Help with a Mild Formulation

[Barley Water]

I am currently in the middle of my English beer phase as I just racked a batch of London Pride Clone into secondary last night. I then harvested the yeast from the bottom of the fermenter so I have a bunch of WLP02 ready to do another batch of beer, probably next weekend. My next project will be either a Northern English Brown ale or possibly a Mild. I have never brewed a Mild nor have I ever sampled a commercial example since I guess they don't do too well in shipment so we never get them here. Anyway, I have the Graham/Wheeler book and I see a couple of recipies that look interesting. Does anybody have a killer formulation for a Mild or maybe a recommendation concerning the recipies in that book?

Also just a side question. I notice that many of the Mild recipies in the book call for some sugar. Since the original gravity of the beers is low, would that not make the beer seem very thin? I would think that to do a Mild well, you would want to mash very hot and use a yeast strain that does not attenuate too much. Am I missing something?

[mysterio]

BW, some good stuff here on page 6 of this article : http://craft brewing.org.uk/bcpdf/BC6-3_sep2006.pdf

I'm not a fan of sugar in Mild ales personally, keep them all malt and mash high. Remember to include some kind of roasted malt (choc, black or roasted barley) but dont overdo it. The best milds IMO have a bit of that roasted flavour, some nuttyness from the malt and a fair bit of fruity yeast character.

[Wez]

I brewed this recently and it turned out really well Its a brew that i've done for my Dad, I'm sure he's gonna love it, he's here this weekend to try it, I'm drinking a 'tester' as I type.

[scarer]

I recently brewed a GW Mild and it did indeed have quite a thin feel. I mashed at 63C and used sugar as per the recipe.

However, that thinness did match a few of the milds that I have been tasting lately so maybe it was right for the style.

Next time I do a mild, possibly the same recipe I might mash at 66C and up the pale malt to cover the sugar addition(Golden syrup) and see what happens. It might have a fuller flavour but will it still be a mild?

[Wez]

I recently brewed a GW Mild and it did indeed have quite a thin feel. I mashed at 63C and used sugar as per the recipe.

However, that thinness did match a few of the milds that I have been tasting lately so maybe it was right for the style.

Next time I do a mild, possibly the same recipe I might mash at 66C and up the pale malt to cover the sugar addition(Golden syrup) and see what happens. It might have a fuller flavour but will it still be a mild?

Try using just grain, mash high and stop the sparge at 1.020, that should give lots of body. As for will it still be a Mild, a 'Mild' is a 'Mild' I believe because of the low bitterness, there is lots written about this subject in various brewing books, but basically my understanding is that Mild means....not very bitter, so the body of the beer won't alter the style, adjust that to suit your preference i'd say.

[drsmurto]

This is the Dark Mild i have in primary right now. Second time making it and have changed very little.

2.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBC) Grain 54.05 %
1.25 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 33.78 %
0.15 kg Amber Malt (Bairds) (45.3 EBC) Grain 4.05 %
0.15 kg Chocolate Malt (Bairds) (750.6 EBC) Grain 4.05 %
0.15 kg Crystal, Medium (Bairds) (170.0 EBC) Grain 4.05 %
35.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.6 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (20 min) Hops 8.9 IBU
20.00 gm Styrian Goldings [4.70 %] (20 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Ringwood Ale (Wyeast Labs #1187) [Starter 2000 ml] Yeast-Ale

21L, OG 1.040, 30 IBU, 34 EBC. Mashed at 69C.

The styrian goldings are the NZ variety. Used the slovenian type last time so just seeing how different they are.

Ended up at 1.020 last time so an ABV of 2.6%.

Very tasty beer and i can have several pints without falling of my barstool!

Cheers
DrSmurto

[steve_flack]

The recipe in the 'Brewing Classic Styles' book makes a nice pint. Just don't use an overattenuative yeast and don't overcarbonate it.

I think the suggested yeast is WLP002 so you're in luck. S-04 works quite well IMO too.

