Brewday 23rd March - Mild

[onlooker]

Now I know what a genuine top working yeast is. The ammount of pure thick yeast slurry on top is amazing,

Thats AWESOME!

My heart rate raised just reading about it.

[maxashton]

That does sound pretty cool.

I bottled a little irn bru bottle of slurry from my bitter on Saturday, but wonder if it is safe to use. I've never pitched recycled slurry before. I've read the theory and the threads but never done it. heh

[SteveD]

That does sound pretty cool.

I bottled a little irn bru bottle of slurry from my bitter on Saturday, but wonder if it is safe to use. I've never pitched recycled slurry before. I've read the theory and the threads but never done it. heh

If your sanitation was good, then I expect it would be fine. Keep it in the fridge and don't wait too long before brewing.

[SteveD]

Now I know what a genuine top working yeast is. The ammount of pure thick yeast slurry on top is amazing,

Thats AWESOME!

My heart rate raised just reading about it.

It's certainly different from using dried yeast. Every dried yeast I've used has not behaved like this. Initially it's the same, formation of rocky head, etc, but it's once it goes anaerobic that this one takes off, forming a thick head of yeast slurry, rather than the bubble bath that normally happens. Assuming this yeast goes on to attenuate properly, and clears well, I shan't be going back to the little packets. No sir! On top of that I like Hog's Back beers so I won't mind the flavour profile their yeast gives at all.

[onlooker]

I like Hogsback to. We dont get them out here all that often, the odd import of A over T and T.E.A. , both top drops. Did you say it was the Hook Norton strain ? Im partial to thier beers as well.

[Andy]

Yes, Hogs Back use Hook Norton yeast...


Steve - it will attenuate very well don't worry And clarity won't be a problem either.

[Bigster]

For some reason I always thought mild was dark brown going on black coloured beer but never having tried it have no idea where I got that idea from.

Like the sound of the recipe Steve

[onlooker]

A mild ale was originally an ale that hadnt been vatted, or stored for long periods. As a result it wasnt as vineious or tart as old ales or porter. Mild wasnt originally low gravity and could vary in colour from dark brown to relativly pale. There are still some light milds around, but very few, there are even fewer strong milds still around, at least ones labeled as such. Many contemporary 'old' ales are in fact strong milds.

[SteveD]

Onlooker is right. Mild in the 18th and early 19th century was simply beer, any beer, that was not aged. This is opposed to stale, which was beer aged for anything up to a year or more, often the same beer. Porter was aged in wooden tuns until it staled and was then blended with fresh brewed mild porter to get the required taste. This blending was either done at the brewery, or the casks went out seperate and the publican blended it. Milds could be very strong eg 1070, 1080. Only later on did mild come to mean 'mildly hopped' initially still strong, but after 1914, beer strengths plummeted across the board and mild suffered to the point where now mild tends to mean something between OG1030 and OG1040 with a low hop rate.

People like Durden Park Beer Circle feel that worthwhile British brewing stopped in 1914 prior to which point the the AVERAGE OG of beer was 1055

[SteveD]

Well, it's at the end of day 9 and still blooping slowly through the airlock - no early stoppage with this one! Ferment maintained at below 20c all the way through. Once it stops-ish, a day or two at a lower temperature to drop some more yeast out, then into the Reverend Cornelius Keg.