Surly Mild Recipe? help!

[tdogg]

i recently toured the Surly brewery and got to try their "mild" i though it was a nice drinkable session beer and my girlfriend loved it so i want to brew it or something similar. i have not brewed anything in this particular niche yet, so help on a recipe is appreciated.

from the website:

Mild
Our first session beer. A British-style mild whose drinkinability makes it fun.
STYLE: English Brown Ale-Dark Mild
MALT: Pale Ale, Golden Promise , Brown, Crystal, Roast
HOPS: Columbus
YEAST: English Ale

OG: 10º Plato
ABV: 4% v/v
COLOR: 14 ºSRM
IBU: 21
AVAILABILITY: February

what do you think? i know i can plug some numbers into a beer calc to match the grav/ibu/color, but some guidance would be great. thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Oh, that IS a good beer. It was so nice to see a mild in the taproom when I was there!

Let's see. It's been a long time (June) since I had that beer so I don't really remember the beer that well, except that I liked it! I don't recall a ton of roast in it as it was quite quaffable! I don't know how much brown malt to use, though.

I knew that the base malt was Golden Promise. I'd probably just use that, and not the "pale ale" malt for the base malt. How about something like this:

80% Golden Promise
8% Brown malt
5% Crystal 80L
2% Roasted barley
5% crystal 120L

 

[tdogg]

thats kind of where i was going with it. no pale though? it says it right on there website? maybe they use some pale to cut costs on the big batches? also, it says columbus hops, but since the hops are such a small part of the flavor profile, could i sub for kent goldings with no ill effects?
it doesnt need to be a "clone" but similar is good.

 

[tdogg]

btw would this beer have any flavor hops, or just one hop addition at 60 min?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Golden Promise IS a pale malt.

I like your recipe. Make sure to use a yeast with good character (a bit of fruitiness even), and ferment around. 68-70F.

Hop character? Don't really need it. The bulk of the flavor in this beer comes from the malt, and the yeast.

I made the following recently and I used Wyeast #1028 @ 65-66F and the fruitiness wasn't there. I'd also back-off on the chocolate by 50%.

(For a 12-gal batch).

Amount Item Type % or IBU

13 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Crisp (3.0 SRM) Grain 76.47 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.82 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.82 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
4.0 oz Coffee Malt (150.0 SRM) Grain 1.47 %
4.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 1.47 %

1.00 oz Nugget [13.60 %] (60 min) Hops 21.5 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.50 %] (45 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 4.3 IBU

0.63 oz Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

1 Pkgs London Ale (Wyeast Labs #1028) [Starter 125 ml] [Cultured] Yeast-Ale

Mashed at 154F.

M_C

 

[Yooper]

I used Wyeast 1335 for my Surly Furious clone, and then I used it in a stout. I love that yeast! That would be a good one for a mild.

 

[KingBrianI]

I used Wyeast 1335 for my Surly Furious clone, and then I used it in a stout. I love that yeast! That would be a good one for a mild.

Not to derail the thread, but could you elaborate a bit on your experiences with 1335. There seems to be little info available on it. Wyeast claims it is clean and malty but the Kristen England yeast chart on Mr. Malty claims it is the same strain as wlp0025 Southwold which I believe is Adnams' strain. Adnams is known for its abundant fruitiness. So I'm just hoping for some first hand experience from a trusted homebrewer.

 

[Yooper]

Not to derail the thread, but could you elaborate a bit on your experiences with 1335. There seems to be little info available on it. Wyeast claims it is clean and malty but the Kristen England yeast chart on Mr. Malty claims it is the same strain as wlp0025 Southwold which I believe is Adnams' strain. Adnams is known for its abundant fruitiness. So I'm just hoping for some first hand experience from a trusted homebrewer.

I never had much fruitiness- it was pretty clean for an English strain. Of course, I ferment cool (I want to say 62 degrees off the top of my head for both the oatmeal stout AND the Furious IPA- but my notes are at home). I really liked the strain, and felt that it gave a "full" mouthfeel without being underattenuative. The hops notes in the IPA were excellent.

 

[KingBrianI]

I never had much fruitiness- it was pretty clean for an English strain. Of course, I ferment cool (I want to say 62 degrees off the top of my head for both the oatmeal stout AND the Furious IPA- but my notes are at home). I really liked the strain, and felt that it gave a "full" mouthfeel without being underattenuative. The hops notes in the IPA were excellent.

Hmm, that seems to back up wyeast's description and leads me to believe it's not the same strain as wlop025, although I guess it could develop the fruitiness at higher temps.

 

[tdogg]

oh man im excited for this one now. i wont have time to brew for a couple weeks, but when i do im sure ill do this one. when i make it, im guessing a 2-3 week primary is sufficient and then bottle? or should it bulk age for a while?

 

[Yooper]

oh man im excited for this one now. i wont have time to brew for a couple weeks, but when i do im sure ill do this one. when i make it, im guessing a 2-3 week primary is sufficient and then bottle? or should it bulk age for a while?

No need to age a mild! Target a low OG- I think mine was 1.039- and it'll be ready by the time it's carbed up.

We did a mild exchange a couple of years ago: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f38/project-10der-mild-10-milds-10-days-month-10-a-77758/

The idea was to make a mild. Ferment it, carb it, and get it out in the mail by day 10. I was drinking mine at day 10, of course that was kegging it.

It will improve a bit with some time, but it's really good young too! Of course my recipe didn't have much complexity, and no roasted barley, so that might make a bit of a difference. I did Jamil Zainasheff's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, I believe.

 

[tdogg]

also, if im bottle conditioning, whats the proper amount of corn sugar for a mild?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Most of the Milds have had were served via the hand pump, so it's difficult to determine what volumes of CO2 they used. But according to many guidelines, it's 2 to 2.5 volumes.

So for a 5-gallon batch at 68F, you'd add between 3.05oz to 4.39oz, which would give the 2 to 2.5 volume range.

M_C

 

[hampshirebrewer]

I carbonate my milds to 1.75 to 2 volumes CO2 per Palmer's book. I alternate between smoked and unsmoked milds. 2 lb of rauchmalz for a 5 gallon batch works well. Credit Daniel and Larson's book, Smoked Beers, for the idea.

 

[motobrewer]

are you serious? i was just in MN and i missed surly mild!?

 

[wedge421]

Is this similar to their Bitter Brewer? If it is there is a clone kit of that one on NB