[Aleman]

I think a low gravity flavorsome mild is one of the most difficult styles to get right (Although not in the same way as a fine pilsner). The key here is balance, Malt must balance hops must balance residual sweetness and body. Now by definition they are 'mildly hopped' so you need low sweetness and lower malt flavours, and this is difficult to achieve without the use of sugar. . . . not impossible but difficult. The general advice to mash milds low to get a dryer beer doesn't really work as it removes the body and residual sweetness leaving the bitterness exposed. . . . going the other way and mashing hot leaves the beer thick bodied and malty . . . hiding the bitterness. Another issue is the use of largish amounts of crystal to provide sweetness . . . it does but can be cloying . . . meaning that you need more bitterness . . . meaning that you need a higher gravity . . . . vicious circle.

Personally I try and aim for a gravity of 1.038-1.040 and 25-30IBU grist formulation is something like

60% Pale
18% Mild Malt
15% Munich
3% Crystal (Up to 5% if using light crystal reduce the Pale)
1% Chocolate (For colour - Try light choc for a paler result)
3% Sugar

Mash at 67-68C for body, and stop sparging early to increase maltiness, the sugar added in the boil will thin it out to make a really thirst quenching quaffable ale. Munich malt I hear you say, Yep, I reckon Munich malt is closer to old style Mild Malt that Mild malt today.

Hops wise . . . can't go wrong with a single addition of Goldings or Fuggles, at the start of the boil

Yeast Wise . . . Windsor is a nice choice.

[Barley Water]

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. I get the impression that making a really good Mild is a challenge, that sounds like some creative fun to me. After reading all the advice I have one more question, given that I am going to use WLP02, should I ferment around 70F to get yeast expression or go a little cooler to get a cleaner tasting brew?

[steve_flack]

I'd go with getting some yeast character in it myself.

[Aleman]

Agree with Steve, You want some fruitiness from the yeast, which is why I suggested Windsor as it is a consistent performer, SO4 promises so much but then fails to deliver, and Nottingham has nothing to give either.

I've not used WLP002, but Irish is a possibility

[oblivious]

what about WLP005?

[Barley Water]

Well part of the reason I planned to use WLP02 is because I could get some from my last brew without buying a new tube. That aside, I also really like that strain because it tastes good (I think all the Fuller beers I have tasted are a little slice of heaven here on earth) and it is not a real big attenuator plus it floculates really well. It occured to me that one of the challenges with a Mild would be to make a low O.G. beer taste bigger than it is and I think WLP02 should help out with that. One thing this strain does is throw some diacetyl which helps with the illusion as well.

[Whorst]

I'd use Maris Otter, some crystal and chocolate malt. Add some black patent and roasted barley to your mash tun when you sparge. This should give you a nice dark brew. Keep IBU's at 15-20.

[Barley Water]

Well I have finally made up my mind, I am going to try the Arkell's Mash Tun Mild clone as enumerated in the Protz/Wheeler book. Because I have it already and like the beer it produces I'm going to use WLP02 (second generation). Although there is a little sugar in the formulation, it is not really all that much. The other things I liked about this particular recipie is that the base malt is MO (which I really like), it has a generous amount of British crystal malt (another fav) and a bit of chocolate which I like better than black patent or roasted barley. I plan to mash pretty hot, around 158F so I am just hoping that this stuff doesn't come off as being too thin. Other than that, I don't see how one could go too far wrong.

It is very, very tempting to start messing with the formulation from the get go but I plan to just follow the directions for a change. Some things that come to mind as far as customization goes are:
-Boiling down some of the first running to get some caramel/toffee
flavor
-Adding some toasted flaked oats to the grist to get a hint of oatmeal cookie flavor
-Adding jaggary sugar rather than cane sugar as per the recipie (I figure if you are going to add sugar, try to get some flavor out of it)
-Swapping some Munich malt for some of the MO just to jack up the toasty flavors
-Maybe adding just a little bisquit or victory malt to help the MO with that distintive British flavor

Anyway, I bet I could come up with some other stuff to try but no, I am going to be strong this time and not give in to the dark side. Thanks again for all the suggestions, I think I have probably incorporated most of them just by selecting this particular formulation.