Mild Ale recipes

[Dene]

G'day. I've been reading the forum for 6 months or so but this is my first post. I'm an Australian brewer very interested in low ABV ales. I've just brewed the Brewing Classic Styles mild ale and am enjoying it. I accidentally brewed a kind of mild last winter using the 2nd runnings of an American brown and added a little Amber to fill out the flavour. Apart from a poor hop combination it was really good.

So what are the best mild ale recipes from us all?

75% Pale malt
5% Wheat malt
5% Carapils
5% C40
5% Pale Choc & Choc malt
5% Amber
EKG 60min
Tettnang 5min
Windsor yeast at 15-16C

Hops were EKG bittering and Vic Secret flameout. Vic Secret are a poor choice for this kind of darker ale.

Looking forward to working through your recipes.

[Kyle_T]

I racked one to the cask a few days ago and it seems very promising:

Pale Malt 82%
Dark Crystal 10%
Chocolate 5%
Torrified Wheat 3%

Challenger 90 Mins
EKG 10 Mins
EKG Cask Dry Hop

18 IBU.
Brewers Caramel to 75 EBC.
WLP022 Yeast

[seymour]

Looks delicious, Kyle_T. Here are a few more to get your juices flowing, Dene. I really like the Dry Dock S.S. Minnow as a starting point for various tweaks.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56335&hilit=+mild+grainbill#p591869

[Kyle_T]

It is Seymour, will be tapping it in 2 weeks time, I actually used Mild Ale malt but I know it's not so easily available to everyone. I'm doing a Ridley's XXX Cask Mild in another few weeks.

[Dene]

Thanks, Kyle and Seymour. I'm keen to try Mild ale malt but you're right that it's hard to get here. I've seen the brewers caramel mentioned before. What's it's purpose and benefit?

[Dene]

[quote="seymour"]Looks delicious, Kyle_T. Here are a few more to get your juices flowing, Dene. I really like the [i]Dry Dock S.S. Minnow[/i] as a starting point for various tweaks.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56335&hilit=+mild+grainbill#p591869[/quote]

The penultimate Mild Ale thread has already been created. I dot know how I missed it in my searches. That's a list that'll keep me going. Thanks again, Seymour.

[Kyle_T]

It's not the penultimate lol there's some missing.

[Dene]

Well, get onto to adding what's missing. Just finished reading the entire thread and was interested in the references to discussions around roast malts in a mild ale. I haven't read all the recipes but as yet I haven't seen roasted wheat malt used and I wonder if that would apply the wheat mouth feel and a touch of roast character as well. From what I understand, roast wheat is softer than barley and the others.

[Kyle_T]

Wouldn't bother with it myself, wheat for head retention and roast malts for colour and flavour for me.

[Dene]

Sometimes I wonder why we bother adding grain for colour when it's just for personal drinking.

[Kyle_T]

Because the colour comes with the grain and the flavour?

[Hugh Jampton]

Sometimes I wonder why we bother adding grain for colour when it's just for personal drinking.

That's right. It's pointless.

[Kyle_T]

Hard to avoid with 5% Chocolate.

[Dene]

More about the Roasted Barley or other highly roasted grains.

[Kyle_T]

Everything can be used in quantity, another beer I know uses 5.5% Roasted Barley. You don't have to add colour with roasted grains but it all depends on what you like to brew.