Dark Mild, Seems to be the thing to do... Options

[BitterBastard]

Can I get some thoughts on my Mild Ale recipe? I'm making a dark mild, like a bunch of folks on the BB seem to be doing. Here's the recipe:

Recipe Type: Partial Mash (-ish, more like extract plus grains)
Batch Size: 10 gallons

Fermentables:
8.5lbs Munton's Light LME
1lb Pale 2-row Malt
1lb Brown Malt
1lb Crystal 150L
1lb Torrified Wheat
.5 Chocolate Malt

Hops:
1.75oz 6.2%AA East Kent Goldings at 60min (for 26.7 IBU according to Pro-Mash)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

Target O.G. (65% eff assumed): 1.038

I'm considering Williamette instead of the EKG, or possibly mixing it in equal amounts with the EKG and adding a flavor addition .... dunno, many of my beers lately have been grassy in how hoppy they were, so I wouldn't mind at all if I made something with a low hop flavor/aroma.

Thanks!

[BitterBastard]

*Bump*
OK, so no takers for general advice .... how about something more specific:

Can I use 1lb of Brown Malt? Is that too much? Its about 10% or so .... a little less so actually.

[Mike E.]

Can I get some thoughts on my Mild Ale recipe? I'm making a dark mild, like a bunch of folks on the BB seem to be doing. Here's the recipe:

Recipe Type: Partial Mash (-ish, more like extract plus grains)
Batch Size: 10 gallons

What's the Torrified Wheat for? I was considering a few Oats in my next version... curious what you're up to here.

Mike

[friedlbug]

I'm still aging a mild I did at the end of last year. I used about twice the chocolate you have listed, and you can tell I used too much. I scaled down the amount from a porter recipe, but failed to consider just how much the sweetness/maltyness and hop flavor balance out the chocolate malt in that recipe. With the level of those other flavors in the mild, the chocolate just sort of bitch-slaps you. I plan to try mine again next month, then dump if still not drinkable.

[BitterBastard]

What's the Torrified Wheat for? I was considering a few Oats in my next version... curious what you're up to here.

Mike

I've used Torrified Wheat in many of my extract beers for better head retention .... I'm told it doesn't effect the mouthfeel all that much, like oats would, but I can't really imagine how it would increase head without effecting mouthfeel......

I'm still aging a mild I did at the end of last year. I used about twice the chocolate you have listed, and you can tell I used too much. I scaled down the amount from a porter recipe, but failed to consider just how much the sweetness/maltyness and hop flavor balance out the chocolate malt in that recipe. With the level of those other flavors in the mild, the chocolate just sort of bitch-slaps you. I plan to try mine again next month, then dump if still not drinkable.

From what I've read about overusing Brown Malt (don't know if it translated to Choc. Malt), you will hopefully find your mild nice and drinkable next month. Do you think that I should be worried about a similar harshness, even though my Choc. Malt is lower, because of the Brown Malt, Choc Malt, and high Lovibond Crystal together?

[friedlbug]

Do you think that I should be worried about a similar harshness, even though my Choc. Malt is lower, because of the Brown Malt, Choc Malt, and high Lovibond Crystal together?

Don't know. The only "brown" malt I have any experience with is home-toasted base malt that should be close to it.

[tripel666]

From what I've heard, a little brown malt goes a a way. Maybe cut it back to a half pound? I'd also cut the crytal to 0.5 lb and the chocolate to 0.25 lbs. A mild is a smaller beer than a porter and those speciality malts will contribute more flavor. Just my 2 cents.

[BitterBastard]

From what I've heard, a little brown malt goes a a way. Maybe cut it back to a half pound? I'd also cut the crytal to 0.5 lb and the chocolate to 0.25 lbs. A mild is a smaller beer than a porter and those speciality malts will contribute more flavor. Just my 2 cents.

I'm kinda thinking that cutting back on the brown malt is a good idea ... maybe to .75 #? But the chocolate and the crystal are pretty in line with a lot of mild ale recipes I've seen. Take Phalanxausage's mild for instance: here

Given the recipes I've read, I'm thinking I should stay with a substantial amount of Crystal, and a fair amount of Chocolate. Maybe I should take it easy on the first recipe though?

[Yeasty Boy]

I had a porter made with liek 40% brown, and it was goood.
Very biscuity, toasty, bready flavor.

[BitterBastard]

For the record, I tapped this last night and its great! I like my beer pretty bitter, so I wish I had used more bittering hops, and I would probably go ahead and use the whole pound of Brown Malt instead of just the .75 lbs I used. Other than that, though, it's very tasty, and very easy drinking ..... so easy that I could not catch a buzz off it last night even after 3 pints. That's probably just fine for a Monday, though (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif) I may come back and post a pic of my tap handle label for this beer, purely out of pride in its simple but attractive design.

[Pseudolus]

Haven't done a mild before, and found this thread when poking around looking for mild recipes. I have some brown malt kicking around that I'd like to use. Maybe a couple pounds of it. Something like:

6 lb MO Pale malt
2 lb Brown malt
1 lb darkish crystal

English-type bittering hops to ~15 IBU

English yeast

OG around 1.035

Can it be that simple? I'm on a recipe-simplification kick lately, but I don't want to simplify out anything critical. I could toss in some chocolate or patent malt, but if that's not really necessary, I think I'd like to leave those out and let the brown malt flavor shine through all the more.

I have some harvested WLP022 Essex Ale yeast in the fridge. Since that's on the more-attenuative side should I compensate by raising the mash temp (158ish?)? Adding in some more crystal (maybe a 1/2 lb of something in the medium range)? Fugeddaboudit and splurge on another tube of yeast?

[zombudis]

Haven't done a mild before, and found this thread when poking around looking for mild recipes. I have some brown malt kicking around that I'd like to use. Maybe a couple pounds of it. Something like:

6 lb MO Pale malt
2 lb Brown malt
1 lb darkish crystal

English-type bittering hops to ~15 IBU

English yeast

OG around 1.035

Can it be that simple? I'm on a recipe-simplification kick lately, but I don't want to simplify out anything critical. I could toss in some chocolate or patent malt, but if that's not really necessary, I think I'd like to leave those out and let the brown malt flavor shine through all the more.

I have some harvested WLP022 Essex Ale yeast in the fridge. Since that's on the more-attenuative side should I compensate by raising the mash temp (158ish?)? Adding in some more crystal (maybe a 1/2 lb of something in the medium range)? Fugeddaboudit and splurge on another tube of yeast?

I would definitely mash high with these low gravity beers. For me a beer like this, or an ord. bitter, is often a small beer made from second runnings, and the mash was lower than optimum because the focus is on the big beer. In that situation I like to cap the mash with some carapils or light crystal to give the second beer some more body.

I would also not hesitate for a minute to use Essex on a mild. Good luck!

[Pseudolus]

Thanks for the input. I'm gonna go for it. I guess my only remaining question is, for mash temp, how high is "high"?

[slothrob]

Thanks for the input. I'm gonna go for it. I guess my only remaining question is, for mash temp, how high is "high"?

I would mash at 155°F+ for a 1.035-1.040 beer with 1/2-1# Crystal Malt, if I wanted it to have medium body and seem like a reasonably substantial beer. For reference, 154-155°F gave me an F.G. of 1.009 from 1.038 (76% a.a.) with 3/4# Crystal Malts using S-04. Next time I'll probably mash a couple degrees higher.

For my preferences, it's better to mash a small beer a little too high than too low. If these beers finish too dry they can become pretty thin and lifeless or even a bit harsh. Be sure to keep the carbonation down, too, as they can become really carbonic.