Dark Mild Grainbills (reference)

[seymour]

What about this one, anyone brewed it or tasted the real thing? Very light + very dark, no mid-section crystal or chocolate. Does it work?

I've had dark Irish ales similar to this, but it doesn't strike me as very mild-ish.

Crouchvale Blackwater Mild
Pale Malt: 94.7%
Roasted Barley: 5.3%

[beernsurfing]

The last few years over here, mild has become quite popular with homebrewers. Such a great style. I average 10 batches a year out of around 30, and its my most brewed style. Good to see lots of different recipes here. I love pale choc in my milds, but i've also used a bit of black with choc, and in a pinch, small amounts of roast barley ( i know i know, only when im low on choc! ) and choc. I did one not long ago with 1% crystal, and 2% each RB and pale choc. Was dry, but very nice.

At the moment i have a helles, a Galaxy pale ale, and a Hefeweizen in my kegs, and a 10.5% US IIPA ready to bottle, but i can't wait to get another mild back on tap!!

[orlando]

Interesting thread and shows, for me at least, the fluidity within style boundaries. I have only just started brewing Milds and was interested in old fashioned versions as modern ones didn't appear to compare well with the past so went looking for a more appropriate recipe. This is where the plot thickens, the one I brewed, outlined below, is what I came up with but for the life of me I've forgotten exactly where I got it from but think it was an old Durden Park beer circle recipe. I've tried searching for it again but have so far come up blank. I would love to know if anyone recognises it. The reason I'm so keen to know is because it is so good, one of the best beers I've brewed and so tasty each pint lasts way too short a time, so am grateful it is relatively weak in alcohol. The use of brown porter malt has added a wonderful layer of texture and aroma to it and is in effect its secret.

3.000 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) 73.2 %
0.500 kg Crystal Malt (150.0 EBC) 12.2 %
0.225 kg Chocolate Malt (800.0 EBC) 5.5 %
0.200 kg Brown Porter Malt (1700s style) (85.0 EBC) 4.9 %
0.100 kg Special B Malt (354.6 EBC) 2.4 %
0.075 kg Carafa II (811.6 EBC) 1.8 %
40.00 g Fuggles [3.85 %] - Boil 60.0 min 16.8 IBUs
15.00 g Fuggles [3.85 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

[seymour]

Interesting thread and shows, for me at least, the fluidity within style boundaries. I have only just started brewing Milds and was interested in old fashioned versions as modern ones didn't appear to compare well with the past so went looking for a more appropriate recipe. This is where the plot thickens, the one I brewed, outlined below, is what I came up with but for the life of me I've forgotten exactly where I got it from but think it was an old Durden Park beer circle recipe. I've tried searching for it again but have so far come up blank. I would love to know if anyone recognises it. The reason I'm so keen to know is because it is so good, one of the best beers I've brewed and so tasty each pint lasts way too short a time, so am grateful it is relatively weak in alcohol. The use of brown porter malt has added a wonderful layer of texture and aroma to it and is in effect its secret.

3.000 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) 73.2 %
0.500 kg Crystal Malt (150.0 EBC) 12.2 %
0.225 kg Chocolate Malt (800.0 EBC) 5.5 %
0.200 kg Brown Porter Malt (1700s style) (85.0 EBC) 4.9 %
0.100 kg Special B Malt (354.6 EBC) 2.4 %
0.075 kg Carafa II (811.6 EBC) 1.8 %
40.00 g Fuggles [3.85 %] - Boil 60.0 min 16.8 IBUs
15.00 g Fuggles [3.85 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

That does sound very good. It looks very similar to this one in our list, which incidentally won the 2009 Ameican Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition Gold Medal. I wonder if you saw that magazine article and adjusted it a little based on your grains at hand, or something?
http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/ModestMild

Jake and Tom Modest Mild (Zymurgy Magazine 2009)
Pale Malt: 65.9%
Brown Malt: 3%
CaraMunich Malt: 12%
Chocolate Malt: 3.3%
Dark Crystal Malt: 3.3%
Special B Malt: 1.7%
Carafa II Malt: .8%

[orlando]

No, I don't think so it was pretty much an old fashioned mild which specifically used brown porter malt. Thanks for looking though. Just wish you could taste it as I need some feedback on it. I will take it to my local CBA meeting Jan 5th and see what the fellow members think. I've got the 4 way SMaSH I did with the different dried yeasts so a lot of feedback coming my way.

