Back at it...Ridley's Mild

[Kyle_T]

After a short break in brewing and Milds, I've decided to have another crack at making a simple, yet thirst quenching beer. The last time I made it I remember it being sickly sweet in the first week and rather sugary, but by the second week those problems had gone. This one will be destined for the wooden pin so I can finally use my pump clip legitimately!

I have no doubt this will come out a corker as my technique is much more up to scratch compared to what it was and I shall be treating the water with CRS, Calcium Sulphate and Chloride.

The recipe, nice and simple:

Ridley's Mild
13A. Dark Mild

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 3.108
Total Hops (g): 64.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.034 (°P): 8.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.007 (°P): 1.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 3.51 %
Colour (SRM): 40.6 (EBC): 80.0
Bitterness (IBU): 24.1 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
2.660 kg Maris Otter (85.59%)
0.308 kg Invert Sugar No. 3 (9.91%)
0.140 kg Black Malt (4.5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
26.0 g East Kent Golding Leaf (5.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
26.0 g Fuggles Leaf (3.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
12.0 g Styrian Golding Leaf (4.4% Alpha) @ 14 Days (Dry Hop) (0.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
27.6 ml Brewers Caramel @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with Wibblers Ale Yeast


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[seymour]

Looks great!

[Kyle_T]

I would recommend you give it a try, it works better with the proper sugar but Golden Syrup and Molasses will do equally as well.

It's simple, quick and delicious.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Have you used that much Black Malt in a brew before, it seems like a lot to me and I recall reading that you shouldn't use much as it can taste too bitter.. I've never tried it though.
I read a similar thing about chocolate Malt and made a brew with 10% Chocolate Malt and it was lovely so I'm not really convinced it is valid.

[Kyle_T]

Hello Steve,

Yep I have, this is my most regular repeat brew to date and easily my favourite. I have used up to 324g in a Porter and that has come out just as good.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Cool, thanks for that.

There does seem to be some theory out there in interweb world of brewing folklore from years long gone that too much Black Malt or too much Chocolate Malt is a bad idea, something else in brewing to treat with a pinch of salt.

I wonder at what point too much does become too much though.

[Kyle_T]

I think that entirely depends on what's being brewed and what your using to balance it.

[seymour]

Hey Kyle_T,

Do you buy your Invert Syrup #3 or make it yourself?

I've cooked my own many times, following how-to guides online, old-fashioned cookbooks, etc, but since I'm not an experienced caramel professional, it's comes out a little different everytime. Always delicious in slightly different ways, but not exactly repeatable.

None of the commercial suppliers I've found will sell small quantities to homebrewers. They weren't even willing to sell me samples for recipe research, despite the fact I'm a freelance consultant working to convince commercial breweries to use authentic brewer's sugars in their English-style brews. They failed to grasp I could help generate more business for them…but I digress.

I was just wondering if it's different in the UK?

[orlando]

None of the commercial suppliers I've found will sell small quantities to homebrewers. They weren't even willing to sell me samples for recipe research, despite the fact I'm a freelance consultant working to convince commercial breweries to use authentic brewer's sugars in their English-style brews. They failed to grasp I could help generate more business for them…but I digress.

I was just wondering if it's different in the UK?

I used a commercial #3 from Ragus but it is not easily sourced by home brewers because it tends to be sold in I think 25 kg blocks, there is also a syrup version which I hope to try next. My current supply is from an ex brewer (co founder of Woodforde's) using his contacts and using the Norwich Brew Club and the East Anglia CBA to off load excess. I have regularly used it in the last 6 months and think that if you are going to emulate the classic English styles you have to have some in your "malts" cupboard.

[BrewerBen]

I've used 567g in a historic porter recipe, and that's along with the same amount of brown malt. It was a 27l batch at 1.062 and is one of my favourite brews to date. Flavour certainly wasn't shy but I didn't find it overly bitter. Black malt is underrated in my book. I'm tempted to give this mild a go, I fancy a dark English ale next and could do with a easy drinking fast turnaround ale.

[Kyle_T]

I am using the same as Orlando, Ragus No. 3, but it does only come in a 25kg block. iIRC it costs about £45 per block, if I was going to use it again I would rather invest in the syrup form as carving up the block can be a right PITA especially if it starts warming up.

That said it definitely brings something to the party in classic English style beers, I have used it in Stout, Porter, Mild and Bitter so far and I can't fault it at all, there are still some brewers over here that use it but don't like to say so, I know Greene King still use it but won't admit it. Another used to be Ridleys until that closed down and that wasn't too long ago, Some local micros have used it in special beers but not regularly.

As long as black malt is balanced out with other suitable grains I doubt you will ever have a problem with it, I made a mild once using only pale, a pinch of crystal and a healthy dose of black, that was astringent as heck because I had a horribly imbalanced beer.

Being biased I would say of course you should brew this beer, just bear in mind it is more of a typical East Anglian mild than the more common Midlands style milds that people are accustomed to, mash at 68° and sparge at 75°, this was the original Ridleys mash temperature, if using the original strain it should be pitched between 18/19° and set to 21° for 3/4 days.

[Aleman]

Kyle is this a 'clone' of a historical Ridley's beer? Just asking as personally I feel that using caramel and sugars in a low gravity beer is not really required. Your 5% Black malt should give you more than enough depth of colour to negate the caramel, I do appreciate the subtle flavours that using the darker sugars can impart to a beer, but with the range of Crystal and caramel malts we have today that is 'easy' to duplicate with perhaps an increase in quality.

I will say this though, your milds I have tasted are good, and I personally feel that making a good quality, balanced, flavoursome, low gravity mild is one of the more difficult tasks a brewer can set themselves.

[Kyle_T]

Yes mate, this is a 'clone' of Ridleys Mild circa 1980. I have made it with and without the caramel and it comes in around 36 - 40 EBC without it, perfectly suitable. The caramel is more of an 'optional' extra depending how close you want to get. I know Swigginpig made it also without the caramel and rated it as a good drop.

[McMullan]

Cool, thanks for that.

There does seem to be some theory out there in interweb world of brewing folklore from years long gone that too much Black Malt or too much Chocolate Malt is a bad idea, something else in brewing to treat with a pinch of salt.

I wonder at what point too much does become too much though.

Doesn’t it depend on the water, to a degree? My tap water is very soft with a pH = 6.2. So adding a decent amount of black malt, without cold steeping it, tends to impact my mash pH with all the ‘fun’ that entails. I’ve used Patent up to 6% of the grist for a ‘Black Adder’ clone, which was very nice. Some go up to about 8%, apparently. Much beyond that it’s probably appealing to acquired tastes.

[Kyle_T]

I would agree with that, 5% is pretty standard for me and my water pH is around 7.4, this brings my mash pH down to 6.5ish without much water treatment but the water here is relatively hard.