Sheesh.



Seriously, look at the style sheets. Why make up new words for beer styles that already exist?

Tell you what: I'm gonna brew a Belgian Tripel exactly like one that already exists. But I'm gonna call it Imperial Belgian Blonde Ale. Does that make any sense? No! It's a freakin' Tripel!

It walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. Chances are, it's not a woodchuck.

I've been railing against this proclivity we have of brewing monster versions of things and slapping the "Imperial" label on it for several years now. The beers, with the exception of IIPA (which, oddly, is usually exactly like IPA was when they were shipping it in sailboats to India!), are almost invariably well into other style categories anyway. Makes the whole affair more than a little stupid, IMNSHO.

Imperial Mild...[grumble grumble]

Bob

 

[jfr1111]

Yeah, I'll try to find bulk water with a screw cap When I was trying to open the damn thing yesterday, I was thinking about how long I would've survived 50 thousand years ago without being mechanically inclined and being able to use tools (instead of solving abstract problems like a good little lawyer).

The answer, not long. Foiled again by a water bottle, imagine against some huge carnivorous creature.

 

[daenja]

I brewed the Session Mild (E) this afternoon. My temp on the steeping grains was a bit of a roller coaster... got too high, about 170 F. When I tried to fix it, it dropped to about 140 F. I'm still new at using steeping grains so I'm not sure what to expect but I'm looking forward to trying it.

 

[Bob]

You should be fine. When I first developed this recipe, the standard method was quite different and involved temperature swings. Everything turned out all right.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[daenja]

Ah great, thanks!

 

[MrWiggles]

I brewed the Session Mild (E) this afternoon. My temp on the steeping grains was a bit of a roller coaster... got too high, about 170 F. When I tried to fix it, it dropped to about 140 F. I'm still new at using steeping grains so I'm not sure what to expect but I'm looking forward to trying it.

I still don't have a thermometer and all of my beers have come out quite drinkable, if not good.

 

[tagz]

This beer is fantastic; exactly what I was looking for. Light roasted grain, chocolate flavors, extremely smooth. Brewed the recipe as stated, but subbed in Fuggles. I will be brewing this again in the future. Thanks for the recipe.

 

[Bob]

Good for you! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Fuggles is an excellent variety for this beer, as is Goldings.

Cheers!

Bob