Greg Hughes, mild

[Seaside brew]

Morning brewers, just after a bit of advice. I’m planning on brewing the mild recipe from the Greg Hughes home brew beer book but I was thinking of using pale malt instead of mild malt, cause I don’t have any! and also increasing that to 3.5kg to up the abv a bit. Will this be ok or will I need to adjust the recipe to balance it?? Thanks in advance

 

[An Ankoù]

Morning Seaside,
It'll be just fine.
As an aside, if you've got any Crisp's Vienna malt, you could use that since it is, in effect, British malt roasted the same as a mild malt. But if you haven't it'll be good anyway.
The real challenge, here, is deciding which Dark Crystal malt to use. Dark Crystal is typically 200-220 ebc depending on where you get it from, and it really does make a difference to flavour (not a bad difference, just that one mild will taste slightly different to another). Note that the stuff described as "Dark Crystal" by geterbrewed, at 380-435 ebc is what others would refer to as "Extra Dark Crstal" or "Black Crystal". I'm not sure that this is what Greg Hughes intended.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I used pale for this one and it was fine, my problem was using 250g sugar to prime 10l worth.

 

[Seaside brew]

Nice one lads that’s brilliant. Looks like it’s a goer then! My dark crystal is from geterbrewed. I used in his brown porter I made. I’ll have to have a rummage when I get home from work and see what alternatives I have.

 

[Seaside brew]

I bet that was a bit on the lively side pilgrimhudd!! I don’t have any Vienna malt, I’ve never used it. Good to know for the future though. From memory I’ve only got medium crystal and the dark crystal form Geterbrewed

 

[An Ankoù]

I bet that was a bit on the lively side pilgrimhudd!! I don’t have any Vienna malt, I’ve never used it. Good to know for the future though. From memory I’ve only got medium crystal and the dark crystal form Geterbrewed

Check the colour of the dark and the medium. Use whichever is closer to 200 ebc, would be my advice.

 

[Seaside brew]

I will do, thanks again

 

[Northern_Brewer]

And really for mild you want the flavour of a dark invert sugar....

 

[Seaside brew]

The plot thickens!!

 

[terrym]

And really for mild you want the flavour of a dark invert sugar....

None in the GH recipe, its literally 'all grain'. So how much would you recommend, and what colour.
I use this for making my own copied from another homebrew site.
Invert No. 1 = 500g Golden Syrup
Invert N0. 2 = 494.17 Golden Syrup + 5.83g Blackstrap
Invert No. 3 = 483.33 Golden Syrup + 16.67 Blackstrap
Black Invert = 446.67 Golden Syrup + 53.33 Blackstrap
Invert No. 4 = 405 Golden Syrup + 95 Blackstrap

 

[Seaside brew]

Now my mind has been blown

 

[An Ankoù]

The plot thickens!!

Don't do it.
There's no place for Bisto in a good mild.

As you haven't started yet, there's still time to ditch Greg and go for Sarah!

 

[Slid]

I used pale for this one and it was fine, my problem was using 250g sugar to prime 10l worth.

From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - "You think you used enough dynamite, there, Butch?"

 

[Northern_Brewer]

None in the GH recipe, its literally 'all grain'. So how much would you recommend, and what colour.
I use this for making my own copied from another homebrew site.
Invert No. 1 = 500g Golden Syrup
Invert N0. 2 = 494.17 Golden Syrup + 5.83g Blackstrap
Invert No. 3 = 483.33 Golden Syrup + 16.67 Blackstrap
Black Invert = 446.67 Golden Syrup + 53.33 Blackstrap
Invert No. 4 = 405 Golden Syrup + 95 Blackstrap

That's taken from Making Brewers Invert | half a cat which also has instructions for making it rather than blending.

As for how much - it really depends. London milds might only have 3-6% of invert #3, Yorkshire milds might have 10% of #2, often with up to 10% of cane sugar or flaked maize, NW milds tend to replace the invert with crystal.

You'll certainly find examples with more and/or darker - it's really up to you. But I'd start with 10% of invert #2.something, and then adjust to taste.

 

[MrRook]

Most of the milds that I've brewed have been with pale malt instead of mild malt; it works fine.

 

[Seaside brew]

I’m just going to stick to the recipe this time round other then the way I’m already changing it. By swapping the mild malt for pale malt and the dark crystal to medium!! Any body tried this beer?

 

[An Ankoù]

I’m just going to stick to the recipe this time round other then the way I’m already changing it. By swapping the mild malt for pale malt and the dark crystal to medium!! Any body tried this beer?

Changing mild to pale won't make a great deal of difference, it's just that Crisp's dark from geterbrewed is what everyone else calls extra dark. As long as you're using something around 200-220 ebc, the colour and flavour will be as the recipe. Using extra dark will make it toastier- might be a good thing.
Looking at the relevent page in my "Bible" I say that the only thing I haven;t changed is the mild malt!

 

[Zephyr259]

Changing mild to pale won't make a great deal of difference, it's just that Crisp's dark from geterbrewed is what everyone else calls extra dark. As long as you're using something around 200-220 ebc, the colour and flavour will be as the recipe. Using extra dark will make it toastier- might be a good thing.
Looking at the relevent page in my "Bible" I say that the only thing I haven;t changed is the mild malt!

I'd forgotten that the Crisp crystals were weirdly classified on GEB; I agree, if the "medium" crystal is the 240 ebc one it's a very tasty malt and should do well in this beer. I've been meaning to try this one for a while actually. With the aim of simplifying my brewery a bit I cut down on malts, so for crystal I only stock Simpsons Carapils, Crisp 150 and Simpsons DRC. DRC could make a very interesting mild.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'd forgotten that the Crisp crystals were weirdly classified on GEB; I agree, if the "medium" crystal is the 240 ebc one it's a very tasty malt and should do well in this beer. I've been meaning to try this one for a while actually. With the aim of simplifying my brewery a bit I cut down on malts, so for crystal I only stock Simpsons Carapils, Crisp 150 and Simpsons DRC. DRC could make a very interesting mild.

I've often wondered whether DRC is very much different to Special B (or the copycats Special W and Special X). Getting a grip, I think mild is one of the most forgiving genres, and it's hard to make a one.

 

[Drunkula]

@An Ankoù Special X is nothing like Special B. Special X is a toasted malt, B is a crystal malt. Was a big surprise to me because I bought both to do a split batch and I could tell by tasting them before I started it was pointless. It says in X's description it's a caramel malt but it's nothing like one. Unless I was sold any old tut and they slapped an X on it.

I love the taste of Special B and kept crunching on it. It's gorgeous. I got some Crystal 400 last week I thought would be like it but that's much more burnt tasting. B is like the bonfire toffee sweets Morrisons sell.

I don't know what W is like - wanna try it, though.