English Mild

[wide eyed and legless]

I have brewed the English mild ale once before and served it through the beer engine where to me appeared fine, my last one which I made recently I bottled and I am disappointed with it. Seems rather thin and bland, also didn't come out quite as dark as I would have preferred, ales under 5% ABV I don't seem to enjoy, Anyone got a good Mild recipe coming in at around the 5% mark?

 

[Peter80]

Not really a mild if it is at that ABV. Scaling up my Mild recipe it looks very much like a porter. Is that what you are aiming for or are you aiming for more a Southern / Northern english brown ale?

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You could look for the Sarah Hughes mild recipe and scale down the gravity

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Looked at the Sarah Hughes Mild, I am considering another one which is about 4.5% and just make sure it has plenty of body. Actually have a Nut Brown Ale which I have been mixing with this mild I have now and that lifts it a lot.

 

[RobW]

I have brewed the English mild ale once before and served it through the beer engine where to me appeared fine, my last one which I made recently I bottled and I am disappointed with it. Seems rather thin and bland, also didn't come out quite as dark as I would have preferred, ales under 5% ABV I don't seem to enjoy, Anyone got a good Mild recipe coming in at around the 5% mark?

I made the Gordon Strong recipe recently.
Don't have the exact details but its Maris Otter and about 10% medium crystal and a touch of chocolate. 3.6% ABV
I found the same thing - thin and a bit bland.
I mashed at 70 but I suspect the White Labs British Ale yeast I used may attenuate a bit more than required (73%).
Will try again with a yeast that doesn't attenuate so well - Strong recommends Wy1968 (68%).

 

[wide eyed and legless]

That was the one I made, Simplicity Mild, Gordon Strong's Warwick ale (clone of Bass) came out well.
I did use so4 in the mild so that wouldn't have helped.

 

[RobW]

I'm considering subbing some of the Maris Otter with Munich to get a bit more malty sweetness too.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

That is my intention, add some Munich and get some extra body, it is from the late Graham Wheeler's book.Home Brew Mild recipe, I have a feeling ED has mentioned that brewery on here or it was in some of his bygone days brews.

 

[RobW]

Mine was based on this

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Mine was based on this

Pretty much the same as mine but using the so4 mine ended up at 1,308, I will check GS book and see what yeast he used. I'll get it right, though I must say I really enjoyed it mixed with the Nut Brown Ale, my wife noticed a slur and a sway so it must be good.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Checked in the book GS does recommend the Wyeast1968 London ESB, so the recipe was correct which came off Brewers Friend. The Home Brewery Mild I have checked again and it comes in at 3.75% but for some reason I have put in German Vienna as the base malt and can't remember why?

 

[scomet]

Hi weal I think you just showed why we should all have a beer engine; they are truly magic with certain beers used right, they bring a rich creamy texture… I don’t, too hot here.

I have never made a good mild below 4%abv, 5% is good for a mid and the Porters are 9%+.

I will look through my old recipes and try and help your question (I still use a pencil and paper!) good thread.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I am not going to let it get away from me, I want to make one under the 4% mark, was looking through the Barclay Perkins milds without going into the Victorian strong milds found this one. Also noticed Ed Mather who posts on here has put a comment under the recipe.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com.au/2017/03/lets-brew-1946-tetley-mild.html

 

[RobW]

Surprising that it's 25% sugar with 85% attenuation.
Presumably the 2 hr boil contributes something too.

 

[awfulknauful]

I am liking the look of this, be a real good session beer after a game, I will have to research this mild ale more and get something in my recipe base, 3.5 % sounds good.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Surprising that it's 25% sugar with 85% attenuation.
Presumably the 2 hr boil contributes something too.

Ed's the man to ask, hopefully he may chip in with some advice, as long as he talks metric.

 

[scomet]

looking through the Barclay Perkins

This is a v good recipe from BP, long boil, don't get the invert sugar too hot if your making your own or you’ll get caramel. I use Nottingham and over pitch by 100% Mild is the cheapest beer on the bar, I think I put 1kg of invert in mine you couldn't taste it the abv was over 4

 

[goatchop41]

Don't be afraid to mash up at 70-72oC for a mere 30-45 mins to get a very solid body on your mid strength beers.
I've had cracking results with it, not only for English style mid strengths, but also mid strength versions of saisons, belgians and American style mid-strength 'session IPAs'

 

[scomet]

the Barclay Perkins milds

My recipe/notes said, Brew #1 beautiful needs to be a bit darker, I used 2kg wey pale barley brown sugar and 1/2 kg of invert#3? my abv was 5.2. The second brew i subbed to 1kg dark invert, both had 7g fuggles per, abv was 5.8 my fg hit 1008 and 1004 respectively with Notto, you could jump in at 1015 and get a lower %

My next Mild I’m going to parti-gyle following a Porter which hasn't been sparged so much and see what we can get - but Nothing will beat pulling it through a beer engine (with the sparkler set write!) Cheapest beer on the bar - tastes like Heaven

 

[Edd Mather 6]

Hi All ,
I'll grab some sub 1.050 ° or so Mild recipies and post them up , but my personal post war favourite is the 1/4 Best Mild recipie that I wrote from 1948/9 from Richard Clarke's brewery in Reddish Vale , Stockport , I think I've also got a version of Tennant Brothers Best Mild from Sheffield (1956 ) somewhere, anyway, I'll do a few and dig them out !
Cheers
Edd