That blues song towards the end made me feel like I was about to make love to the beer. Also, Fox Farm in Salem, CT brews an excellent Dark Mild (as well as an equally as great Bitter)!
This Style of Ale I would drink on the daily in my local pub in East Anglia England..., Norfolk and Suffolk counties Kingslynn, Ely, Burry St. Edmonds had some amazing versions of Dark Mild when I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall England. Amazing Style of Ale. I make 2 different versions of this amazing Ale. Ashburne Mild Malt with a small amount of Brown malt... This has become one of my wife's and I staples on Tap most of the time.
Mild never really became too uncommon in the UK and it's having a bit of a resurgence now! My local city has a mild trail each year. Great video once again
Looks fabulous Steve. Dark mild is one of our underrated gems. When I was cycling around Oxfordshire in the Cotswolds on holiday, I stopped at a Hook Norton pub and wanted a low alcohol pint as I still had some big hills to climb. Hook Norton's Dark Mild was just the job and absolutely delicious at just 2.8% ABV. Hook Norton's other beautiful traditional cask ales are excellent as well, from a proper old Victorian tower brewery. Your tasting notes sound spot on for this style.
The Hook Norton brewery is an amazing thing, I remember seeing it on the craft beer channel and it is amazing that they are still brewing the exact same way they did 100+ years ago. Glad this got the seal of approval, its one of my favorite beers I've made as of late!
I'm new to British beers, but I absolutely love them. Way different than all the hazys and IPA's I'm used to. I have an ESB on nitro, and I highly recommend nitro for all bitters
Absolutely. I've sort of become tired of the modern IPA craze. Here in Australia, most places that claim to have a good selection of beer basically stock 20-40 IPAs and the standard lagers. As styles go, we're talking 'Pale or paler' which just gets dull. And in addition to that, while some IPAs can be 'fun' in what they're trying to do, most of them are just what we would have referred to as 'poorly balanced' 30 years ago. I feel like there's so much more out there to get into. :)
Loved the variety of milds there used to be - Robinsons Best Mild and Sarsh Hughes Dark Ruby Mild are (were) favourites, but nor necessarily weak beers.
Outstanding work. There is really nothing quite like a fresh, hand-pulled mug of mild. And kudos to you for resisting going over 4% ABV with the beer. My personal rule is that I immediately order two pints whenever I see dark mild on a taproom menu. I want the brewers to know someone will spend money on Milds, even if it’s just me. But they are commonly 4.2-4.5% ABV. That a sizable delta, when I tend to want milds more in the 3.4-3.7% range. I do know that it’s probably tough to sell beer (especially to us Americans) that doesn’t have at least a 4 as its leading strength number, so I try to be understanding. If you’re enjoying brewing and drinking very low-ABV (as I have been recently), you may want to try your hand at Leichtbier, table-strength saison (I’ve got what I think is a pretty good recipe for a 2.2% saison with some added hoppiness. You know how to reach me.), or the sort of so-called IPA you often find on cask in England. That last one is often just a hoppy ordinary bitter. They can be wonderful beers with loads of great character, but should really be called what they are. I’m glad you enjoyed the Admiral malt. I’ve got two sacks of it (maiden voyage and hearth, their dark-Munich style malt) waiting for some upcoming brew days.
Thanks again!! I think this beer is really at its best in the 3% range, but its absolutely true that its tough to sell anything lower than 4% here in the US
Steve, you are credited for keeping my interest in brewing alive! Over a year strong now! I can’t tell you if I would still be brewing or not if all I had was the instructions on “craft-a-brew’s” 1 gallon kit. Thank you!!!
I lived in Edinburgh for 2 years and fondly remember the pull taps/beer engines. Currently looking to buy one myself (living back in New Zealand) and will probably get one from the UK and get a friend to send it over due to being 1/8 the cost. Keep up the great videos, brewing is awesome!
First time I had a Dark Mild was a Great Orme Brewery Welsh Black in a cafe at the bottom of Snowdon as a reward for climbing the mountain that day. Brilliant style.
