English Mild Advice

[Kudzu]

Going to try my hand at and English Mild on the weekend. Got no real experience with the style but like the idea of a lower ABV option that still tastes good.

How does the below look? I got the general idea from Manticle's recipe on the DB but didn't have all the same malt.

BIAB - Batch size 23l

Original Gravity (OG): 1.041 (°P): 10.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol (ABV): 3.76 %
Colour (SRM): 22.0 (EBC): 43.4
Bitterness (IBU): 24.3 (Average)


3.8kg Pale Ale Malt (JW Trad Ale)
250g Crystal 120 (TF Dark Crystal)
150g Chocolate (TF)
100g Carafa I malt (Wey)
30g Roasted Barley (JW)


35g East Kent Golding (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
18g East Kent Golding (4.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)


Mash:

TEMP: 69/72/78
TIME: 30/10/10


Fermented at 18°C with Danstar Windsor
I also have available:

Wey Pils
Wey Munich I
Bestmalz Wheat
Bestmalz Carapils
TF Pale Crystal

I live in Tassie so grabbing anything else isn't an option.

 

[GalBrew]

Are you sure about that carafa with the choc and roast barley?

That's a fair bit of roast. I don't think Manticle had carafa I in his recipe.

 

[Kudzu]

I'm not sure about anything, still pretty new to brewing, especially recipe formulation.

Manticle didn't have carafa, he had biscuit and aromatic, which I don't have.

Should add that's carafa special, which I thought was non roasty, or am I thinking of something else? Will pull it out if you reckon it won't be any good.

 

[lukiferj]

I would definitely take out the carafa. Too much roastiness for a small beer. Love biscuit in a mild but will still make a decent beer without it. Haven't tried Windsor yeast but the rest of the recipe looks fine.

 

[GalBrew]

Ah, ok carafa special is not roasty. Still not sure if I would put it in as you have the choc and roast barley there.

 

[manticle]

Looks good but drop the carafa. I'd use munich as at least 50% of the base to get some of the malt character MO gives. I'd also go 50/50 dark/light crystal. Without the biscuit/aromatic combo it will lack something but should still be a good beer.
Leave the rb in.

Could try toasting a touch of pale to get biscuit but that might be more trouble than it's worth - I believe you need to let the malt rest for a while after toasting.

Never used windsor so no idea how that will go. I favour 1469.

 

[Kudzu]

Thanks guys. Will drop the carafa.

Haven't ventured into liquid yeasts yet and have had the Windsor sitting around for a while waiting to do something.

 

[Not For Horses]

I live in Tassie so grabbing anything else isn't an option.

What about if you lived in the same town as someone who malts all their own grains?
I'd be happy to trade a bit of Biscuit for a few finished beers :chug:

 

[Kudzu]

If you recall I did put an order in for some biscuit (amongst other things) from you. Didn't think it'd be ready for a couple of weeks though.

If you're available this arvo I'd love to grab some biscuit off you. Will be happy to share the results.

 

[fletcher]

for substituting grains, check out this link mate. might help for future batches: http://www.brew.is/files/malt.html

 

[Kudzu]

Thanks fletcher, that will be useful

Not For Horses has come good with some Biscuit and Crystal 60, you're a champion mate!

So revised grain bill as follows:

1.9kg Munich I
1.9kg Pale Ale Malt
250g Crystal 60
200g Biscuit
150g Chocolate
30g Roasted Barley

 

[manticle]

Yep but go half half dark and light crystal. Or mix up equal portions of what you have with what you get from nfh.
Good complexity from mixing crystals.
Reminds me I need to order some grain from nfh.

PM ok nfh?

Sorry for ot.

 

[Kudzu]

Instead of the Crystal 60?

 

[manticle]

No. Mix them all up. Before the edit I missed that the crystal was from a local source and thought it was your stash.
1/3 each. Reason being - my initial recipe used simpsons heritage which is unavailable in AU at the moment. Best fit for me has been blending light, medium and dark in equal portions.

Being a low abv beer this works as a malt showcase.

 

[Kudzu]

Gotcha, cheers mate.

 

[Not For Horses]

Yeah PM me Manticle. I've been pretty busy lately and don't have a lot ready to go atm but certainly in the next week or two depending on what you wanted.

 

[bradmccoy]

There's'd a good video on Northern Brewer of John Palmer making an English Mild. Maybe check that out for ideas...

 

[Donske]

I find Biscuit the key malt personally, I usually use it at about 10% with MO being the base, there's a bit of Caramunich III and medium crystal thrown in for fun too, ends up being a great beer that disappears within days of being put on tap.

And Manticle is spot on, 1469 is the yeast to be using for milds, it's got a great mineral quality that offsets the sweetness of all that crystal and high mash temps to my pallete.