English mild

[Rook]

G'day brewers,

I have decided to do an English mild and i have a 25kg sack of Munich 1....does this grain have a place in an English mild ????

Is so anyone have some recipe's they would care to share or point me to were i can find them.

Thanks
Rook

[BigEd]

Maybe the natives will have more to say on this issue but I would think that pale, amber and brown malts would be more appropriate for the style if you are trying for authenticity. An addition of Munich, however, does give a wonderful flavor enhancement in many beers. With that thought a touch of Munich might make an interesting tweak to a mild.

[steve_flack]

I would like to point out that 'my' recipe is pretty damn similar to Jamil Zainasheff's dark mild recipe (I changed hops, yeast and gravity but the malt bill is his). So I can't really claim the credit for it - sadly.

It is a very nice beer though.

[David Edge]

There's a recipe here - Middlesex Dark Ruby - that has the merit of having won an award from a traditional English beer judge:

http://craftbrewing.org.uk/recipes/

It is a little stronger than current commercial examples. Mild in general is an acquired taste. Even if your brew is hugely successful you may not like it. Aim to make the most of the maltiness.

[Barley Water]

Well, if I had a big sack of Munich malt, I would probably not try to make a mild (see comments above). I would seriously consider making a Munich dunkel though if you were looking for a darker brew. The recipe is easy, Munich malt, just a little carafa II for color and some noble hops at the beginning of the boil (no flavor or aroma hops needed). I do a double decoction then boil down some of the first runnings to try and get as much bready flavor as possible. Use a nice Munich lager yeast (with a great big starter) and add O2 at pitching time. Ferment at about 50F and you will just love how this stuff comes out.

[steve_flack]

That is a bit like someone saying what pushbike they should buy and you saying 'well if I had a gazillion pounds I'd buy a Bugatti Veyron.'

[bconnery]

Rook,
You could definitely use it, style considerations be damned, but I wouldn't use it for 100% of the base malt.
Consider blending it 50/50 with an ale malt, of UK or Aussie origin, and use the specialty malts as per recipes.
Munich is widely used in homebrewing circles to enhance maltiness and that will neve hurt in a mild in my book.
The style traditionally doesn't use it but when has that ever stopped a homebrewer? I think you'll find that you'll get a nice beer.
It isn't a style to everyone's taste but it's a great style if you haven't encountered it before, at least in my opinion, all the taste and flavours of a higher gravity beer that you can drink all day
AHB has a couple of good looking mild recipes for your reading as well...
Here's my latest, for what it's worth. If following this I would suggest swapping the hops for something more plain English, Goldings and/or Fuggles. It is ok now that the hop character has faded but the combination definitely didnt' work at first...

Batch Size: 21.00 L
Boil Size: 30.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.039 SG
Estimated Color: 18.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
0.20 kg Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM) Extract 5.6 %
2.80 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 77.8 %
0.20 kg Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 5.6 %
0.15 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (1.8 SRGrain 4.2 %
0.10 kg Carafa Special III (Weyermann) (470.0 SRM)Grain 2.8 %
0.10 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 2.8 %
0.05 kg Roasted Barley (Joe White) (710.0 SRM) Grain 1.4 %
15.00 gm First Gold [7.40%] (55 min) Hops 14.8 IBU
30.00 gm Saphir [4.50%] (25 min) Hops 12.8 IBU
10.00 gm First Gold [7.50%] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-SteHops -
10.00 gm Saphir [4.50%] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs Windsor Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

[DRB]

batemans mild recipe by wheeler & protz

pale malt 2,100g (60%)

crystal 420g (12%)

chocolate 175g (5%)


torrified wheat 140g (4%)

invert sugar 700g (19%)

goldings 55g start of boil
goldings 10g last 15 min

og 1033
mash temp 63
mash 90 min
boil 90 min
bitterness 22 ebu
final volume 23lt

note- batemans actually use brewer,s caramel for colouring. The chocolate has been added th this particular recipe for colour.

[Barley Water]

Not really Mr. Flack, I would say more like a Honda. Now a double bock would be more like a Bugatti (which by the way is not a half bad idea either).