House Mild (Not Mild!)

Today was my first attempt at creating a house mild. I wanted something that wasn't pale, but not stout like in colour. I was aiming for a 'post war' strength, that is sub 4%, nearer 3. My original recipe is in this post, but on the day I subbed out the pale for lager malt (as I had a bag open that I wanted to use up), and changed the sugars slightly as per below;

Lager Malt         2270g

Chocolate Malt 121g

Pale Crystal Malt 121g

Amber Malt         61g

Black Malt         61g

Demerara sugar       200g 

Golden Syrup          150g

The mash didn't go to plan at all. I had wanted to mash at 67°, batch sparge at 77°. I over heated the strike water, then let it cool to much, so the mash was at 65°. Additionally, something went wrong with the sparge and it kept sticking; once I fixed this, I only managed to get 18L after the boil. I suspect I didn't measure out the sparge water correctly. The end result was that the final gravity was 1040°, much higher than the 1033° I was aiming for. Obviously, this will result in a much stronger beer than planned. The sample looked good, and tasted very promising, so we will just have to see how we get on. I pitched Fermentis S04, which is a yeast I haven't used since my kit brewing days, with the FV sat in a water bath at 17.5° +/- 0.5°.

House lager update & House Mild

First off, a quick update on my house lager. This weekend, as it had been fermenting for a week, I though I would check how close to final gravity it was, as I was wondering if it was time to ramp up the temp for a diacetyl rest. All I can say is that this yeast (M76 Bavarian Lager Yeast) must be a slow burner, as it had only dropped to around 1030. At this rate, it will need 3 weeks or so to hit FG. Blimey! It was very active, so I don't think it had stalled. I'll check it again at the end of the week.

Next up, I'm going to have a shot at developing a house dark(ish) mild. My recipie at present is as below, which I ope to get on Weds or Thursday this week.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Meadow View JDL Mild

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Dark Mild
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 26 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.022
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.034
Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV (standard): 3.45%
IBU (tinseth): 27.76
SRM (morey): 18.83
Mash pH: 5.75

FERMENTABLES:
2.27 kg - Maris Otter Pale (76.2%)
0.12 kg - Crystal 45L (4%)
0.12 kg - Chocolate (4%)
0.06 kg - Amber (2%)
0.06 kg - Black Malt (2%)
0.35 kg - Golden Syrup - (late addition)  (11.7%)

HOPS:
25 g - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 18.35
15 g - East Kent Goldings, Type: Pellet, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 9.4

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 67 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 10.5 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 77 C, Time: 15 min, Amount: 20.1 L
Starting Mash Thickness: 4 L/kg

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack - New World Strong Ale M42