Modern mild - am I really the only brewer who makes it?

[Justin Dean]

When I brew mild it all about the malt not the hops and low carbonation to avoid carbonation bite, smooth chocolatey malt. I use Mangrove Jacks M15 as a starter. and just 28g EKG at 30 mins boil and 15 g at 0 mins.

or a 25l batch it is 3.46kg maris otter 220 g chocolate malt and 130g dark crystal 400 which gives a dark ruby colour and 3.4 to 3.5% abv, very drinkable and a short mash and boil for a quicker brew day. Easy peasey. Pretty sure MO could be replaced with extract and then add chocolate and dark roast grains. Could put some black malt over top for sparge (if sparging) for darker colour if desired too but I think that also brings a little more bitterness which I am trying to avoid increasing

 

[moto748]

That sounds good Justin. I've been thinking about a mild for a while. I only have Crisp Best Ale as a base malt, do you think adding a small amount of Vienna (or even Munich) would be a good idea?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

That sounds good Justin. I've been thinking about a mild for a while. I only have Crisp Best Ale as a base malt, do you think adding a small amount of Vienna (or even Munich) would be a good idea?

I think Crisp Vienna and Mild malt are very similar or even the same.

 

[moto748]

I haven't got that much of it!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Then use LME & DME and steep the Vienna At 200g

 

[moto748]

I haven't used LME for decades. I have common-or-garden base malt, though.

 

[user 43495]

I think Crisp Vienna and Mild malt are very similar or even the same.

Faram's once suggested Vienna when they stopped doing Mild Ale malt. I did try it but in my opinion is was nowhere near as luscious as the Mild malt. I do have a sack of the real deal down in the cellar; I can't recall which malster does it.

 

[user 43495]

That sounds good Justin. I've been thinking about a mild for a while. I only have Crisp Best Ale as a base malt, do you think adding a small amount of Vienna (or even Munich) would be a good idea?

I usually make my mild recipes on the hoof but basically for 5 gallons I'd use about 5.5lb mild ale malt, 4-6 oz crushed roasted barley, 3-4 oz crushed black malt and plain old fuggles or goldings hops. I would also use 12oz demerara in the copper.

If I'm doing a modern stout then it's 6.5lb crushed pale, similar on the roasted grains but I do love to use norther brewer hops. 1lb demerara.

 

[Scrattajack]

So, what is the origin of mild ale malt? Whenever I see an old recipe for a mild from Ron Pattinson et al, it always says pale malt. Even modern recipes don't often ask for it.

 

[user 43495]

So, what is the origin of mild ale malt? Whenever I see an old recipe for a mild from Ron Pattinson et al, it always says pale malt. Even modern recipes don't often ask for it.

What's in a name! Meanings change over time and what is regarded as mild today is very different from its historical roots when it meant fresh (not soured) porter. Most beers 300 years ago or thereabouts were brewed from brown malt kilned over a smoky fire hence the passion among some for smoked malt to replicate those old styles (see Durden Park book for instance). As to why an author may cite one type of malt over another, it's a question for them to answer. Maybe it's because mild malt isn't so easily available? Or the author believes most brewers won't want to keep several sacks of different malts? I think Dave Line refers to mild malt in his Big Book of Brewing: I find it has the advantage when brewing a modern mild, but speaking of such, bear in mind nearly all modern commercial milds are fakes insomuch as they're partigyled. The dark colour being achieved by the use of caramels instead of roasted grains.

 

[User 38108]

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/5538/a-short-history-of-mild/

 

[User 38108]

Happy new year,enjoy your new year present! XxX

https://beerandbrewing.com/recipe-machine-house-dark-mild/

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

I've been tinkering with a mild recipe to brew someday in a not too long future.
MO as base
8% homemade demerara invert #3
6% Crystal (50/50 mix of 150/240 ebc)
4% Crisp brown malt
3% Torrified wheat
2% black malt

OG 1.038 IBU at 18, or enough to get a bu/gu ratio of 0.4.

Fermented with Brewly's English Ale yeast and aim to get AA in the low 70's.
I have a rather limited experience with mild, but when I was still living in Stockholm we had a nearby pub/bar with a good beer selection ran by a Brit. He ocassionally had mild on tap, and as I recall it had a little roast/toast character to it, but also a little sweetness and more body than you'd expect such a weak beer to have.
Aim to keg this, prime and naturally carb in keg for two weeks to 1.7 vol co2 and then cool condition in the keg fridge at 12c for about a week before the first pint.
Hopefully this will produce something like it.

 

[user 43495]

I've been tinkering with a mild recipe to brew someday in a not too long future.
MO as base
8% homemade demerara invert #3
6% Crystal (50/50 mix of 150/240 ebc)
4% Crisp brown malt
3% Torrified wheat
2% black malt

OG 1.038 IBU at 18, or enough to get a bu/gu ratio of 0.4.

