SEYMOUR FESTIVAL MILD

[seymour]

SEYMOUR FESTIVAL MILD



I’m aiming for one of those stronger special mild ales, maybe along the lines of Gales or Sarah Hughes. I know, I know…the grainbill is ridiculous, but each ingredient serves a purpose in this not-so-mildly-complex brew.

This is my first use of the Cullercoats Brewery English ale yeast (thanks Eric!) and I used-up the last of my Amber Malt (thanks Dylan!) and Keyworth Midseason hops (thanks Timbo41!) Those were bred long ago as a Fuggles replacement, and in my experience are indeed fairly similar. So hop-wise, this is a pretty traditional Fuggles & East Kent Goldings concept.

5 US gallons = 4.2 Imperial gallons = 18.9 Litres

GRAINBILL
63% = 5.16 lbs = 2341 g, Pale Malt (a blend of Pils and US Two-Row, ‘cuz that’s what I had)
10% = .82 lbs = 372 g, UK Pauls Mild Malt
10% = .82 lbs = 372 g, US Briess Cara 120 Malt
3% = .25 lbs = 113 g, Belgian Aromatic Malt
3% = .25 lbs = 113 g, UK Thomas Fawcett Amber Malt
3% = .25 lbs = 113 g, UK Muntons Black Malt
3% = .25 lbs = 113 g, Steel Cut Oats
5% = .41 lbs = 186 g, Raw Cane Sugar Invert Syrup (homemade on the fly)
TOTAL: 8.3 lbs/3.76 kg

MASH for 90 min
STRIKE grains with 2.4 US gal/2 Imp. gal/9 L of 166°F/74.4°C water
to reach 151°F/66°C, hold at least 1 hr, then add 1.3 US gal/1.1 Imp gal/4.9 L boiling water to reach 170°F/77°C, rest awhile.

In the meantime, I combined the sugar with a little first-runnings and a few drops of lime juice, then boiled it down to a thick, dark caramel syrup. I eventually added this to the main boil kettle. I find this adds a deep caramelly, toffee-like trait which is common in English ales, but almost non-existent in all-grain US craft beer.

VORLAUF then SPARGE to collect 6.5 US gal/5.4 Imp gal/24.6 L pre-boil

BOIL hard for 60 min (add sugar syrup at beginning)

HOPS
1.5 oz = 43 g, Keyworth Midseason (or substitute Fuggles), first wort addition
.5 oz = 14 g, Goldings, 5 minutes remaining

CHILL, RACK, AERATE, then PITCH.

YEAST
Cullercoats Brewery yeast, from Brewlab in Sunderland, UK, at 64°F/18°C

APPROXIMATE STATS
OG: 1051
FG: 1012
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 27
COLOUR: reddish brown


The mash underway



The Cullercoats Brewery yeast starter and East Kent Goldings hops



Vorlaufing



Boiling the invert sugar syrup



Sparging



Simultaneously adding the sugar syrup to boil kettle



The wort and first wort hops, being brought to boil



Boiling away



Racking to another kettle for chilling, check-out that great reddish hue



Chilling underway, carboy filled with sanitizer at the ready


Racking to carboy



Pitching the yeast



Hydrometer reading (OG≈1051)



Sealed and labelled

[Clibit]

Looks ace! Let us know how that yeast performs!

[Stewb]

Looks ready to drink.. but what a grainbill indeed!

[seymour]

The yeast starting burping the airlock right away, but look at this krausen less than a day later. Just like you predicted, Eric!

[Eric]

Yes, doesn't it? Gives me great pleasure just to be able to see that. Thank you.

I'm wondering if it's originally from Yorkshire Squares or maybe the Burton Union system. Was talking with Dr Keith Thomas of Brewlab on Monday past but didn't get chance to learn if he might advise of its origin. Must get over there, it's just the other side of town. If you think that one is lively, I'd say wait for the next one, it's better and definitely from a Yorkshire Square Brewery.
Is there much yeast sitting on the bottom?

[seymour]

And now, another day later...WOAH!



Eric, y'know I didn't specifically check the bottom, but I'll take a look tomorrow and let you know.

[BrewerBen]

Hi Seymour, love the colour of this one. Changing the subject slightly as you mention Gales have you ever used their yeast strain? A few posts mention it could be available from Brewlab. I live not far from the old brewery, now apartments sadly, and thought it could be fun to use a local yeast strain.

