Thought I’d start a thread to document my attempts at coming up with an “American Mild” ale. I want to end up with a sub 4% beer that doesn’t have flavor and mouthfeel comparable to water! I’m basing it on the English Mild, obviously, but with American ingredients. My goal is to come up with a beer with the body and flavor impact of a traditional mild, although not the same flavor.
I’m guessing this will take at least 3-6 attempts to get to what I have in mind. I’m hoping that the amount of crystal, the high mash temp, and the yeast will give me the body I want, while all the late hops will have a lot of flavor but bitterness in line with the OG. I’m also doing it no sparge, which I haven’t done in a while. I have several ideas as to where it might go from here, but I won’t speculate until it ferments out and I have a chance to evaluate it and think about the next steps. I wanted to start pretty basic rather than throw the kitchen sink at it on the beginning. It’s gonna be an evolutionary process. To me, this is what experimental homebrewing is all about. You have a vision and you experiment with what it’s gonna take to bring that vision to a glass in your hand!
Here’s the recipe….
#463 American Mild A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics –
—————
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50 Total Grain (Lbs): 8.00 Anticipated OG: 1.036 Plato: 8.91 Anticipated SRM: 10.3 Anticipated IBU: 31.3 Brewhouse Efficiency: 73 % Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Pre-Boil Amounts
—————-
Evaporation Rate: 1.50 Gallons Per Hour Pre-Boil Wort Size: 7.00 Gal Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.028 SG 7.05 Plato
Grain/Extract/Sugar % Amount Name Origin Potential SRM –
—————————————————————————-
81.3 6.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
12.5 1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
6.3 0.50 lbs. Special Roast Malt America 1.033 40
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
—————————————————————————–
0.50 oz. Chinook Pellet 12.10 15.5 20 min.
0.50 oz. Simcoe Pellet 15.40 11.8 10 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Whole 10.20 3.9 5 min.
1.00 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.20 0.0 0 min.
Yeast
—–
Wyeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite
Mash Schedule
————-
Mash Name: Total Grain Lbs: 8.00 Total Water Qts: 16.00 – Before Additional Infusions Total Water Gal: 4.00 – Before Additional Infusions Tun Thermal Mass: 0.13 Grain Temp: 65.00 F
Step Rest Start Stop Heat Infuse Infuse Infuse Step Name Time Time Temp Temp Type Temp Amount Ratio
———————————————————————————
sacc 0 60 160 160 Infuse 173 16.00 2.00
Total Water Qts: 16.00 – After Additional Infusions Total Water Gal: 4.00 – After Additional Infusions Total Mash Volume Gal: 4.64 – After Additional Infusions All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit. All infusion amounts are in Quarts. All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.