[seymour]

No, I don't think so it was pretty much an old fashioned mild which specifically used brown porter malt. Thanks for looking though. Just wish you could taste it as I need some feedback on it. I will take it to my local CBA meeting Jan 5th and see what the fellow members think. I've got the 4 way SMaSH I did with the different dried yeasts so a lot of feedback coming my way.

You're right, your recipe uses 4.87% Brown Porter Malt, and this modern one uses only 3% Brown Malt, but in most cases those are different names for the same thing.

Whatever the case, I'd love to know your historical brewery origin, too, so let me know if you find it. Keep us posted on the feedback you receive, too, it definitely sounds like a delicious beer.

[orlando]

It is a delicious beer. The secret as I already mentioned is the brown malt. This was kilned for me over oak as it would have been for some brown malts in the middle of the 19c. I also have a diastatic brown malt that was kilned to a mid 18c recipe both of which bring a fascinating dimension to the party.

[seymour]

I don't own this booklet, do you? Your mention of Durden Park brought it to mind:
http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Publications.htm

[orlando]

Yes I do but it's not in there, this is really frustrating, thanks again. Book you should try, all the recipes are in Imperial measures but the strength the beer was brewed at then is insane, no wonder we had an Empire, every one was fighting drunk back then

[seymour]

Cool, will do. Several people have highly recommended it now. Love your historical commentary, too!

[seymour]

No, I don't think so it was pretty much an old fashioned mild which specifically used brown porter malt. Thanks for looking though. Just wish you could taste it as I need some feedback on it. I will take it to my local CBA meeting Jan 5th and see what the fellow members think. I've got the 4 way SMaSH I did with the different dried yeasts so a lot of feedback coming my way.

So, how did the meeting go? I'd love to hear some of the feedback you received.

[orlando]

At the meeting one of the usual questions is "would you have another pint" there were enough hands to encourage me. However the 4 way SMaSH was a disaster. SOmehow the fermentation went really badly for me and the brew was affected by acetaldehyde, which pretty much obliterated the subtleties of the different yeasts.

You win some..........!

[seymour]

Bump.

Let's take this to the next step. Who has brewed a few of these, or has brewed Mild in general? What sort of things have you learned? What did you like/dislike? What worked, what didn't? What do you like best about classic milds? Have you successfully recreated those traits in your homebrews?

I'll go first:
-mash high in order to leave it full-bodied
-some unmalted barley, wheat, corn, or oats, helps with mouthfeel and head-retention too
-use a low or medium attenuating yeast so there's a little residual sweetness left behind, such as Fullers or Windsor
-ferment at the warm end of the range for fruity, flavorful English ale yeast esters
-Mild malt is kilned a bit darker and a bit more aromatic than standard Pale Malt, akin to Vienna
-consume fresh, lengthy conditioning and carbonation is optional
-many recipes call for lots of simple sugar, but this will make it thin/watery unless you carefully compensate

[barney]

I have learned to brew more than I think I need, it always goes bloody quick. Its also far better on cask or from the corny than from a bottle.

[seymour]

I have learned to brew more than I think I need, it always goes bloody quick. Its also far better on cask or from the corny than from a bottle.

I get the cask claim. What doesn't taste better that way, right?

But I wonder why a corny would taste better than bottled? Isn't bottle-conditioning a similar form of refermentation to cask-conditioning?