Build me a mild

[killer]

There's nothing wrong with your recipe at all. And frankly you can have as many suggestions as there are people willing to chip in. So with that said I'll throw my two cents in...!
If you're brewing a mild keep the hops low - what you propose is good. Personally, I would drop the dark crystal to 350g. I'd also double the chocolate malt but do a cold steep - I love cold steeped chocolate malt, it adds fantastic complex chocolate and caramel flavours but without the roastiness that can be too much.

What yeast are you using ? For a mild that's quite important. If you are using dry then S04 is better than Notty, Windsor is even better again.

I won't mention water treatment, but a decent amount of sulfate and chloride enhances any classic english beer in my book....

[sbond10]

I'm guessing the age old put 4 brewers in a room get 4 answers

Im using good old gv12

[Kyle_T]

Can I have the hop AA %'s please?

[sbond10]

Admiral 14.7aa 2013
Brambling x 5.34aa 2012
Willamette 5.7aa 2014

Does that help kyle ? I'm unsure on the ebc on the malts as the 500g of crystal and 3kg of pale is on order from the local brewery. The rest is Minch malted

[Kyle_T]

Cheers mate,

I'd like to cover a few points quickly in aid of adding some clarity:

don't you need mild malt to make a mild?

No. You don't, what a lot of people are surprised to learn is that many many pre-1900 mild ales were nothing more than 100% pale malt and colouring.

Mild malt is just slightly sweeter I think.

Not quite, mild ale malt is kilned to a higher degree and contains more nitrogen than pale or Maris Otter, it has slightly different flavour and colour characteristics. In a sense it has more grit that can be favourable to a malt forward brew like mild ales of today.

your recipe looks good maybe throw in a bit of roast barley as well - seems to help head retention.

It makes no difference at all the head retention. That will be the other malts doing that.

It looks good to me although you could mash at 69 just to be brave.

Will people please get this bloody high mashing lark out of their systems for brewing milds, 66°C is perfectly suitable for the style.

dry hopping would not usually be considered for a mild either. Most milds are low in abv and have the hops usually as a first addition.

Again this is a myth, there are several examples of mild ales being dry hopped in the cask, Ridleys Mild being one of them. On the second statement you are 1/2 correct, modern examples do tend to favour the lower alcohol range but again pre-1800's mild ales had a range of gravities from 1.060 to 1.090 or higher.

I keep trying to reiterate this point that anyone who says mild ale means it is low hopped, malty, or dark is talking utter s***e! Mild was the term use to differentiate between young and old ales. Mild being made to sell quickly and Keeping beers being made to condition for years at a time. It was a definition of time!

I'd also double the chocolate malt but do a cold steep - I love cold steeped chocolate malt, it adds fantastic complex chocolate and caramel flavours but without the roastiness that can be too much.

What yeast are you using ?

Cold stepping is unnecessary at this stage, just balance it well and don't use lots. Yeast is not anymore important for mild ales than it is for any other beer or ale, it contributes 90% of the flavour after all! But selecting an appropriate will will make a large impact.

Now I have that out of the way we can start putting something together, I will base the recipe of 75% BHE so you can adjust for yourself, I am a huge believer in Keeping It Stupidly Simple when it comes to low ABV beers and sometimes the 'less is more' approach really works, I received a brilliant review from a retailer about a mild I entered into a swap and it only contained 3 malts and 1 hop!

You mentioned you didn't want something high ABV and in the spirit of keeping it simple I have chosen 4.0% ABV for this particular example. As you have 3.9kg of pale this is a good starting point, I generally try and avoid going lower than 75% base malt due to the need for fermentables, as I'm sure you are aware, milds in the 70's and 80's were made as 'running beers' and would have been mashed as close to 60°C as the breweries dared to add plenty of fermentables, this gave rise to the popular ledgend that all mild was watery.