Mild didn't ever really disappear, but it did get hard to find. You're more likely to find it in old traditional pubs & freehouses or places with a good real ale selection, and thanks to CAMRA there's quite a few craft breweries making great examples of the style. Great to see it getting some appreciation! FYI I recently brewed a Munich dunkel using your recipe - its still lagering but tasted it yesterday and it tastes frickin awesome. Don't think it's going to last very long 😋 so I'd best get another batch on the go 😂
Don't think I said it disappeared, but it is very hard to find at least here in the US. I'm glad its coming back more though, its an amazing beer style and something that is a lot of fun to brew. Glad the dunkel is working out so well for you!
Microball by Elusive Brewing was an eye opener for me and considering its made with lots of steeping grains its a very easy recipe to get great results with minimal equipment. And also still get that heavy hand with the hops fix going. Best of both worlds.
Thanks for producing videos on less common styles. If you published a beer recipe book, I think it would be very successful. I would buy it, especially in a PDF format.
Love em! Currently have one on tap as we speak. Really like that style as a compliment to bigger or more "beer flavored beers" on my tap rotation. I have to make die with the "stout" adapter for Intertap faucets rather than an engine, but it does a good job too. Cheers!
FYI the glass you drank the beer out of is not called a mug in the UK, we call it a barrel, I can only assume it's because of the slight barrel shape. Another great video and I will be making this beer, thanks for the recipe 😁
I may be biased but... English beer is so good! I love drinking nine pints and not waking up with a hang over. That looks fantastic! Well done! It looks like it could have been pulled in my local. 🍻
Regular non-dark milk on tap now is tasting mighty nice. Along with that english IPA. Polarizing when handed to a couple. One likes one and the other likes the other. Cheers Make quirky styles and older folks love them. I'm 40 and considered old in beer land. Brewed a hazy NZ pale. Can't wait to try it. wai iti hopes smell like galaxy and sabro combined. Well see how it comes out. 2.1% alpha super low. Love your content. Jamils dark mild, made it once was fire. black tea and woody earth.
Absolutely love Mild and London Brown Ale. Both great low abv beers that i don't feel bad drinking more than one of. Fun to brew too. Can be tricky to make a low gravity, low ABV beer that isn't thin and has the body and mouth feel of a higher beer
Thanks for this video! This style is one of my favorite. I think you are quite right when you say that Dark mild is a style you now only find at homebrew level. However, I discovered this style from microbrasserie Albion based in Joliette, Quebec. This microbrewery is english oriented style, with casks. If you ever come by Quebec in Canada, tell the MontreAlers brew club, which im a member. We could organise something very nice!!! Just a visit to the Albion microbrewery would be nice!
Seems like a pretty good party style beer! First runnings go into the main kettle with any pale beer - pilsner, ipa, whatever. Then use grains for a batch sparge with all the specialty grains in it. Dilute second runnings to whatever OG you want.
English mild/dark mild and ESB are such sleeper styles of beer IMO. Easy’ish to brew and tons of flavor. I agree with your thoughts on S-04. I’ve been underwhelmed lately. That and S-05 were my go-to’s about 10 years ago but something has happened with both of those strains lately. Lallemand has been crushing it as of late though. Diamond is my house lager strain every one I try from them knocks it out of the park.
I feel like breweries here in Boston, and the Bay State, are starting to get hip to this style of beer, which I'm all for right now. I know places like Deep Ellum in Waltham, Aeronaut in Somerville, and the NERAX festival (sad to be missing it this year) are keeping Cask alive, but I'm really waiting for the trend to catch on so we can have cask everywhere
I like the look of your recipe and approach. I’ve made 3 dark milds over the last 2 years. Tried Lallemand London, and White Labs 007. Preferred 007. Service from the hand pump looks great. Think it wouldn’t be practical for my situation but I’m jealous. My bottle conditioned efforts have all been a little too gassy IMHO. I think the style is not especially well suited to bottling, although there are a couple of bottled macro beers in Australia ie Carlton Black and Toohey’s Old which fit the description quite well. Both a little stronger than a cask-style mild; 4.5 and 4.4% ABV respectively. Will try again. The lower alcohol level appeals to me. I think I’d rather aim for closer to 3% than 4%. You’ve pushed the hops a bit harder than I have tried. I might try that next time. Cheers!