[seymour]

...Changing the subject slightly as you mention Gales have you ever used their yeast strain? A few posts mention it could be available from Brewlab. I live not far from the old brewery, now apartments sadly, and thought it could be fun to use a local yeast strain.

I used yeast cultured from a bottle of Marble Dobber several times and loved it. That yeast was almost certainly the historic Gales strain. If Brewlab has it, you should definitely get some, it's great.

[Kyle_T]

Looks good Seymour, I did a 'Festival' mild not long ago, came out alright but it was closer to a brown ale than a mild, very sweet and heavy. That was around the same percentage as yours.

As for local yeast, I'd say always try and get some, helps tie your beers into the local history. I've been working on a few from the old Ridley's brewery is Essex, lovely yeast that is.

[Flaneur]

That does look good. I made a Festival Mild from GWs recipe last year and I would say it's one of my favourites to date. Mine went into mini-casks and after about 8 months the final drop was superb. I compared it with a Fuller's London Porter I had in my local and they are, to my mind, very similar beers.
I guess what I'm saying is, although mild beers are made for ready drinking, some age very well and develop some delicious flavours after a time. If you can leave them alone!

[seymour]

Eric, my Cullercoats yeast is still actively fermenting. Huge krausen on top, but very little yeast sediment at the bottom so far, maybe only 1/4 inch which also surely contains some grain and hop trub.

By comparison, it seem like much less sediment than my recent brews using Heady Topper yeast, Coopers yeast, Ringwood yeast, and McEwans yeast. Then again, what goes up must come down, so I expect lots of sediment when this huge krausen collapses. What was your experience?

[Eric]

Eric, my Cullercoats yeast is still actively fermenting. Huge krausen
on top, but very little yeast sediment at the bottom so far, maybe
only 1/4 inch which also surely contains some grain and hop trub.
By comparison, it seem like much less sediment than my recent
brews using Heady Topper yeast, Coopers yeast, Ringwood
yeast, and McEwans yeast. Then again, what goes up must come
down, so I expect lots of sediment when this huge krausen
collapses. What was your experience?

The reason for asking about yeast on the bottom was because mine was as you have described, most yeast had left the beer. The wort is very probably quite dark too, not muddy brown and a further indication of a low quantity of yeast. It proved necessary to actively encourage my yeast back into the wort, but maybe the shape of your carboy might do some or all of that task.

Primary fermentation of mine stopped at 75% apparent attenuation and when heating was removed the head did collapse. However the temperature would have been below 50F and there had been no sign of the krausen yeilding while the wort was at 60F and more.

[seymour]

Interesting. Yeah, mine was 62F this morning and still churning away. I'll just let it run it's course, and inform you when the krausen begins to fall. Cheers!

[Eric]

How is this one going Seymour?
My first brew with this yeast has been in the cask 5 weeks now and it's been drinking well for a while and continues to improve. The second is taking a lot longer, too sweet at present although it was higher gravity. It does seem to take its time.

[seymour]

How is this one going Seymour?
My first brew with this yeast has been in the cask 5 weeks now and it's been drinking well for a while and continues to improve. The second is taking a lot longer, too sweet at present although it was higher gravity. It does seem to take its time.

Eric, sorry for such slow response time. Honestly, I just let this yeast keep doin its thang. Every time I'd go to the basement for something else, I'd hear this airlock blurping along every few minutes. Even still, earlier today...can you believe that?! A real-life Olde English beast.

I finally bottled it today. 36 bottles: mostly 12 oz but a bunch of bigger bombers too. Final gravity was 1012, just as I had intended, which makes the beer 5.05% ABV. A real pretty reddish brown colour, I'll post a picture of the final beer after some bottle conditioning time.

I poured the hydrometer sample into a nonic half-pint glass and used the syringe trick I learned on this forum, to give it a foamy, cascading, beer engine effect. It tastes delicious. Grainy and bready, hint of caramel, toasty and a little roasty, definitely malt-forward but with that classic Fuggles & Goldings hoppy balance. Flowery, earthy, hint of orange marmalade. Some nice fruity ale yeast esters, but surprisingly subdued actually. I've never had the privilege of tasting an authentic commercial Festival Mild Ale, but I imagine this is pretty authentic tasting. I'm very pleased overall.

Thank you again for sharing this yeast. If the bottles carb up correctly, I'm saving one to mail you.