Diluting Mild Or Just Leaving It?

[BjornJ]

Hi,
made my first Mild in a year the other day, and had a blast toasting some pilsner malt in the oven to add some colour and "toastiness".
Ended up mashing for 2 hours, starting at 69 degrees rather than my normal 1 hour as I went out.

No mash-out or sparge, just spun the bag around a bit to squeeze some goodies back in the urn and discarded the grains.


Problem:
Expected 62% efficiency with this 'no mash-out, no sparging' quick and easy mash. Planned OG was 1.034.

Ended up with 78% efficiency and OG 1.042..

Now I got 26-27 litres so can't really dilute in the fermenter when pitching as the absolute max I could squeeze in there would be 29 litres.


Options:
1: Split in 2 willow cubes as fermenters (rather than my normal Coopers 30 liter fermenter) and dilute with water back down to 1.034.
2: Screw that, leave it at OG 1.042 and pretend it's a stronger than normal dark mild, entering English Brown territory.

(the IBUs were calculated to 17 at 1.034 and 16 at 1.042 so not a lot to dilute there either)


I am leading towards just keeping it as is, it's still not very strong and I'm sure it will be good.
Just kind of wanted a session beer, something nice and low/mid strength and didn't really get what I hoped for.


Any advice on just leaving it or diluting it to more Mild?

diluting it to 32 litres would give
26/32 litres = 0.8125
OG: o.8125 x 42 = 34 (1.034)
IBUs: 0.8125 x 16 = 13 IBUs

Does sound a bit low?

hmm..... leaning even more towards just leaving it now..

 

[rendo]

Looks like it was fate!

The brewgods didnt allow you to make such a wonderful beer only to have it be a 'mild'

If its a cracker then give it another go and see if you can get your target OG next time

Rendo

Hi,
made my first Mild in a year the other day, and had a blast toasting some pilsner malt in the oven to add some colour and "toastiness".
Ended up mashing for 2 hours, starting at 69 degrees rather than my normal 1 hour as I went out.


hmm..... leaning even more towards just leaving it now..

 

[Bribie G]

Bjorn, my mild usually starts at 1043 ish and because I mash at 70 it ends up at around 1022 so is below 4% ABV. At 69 I'd be expecting something similar, lots of body and meatiness without a big alcohol level.

 

[BjornJ]

all right, then leave it is the plan then.

I used
0.5 kg Carapils
0.3 kg Crystal

in there as well, so FG should be nice and high either way.


Will give it a try.

Bjorn

 

[Bribie G]

Be interested to know what your FG ends up at.

 

[BjornJ]

bottled it today, smells and tastes nice!

FG was 1.014.

With that much carafoam and crystal and mash temp of 69 degrees I would have thought FG would be higher, but I'm happy with that.

Bjorn

 

[schooey]

If it was in a keg and you didn't like it much, you could have always blended it with a bit of porter and come up with something like a nut brown ale... a la Gordon Strong... but anyway

Bring on the Imperial Mild! :super:

 

[super_simian]

What yeast, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[BjornJ]

sorry, I didn't notice the question until now.

Just finished the last stubby of this one and thought I should check the thread I did when brewing it.

I used San Francisco Lager yeast at 14 degrees for 10 days, then 0 degrees for 10 days before bottling using carbonation drops.

I really like this beer, definitively on my brew-again list.

Very clear, red-brown and beautiful. Clean taste. mmm.


Bjorn

 

[Bribie G]

Congratulations Bjorn you have just been awarded the Rip Van Winkle award for 2011 for the longest unanswered post.

:icon_chickcheers:

PS hoping to get down to Port Jackson for a week, in about a month, on a man only rellie-free trip so hopefully put some faces to names :icon_chickcheers:

 

[BjornJ]

hehe, sorry about that!

7 months and 2 days passes so fast, eh!


Send me an email when you're down here, I work across the road from Lord Nelson if you're around in business hours


Only if we agree to not do any feces to names, though.

Bjorn

 

[Bribie G]

Over the road from the Lord Nelson..... aha Pink Orchid Massage... know it well. See you there :icon_chickcheers:

 

[BjornJ]

Thanks for remembering but the Norwegian Tongue Twister has moved on from there :lol:

Still in IT but in the music business these days.

Bjorn