Fermented with Brewly's English Ale yeast and aim to get AA in the low 70's.
I have a rather limited experience with mild, but when I was still living in Stockholm we had a nearby pub/bar with a good beer selection ran by a Brit. He ocassionally had mild on tap, and as I recall it had a little roast/toast character to it, but also a little sweetness and more body than you'd expect such a weak beer to have.
Aim to keg this, prime and naturally carb in keg for two weeks to 1.7 vol co2 and then cool condition in the keg fridge at 12c for about a week before the first pint.
Hopefully this will produce something like it.

Reminds me of a jazz festival I played at in Denmark a few years ago. The organiser was a Brit who also had a pub just a few yards from where the festival took place. He told me that it was up to the pub owner whether or not to allow smoking as long as there was a notice on the door. He allowed it, and as I hadn't taken any pipes with me, he introduced me to a local chap who was affectionately known as The Major because of a remarkeable likeness to Ballard Barkley. he took me to a wonderful tobacconist where I bought a pretty decent pipe with some straight grain and they mixed for me - in gold pans - a typical English blend but with my preference for a slight overdose of Latakia. Then the Major and I were off to the pub where there was a locally-brewerd real stout at 8% on handpump. If Denmark can be so civilised, why can't we be? As we once were? I would also praise their dedication to the correct use of the English language; they would put a lot of Brits to shame.

 

[patto1ro]

What's in a name! Meanings change over time and what is regarded as mild today is very different from its historical roots when it meant fresh (not soured) porter. Most beers 300 years ago or thereabouts were brewed from brown malt kilned over a smoky fire hence the passion among some for smoked malt to replicate those old styles (see Durden Park book for instance). As to why an author may cite one type of malt over another, it's a question for them to answer. Maybe it's because mild malt isn't so easily available? Or the author believes most brewers won't want to keep several sacks of different malts? I think Dave Line refers to mild malt in his Big Book of Brewing: I find it has the advantage when brewing a modern mild, but speaking of such, bear in mind nearly all modern commercial milds are fakes insomuch as they're partigyled. The dark colour being achieved by the use of caramels instead of roasted grains.

Mild Ale has no connection with Porter. For most of the 19th century Mild was pale in colour. It only really became dark in the 20th century.

When Mild did become dark, it was rarely coloured with roasted grains. Few Milds had anything darker than crystal. The colour came from No. 3 invert sugar and caramel. The signature flavours of Dark Mild when I started drinking came from the No. 3. sugar, not from dark grains.

Mild malt appears in loads of my recipes. Even for styles which aren't Mild Ale.

 

[patto1ro]

What's in a name! Meanings change over time and what is regarded as mild today is very different from its historical roots when it meant fresh (not soured) porter. Most beers 300 years ago or thereabouts were brewed from brown malt kilned over a smoky fire hence the passion among some for smoked malt to replicate those old styles (see Durden Park book for instance). As to why an author may cite one type of malt over another, it's a question for them to answer. Maybe it's because mild malt isn't so easily available? Or the author believes most brewers won't want to keep several sacks of different malts? I think Dave Line refers to mild malt in his Big Book of Brewing: I find it has the advantage when brewing a modern mild, but speaking of such, bear in mind nearly all modern commercial milds are fakes insomuch as they're partigyled. The dark colour being achieved by the use of caramels instead of roasted grains.

This is a pretty typical Dark Mild recipe:

1965 Whitbread Best Ale
mild malt 5.50 lb 83.59%
crystal malt 60 L 0.33 lb 5.02%
no. 3 invert sugar 0.75 lb 11.40%
Fuggles 60 min 0.50 oz
Fuggles 40 min 0.50 oz
Fuggles 20 min 0.50 oz
OG 1031
FG 1009
ABV 2.91
Apparent attenuation 70.97%
IBU 17
SRM 25
Mash at 150º F
Sparge at 168º F
Boil time 60 minutes
pitching temp 64º F
Yeast Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

[DixeySJ]

That looks good. I shall give it a try as a change from the Sarah Hughes (and a less strong alternative). Was interested to see such a short boil time.

Further to this, it was (and still is) very nice. Smooth and flavourful. Much less sweet than the Ruby Mild. Speaking of Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild, I am hoping to taste the actual beer in a couple of weeks - it is scheduled to appear at the Dorchester Beerex ....

 

[Oneflewover]

Further to this, it was (and still is) very nice. Smooth and flavourful. Much less sweet than the Ruby Mild. Speaking of Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild, I am hoping to taste the actual beer in a couple of weeks - it is scheduled to appear at the Dorchester Beerex ....

I was ummming and ahhhhhing about going to the Dorchvegas beerex.....have probably left it too late now anyway. Saw that the Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild was going to be on tap

 

[DixeySJ]

I believe there are tickets for some sessions still ...

 

[Jim Brewster]

Do low ABV beers generally finish fermentation very quickly? I brewed a sort of a mild this week with a yeast starter and within 24 hours the krausen was already dropping. This is the first time I've brewed a beer in the 3-4% range. I'm going to stick it in a mini keg but I'll probably wait another few days at the least