Style: English Mild
Name: Wolverhampton Mild
Yeast: Nottingham
Fermentation Temperature: 20C
Original Gravity: 1.030 to 1.036
Total IBU's: 20 to 22
Colour (EBC): 17
Mash Length (mins): 60
Boil Length (mins): 90, all hops in for the full boil
Hops: Fuggles
Carbonation: Low, avoid carbonic bite as it will disrupt the delicate balance of bittering in this mild.
Your Vessel Type (Pot/Keggle/Urn): Irrelevant
Notes/Instructions/Comments:
I'm giving percentages so you are all smart enough cookies to adjust the liquor quantities and grain and hop quantities depending on the qualities of your ingredients you have on hand to hit targeted Original Gravity, Bittering, and Colour recommendations from each year to year as natural ingredients change. Mindless following of exact measures from my equipment which will not match yours and stops you from thinking and using your own brain (or brewing software) serves no purpose.
See Adjusting notes below to use in your guide for improving each of your successive brews of this recipe.
Grains:
92% Pale Ale Malt
4% Caramel Malt
2% Chocolate Malt
2% Black Malt
Tasting / Adjusting Qualities:
You are looking for a end product that is wonderfully balanced in all its mildness with a malty, slight nutty and slightly fruity taste with an residual sweetness that due to the low gravity gives an apparent full mouth-feel. No hop aroma and subdued bitter quality that balances well into the rest of the beer.
Hops/Alternative 1: Fuggles + Goldings
Hops/Alternative 2: Fuggles + Goldings + Bramling Cross (adds blackcurrant/lemon fruitiness)
Grain/Alternative: Don't be afraid to adjust the specialty malts and play with crystal.
Yeast/Alternative: Don't be afraid to adjust yeast and temperature to get different mix of esters or experiment with under pitching to encourage more ester production or vice versa.
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
Post #2 made 14 years ago
Thanks Pete, this is just the sort of inspiration I was needing. I've done a few Milds over the years and have one in the fridge right now, but was wondering how to tune it up so that it is more to my liking and not disappointingly bland, watery, dark muck, so this should help to steer me in what I hope is the right direction. One question I have though is about mash temp for this Mild, that's not a big whack of specialty malt at all, so I presume you'd suggest to mash quite high?
I'd also encourage folks to use their own brains to formulate and to tailor recipes for their own preferences over successive batches. For example, I've just bottled my 42nd batch of a TTL- inspired ESB and still not tired of it.
I'd also encourage folks to use their own brains to formulate and to tailor recipes for their own preferences over successive batches. For example, I've just bottled my 42nd batch of a TTL- inspired ESB and still not tired of it.
[center]Give me a beer and I will move the world. Archimedes[/center]
Post #3 made 14 years ago
I'd actually recommend you try a longer mash at 90 minutes and drop the mash temperature down to 63C to get a drier, sweeter beer if that is the direction you want to take it in.
You can take a mild in any direction you like, they are not all darks and can range from pale ales with a reduction in hop bittering and original gravity to reds and darks.
If you want to base it more on a biscuit malt/crystal you can bring up a grain profile such as:
73% Pale Ale Malt
11% Dark Crystal 120L
9% Biscuit Malt
4% Flaked/Torrified Wheat
3% Chocolate Malt
If you want some flavour out of the hop then 2/3'rd for bittering addition and 1/3'rd for flavouring addition should be a good start.
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
You can take a mild in any direction you like, they are not all darks and can range from pale ales with a reduction in hop bittering and original gravity to reds and darks.
If you want to base it more on a biscuit malt/crystal you can bring up a grain profile such as:
73% Pale Ale Malt
11% Dark Crystal 120L
9% Biscuit Malt
4% Flaked/Torrified Wheat
3% Chocolate Malt
If you want some flavour out of the hop then 2/3'rd for bittering addition and 1/3'rd for flavouring addition should be a good start.
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
Post #4 made 14 years ago
One last experimenters hint.
While you have your mindset around measuring everything to do with your batches of wort and resulting beer set up a mash temp, mash time and grain experiment on those three parameters.
Temperature and time will have some effect on OG but more on FG or attenuation of the wort. If you can taste much of a difference good on ya.
Select Marris Otter for your base malt and try the same recipe. You should notice more of a difference.
Now shift barley species to 6 row and try again. You will notice more difference.
Now take a few litres of wort and boil it down into a thick caramelised syrup and add it back to the wort.
Now you have an idea of what in AG brewing has more of an impact. Sweet and malty are not the same.
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
While you have your mindset around measuring everything to do with your batches of wort and resulting beer set up a mash temp, mash time and grain experiment on those three parameters.
Temperature and time will have some effect on OG but more on FG or attenuation of the wort. If you can taste much of a difference good on ya.
Select Marris Otter for your base malt and try the same recipe. You should notice more of a difference.
Now shift barley species to 6 row and try again. You will notice more difference.
Now take a few litres of wort and boil it down into a thick caramelised syrup and add it back to the wort.
Now you have an idea of what in AG brewing has more of an impact. Sweet and malty are not the same.
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
