Last January, Steve and I tried our hand at a mild ale, a low alcohol English ale with little hops and hearty malt flavor, that makes a nice complement when there's a hoppy beer on tap. I put together a darker recipe, aiming for something similar to Nottingham Brewery's Rock Mild. Our recipe was relatively simple and loaded up on caramel and chocolate malt, so the final product tasted fairly simple as well. The chocolate malt did lend some roastiness, but it wasn't exactly a chocolate roastiness, and the finish was straight peanut butter. I've heard the "nutty" tossed around to describe beer, but it wasn't until I brewed this that I understood what that meant. The beer wasn't bad, but certainly not what we were thinking.
Well we're again brewing a hoppy beer and wanted a low alcohol complement, so it's time to give this concept another shot. I think the key for this beer will be to trade the chocolate malt for roasted barley (300L, not to be confused with the darker black black barley at 500L). In the stout I brewed last fall, it gave us a nice dark chocolate flavor until I screwed up the carbonation. In addition, we're diversifying the grist, since malt flavors tend to come through much more cleanly in lighter beers. Adding another caramel malt, and more dark grains should make it taste less boring and hopefully less thin.After tasting my lastest session ale, I'm really excited about Wyeast 1450 for malty beers. It emphasized the rich malt flavors without too much fruitiness on the top, even less than Chico which I always find has a slight apple crispness. Unfortunately the homebrew shop didn't have any in stock, so I went with Wyeast 1335 - British Ale II. The guy at the shop liked it in his milds, and I think it will be interesting to try a new yeast. There are so many expressive English strains that I would love to try, but just haven't had the fermentation space to compare all of them. Someday. In the mean time, I'll settle for another shot in the dark.
Dark Mild #2 -------------------------- Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal Estimated ABV: 3.5 % Estimated OG: 1.038 SG Estimated FG: 1.011 SG Estimated Color: 20.4 SRM Estimated IBU: 17.0 IBUs Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 % Boil Time: 90 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amt Name %/IBU 6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (2.0 SRM) 74.3 % 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 5.7 % 8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) 5.7 % 8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) 5.7 % 4.0 oz Brown Malt (30.0 SRM) 2.9 % 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L (120.0 SRM) 2.9 % 4.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (250.0 SRM) 2.9 % 0.50 oz Amarillo [10.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min 17.0 IBUs 1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) - 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) - 1.0 pkg British Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1335) - Mash Schedule: 60 min Single Infusion @156F, No Mash Out, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 12.0 oz Estimated Cost: $20.26
No comments:
Post a Comment