Prodigal Gold Mild

[crow_flies]

Ok I've been shamed into putting the effort into putting a post up for the mild I brewed today (shhhh but i brewed last weekend as well - slaps wrists).

Many thanks to Prodigal2 for the recipe for the mild, which I've adapted to include first gold hops. I was looking to brew a beer similar to black gold, from castle rock which is a wonderful mild which looks like it will leaden your boots, but actually drinks very much more like a session bitter.

here is the recipe: -

23L
2.3kg pale
60g self roasted barley
60g chocolate malt
120g crystal
50g amber
50g torrified wheat
360g demerara sugar
Brewers Caramel to adjust colour

20g First Gold 8.5%AA 60mins FWH
15g First Gold 8.5%AA Flameout

I'm still getting used to brewing with my new kit, its ideally best set for longer brew runs, being 70l, 70l and 100l respectively; so I've done a few runs at 23l just in case i screw it up and at least i wont have to throw out too much. I also need to get some cornis, so i just dropped a note to norm, i really cant be arsed to bottle any more!

Anyhow this one is going into the placci barrels so no problemo for today.

I've only put a single element in the HLT (2.75kw), so it takes a while to get up to temp, but later I'll fit a tempcontroller and have it on timer so its ready when i get up. I heated around 50l and added 30ml CRS (would normally be 45ml, but as this is a darker ale, I'm reckoning on needing slightly less) - litmus showed i was spot on 5.2/5.3 later on. The mash was a bit thin and with so little grain, i thought it would be full of crud, but it wasnt too bad. I also only had normal oats, so i had a go at toasting them until golden in the oven - seemed to taste fine, so we'll see how that goes!

Ran a second batch sparge (i batch sparge now - its so much easier) and topped up the boiler to 32litres. I also ran the first runnings straight onto the hops and threw those into the boiler and set it off whilst the second batch sparge was settling.

Boil was pretty straightforward, boiling for an hour with both elements on 2.75 & 2.4, mid way through I drew off some wort and added the copper finings to rehydrate - that went in with the copper coil at 15 mins to go and last hops went in at flame out. Cooling was about 20-25mins and you can see the level of crud that has come out in the picture below.

I had a saved batch of windsor taken from primary of last weeks brew, been sitting in the fridge for a week - i poured the cooled wort on and set it aside until it was clear it was healthy and off (inch in <1/2hr so i think the answer to that is yes!).

Its just running out into the FV as i type this, so I'll just go finish it off and then load the piccies (i only took a few at the end, but thought a few would be better than nought!)

/CF

[crow_flies]

Right here goes with a few piccies....


This shows the current setup with 70l HLT at top, 70l Mash beneath and the 100l boiler to the left


And here is the brew on full boil.


Sight tubes fitted - used a bored out penny washer on the top, but just went straight through on the lower one and the liquid metal glue was enough to seal.


This was drawn off at the end of cooling -plenty of crud!


Running off into FV - the camera has caught it just right so you can see how clear the wort is!



just for interest the beer fridge with temp controller at the rear - need to get a bigger one actually as the fv doesnt fit!


and finally last weeks beer drawn from secondary and bottled today - its a light colour beer, with challenger dominant.

cheers all

/CF

[edit1now]

Very nice

[Horden Hillbilly]

Looks good c_f, great looking set up you have, nice one!

[prodigal2]

setup CF, your most definatly settled in your brewery now.

I notice you used my grist, which was for 20L and not 23L, out of interest what was your OG?

[Garth]

great pics there cf, nice gear too

[crow_flies]

I notice you used my grist, which was for 20L and not 23L, out of interest what was your OG?

errr lower than yours...... sorry only spotted that at the end and swmbo was in a hurry to get to the pub for dinner, so didnt check the fg... that said i was a bit more 'generous' with the measurements of the ingredients - 260 for 250 etc.... i'm sure it will be nice -

[subsub]

Congrats on the brew CF, nice pics too.

[crow_flies]

cheers guys, i enjoyed the brew and happy to report all is looking well this morning, nice big krausen, thrown up lots of crud.

/CF

[crow_flies]

just transferred to secondary with some finings, need to get this in keg as I am away mid week for a couple of weeks. Decide to force carb it in my NEW CORNIS!!!
Took delivery on Friday of 2 + all the kit from Norm - cleand one up today, got the oil off it! and will probably have to sanitise with chlorine based product this one time - once wont hurt I guess....

I've just realised that this beer reminds me of mcewans ale or one of those malty scottish style beers, very nice it is indeed.

looking forward to drinking it once its been carbonated.

cheers!

/CF

[prodigal2]

great news on the Cornies CF. And I feel honoured, your mild will be the first in there.

Glad you like the grist, any thoughts or improvements would be greatly appreciated.