But that's another subject! I think 85% is a good base point, it will take roughly 4kg of grain to make a 1040 beer at 85% so that gives us 3.4kg of pale malt. Next you will want some crystal malt, another defining feature of modern and early milds but the rates vary greatly. People tend to go for around 8 - 10% but I have since come to find this is a little too much some times, some examples contain as little as possible. I find anywhere between 5 - 7% a suitable number for a standard house mild, that is 280g of the breweries finest.

Chocolate is one thing I do love, I always use a standard 5% ratio in my beers which for you would be 200g, it doesn't need to be cold steeped as it will balance itself with the chocolate. I noticed you also had some Wheat Malt, add 3% of that to aid head retention, although this is only an issue in those Northern examples.

That then we end up with this:

3,400g Pale Malt
280g Crystal Malt
200g Chocolate Malt
120g Wheat Malt

I would opt to use Bramling Cross solely for this brew as it has a wonderful black current aroma and flavour that blends well with the chocolate. Don't be afraid to First Wort Hop, it was common practice before as well as having no late addition hops but adding them during the hop back transfer to chilling. Similar to the 80°C aroma steep we use as homebrewers.

30g added at 90 minutes will give you 18 IBU and a balanced beer but leaning slightly towards the maltier side, 20 will give you a slightly happier side, just increase from 30g to 35g at 90 minutes. I would also add 15g at 80°C for 15 minutes or a nice 15g dry hop in the cask/pressure barrel/whatever.

Mashing at 66°C will be fine if you control your FG a little, but if you must and/or want to go with modern trends mash at 67/68°C but there is certainly no need to go any higher, personally I think people who mash so uneccesarily high just have no skill in controlling fermentation!

It will also end up between 18 and 20 SRM or 35 and 40 EBC. To control your fermentation and skim the yeast when gravity drop has reached 75%, this will reduce the risk of of it over attenuating and chill for 24/48 hrs before transferring, don't be afraid to ferment at 21°C, GV-12 can take it, just make sure you have the ability to cool it down later on.

This is what you would have all together:

Brew Length: 23 Ltrs
O.G: 1.040
F.G: 1.009
IBU: 18
EBC: 35 - 40
ABV: 4.0%

3.4kg Pale Malt
280g Crystal Malt
200g Chocolate Malt
120g Wheat Malt

30g Bramling X @ 90 Minutes.
15g Bramling X @ Cask.

GV-12 (Nottingham) Yeast 11g.

Mash at 66°C for 90 Minutes.

I hope that gives you a little insight into making a basic but easy drinking and well balanced mild, from there you tweak it any which way. If using a keg you can also introduce oak but that is another challenge for another day!

I hope this is of some use to you.

[sbond10]

That's a fantastic recipe there kyle I don't cask so adding 3 days before will that work ? What about hop age is that not gonna be an issue ?

[Kyle_T]

As soon as the yeast been skimmed it would throw them in for a maximum 7 days and then rack.

[sbond10]

I'm probs gonna brew next sat pitch late sat dry hop on the Thursday then bottle on the 28th what you reckon? I know that's a quick turn around but should work

[Kyle_T]

Do you have fermentation control?

[sbond10]

Nope just letting it go on its own

[Kyle_T]

Let it ferment for 3 - 4 days and then try and chill it down as much as possible for 24/48 hrs to let the yeast clear up and then rack. Let condition for a week and your done.

[McMullan]

Great thread. I’ve been inspired to make a batch of this mild in a few days, Kyle. The only thing I don’t have in stock is the yeast. I do have some WLP007 ready to go. Any thoughts?

[Kyle_T]

Great thread. I’ve been inspired to make a batch of this mild in a few days, Kyle. The only thing I don’t have in stock is the yeast. I do have some WLP007 ready to go. Any thoughts?

That will be absolutely fine. I hope you enjoy it.

[Martt2]

If anything, I'd mash low for a mild to make sure it dried out. I'd also use molasses/treacle/invert or just brown sugar. Not strictly on the list from OP but in all good supermarkets!

[super_simian]

BX as bittering in a dark ale is killer; the dark malts and blackcurranty hops really work together.