I think 007 is the same strain as Nottingham. I agree on the bottle conditioning, its really so well suited for the cask since you get that extra fullness from that style of serving, still though a bit more ABV and it could help fill it out a bit for the bottle. Either way its a fun beer and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I brewed one! The mouthfeel wasn't as full as it sounds yours is, and I'm sure it's the water profile I used. Also used S04 but next time would use something else to try to push the malt character more
Looks like a nice quaffer. Good to see you starting to venture out of your comfort zone and changing from an American to a more Brittish approach to liqour treatment, but I'd suggest my reversing cl and so4 to 200/100 and upping Na to ~80mg/L. A flavourful base and slightly cloride focused water is key to a mild, Crisp Vienna is a good sub for mild malt. Have you tried making any invert cane sugar for brewing yet? There's an English Ale thread over at Homebrewtalk filler with loads of knowledgeable Brits giving insight to authentic practises and modus operandi regarding Brittish/English brewing, but looking at this recipe compared to some earlier ones you might have been lurking around a bit there already😂.
That looks a great beer. Would have to invest in a beer engine though before trying this as I really don't like kegged English beers. In the UK we're spoiled for cask beers of course but I brew beer more suited to keg. So maybe I need to find room for that beer engine... And thanks for another great video!
HA! That's the style I brewed this weekend. However, because my challenge this year is to brew with 3 malts or less, I got the "caramel" and "toast" flavor by baking the mashed grains just like they do in Lithuania. Pitched S-04 though, so we will see how the flavor develops. Cheers, Steve 🍺
This is the most common style ale here in NZ funnily enough. English ale punches above it's ABV for flavour. I reckon it shames the high alcohol fare most craft brewers favour these days. Nottingham is a very clean yeast, boisterous too I couldn't believe how active it was.
Dark Milds are great session beers for the winter months in particular. I wouldn't be surprised if your hint of fruitiness was the Notty yeast; it can get a bit fruity (especially green apple) though generally that's once you start pushing fermentation temperatures into the 20s rather than 18ish. My own version of this is quite similar in terms of grist, but I used a 50/50 blend of Warminster Floor Malted MO and Warminster Maltings Gold (which is basically Munich II on steroids) as base to really push that roasted hazelnut character.
Professional beer sommelier here!! The green apple character in a beer IS actually acetaldehyde, not an ester. The chemical compound is different... cheers mate!!
@@eduardoorvananosarcher4053 My understanding (albeit one very much not of a beer sommelier) was that there were multiple different ways that green apple esque compounds could be thrown. Yes, acetaldehyde is a common one, but many British yeasts also produce ethyl caprylate as part of fermentation.
I'm pretty sure it was a little acetaldehyde. The natural carbonation process on the keg took a while because after I cold crashed the beer prior to kegging a lot of that yeast was gone, and that made it tough on the yeast!
Awesome beer style, and love the video! Nottingham to me has some yeasty flavors that can help or hurt and might be an individual palate thing. I tend not to use for judged beers as it might be polarizing and thus might not fare well overall. At a low level, Notty comes across to me similar to champagne yeast flavors (bready/toasty/nutty) which is nice in some styles. When stronger it gets too far into marmite or vegemite territory, giving beer a 'homebrewy' flavor that is too savory, like meaty, brothy, bouillon, soy sauce. I'm wondering if that nutty/hazelnut thing is coming partly from the Notty. The yeast flavor definitely stands out if tasting in a lineup with other similar or same beers but different yeast. Even tasting next to something clean and 'mild' like a Guiness ive picked it up in my beer. I am bottle conditioning so that might be part of it. I don't get the same nutty thing with most liquid yeasts or clean dry yeasts like 34 70.
Definitely depends on how well you take care of the yeast, but it is still the cleanest English strain I know of. Soy sauce/vegemite sounds to me like classic autolysis flavor. The nutty flavor for my beer I think comes from the malts (pale chocolate plus crystal dark), its far more prominent than a yeast contribution.
I don't think I've seen you do a Scottish Shilling yet on your channel. It's one of my favorite styles and one that I've brewed nearly 30 times to date. I got the recipe from "Brewing Classic Styles" and have tweaked it over the years to my liking. But it's an amazing beer to have on tap, 3.5%, without being thin or watery and it has flavor for days. It even ages well; it's good out the gate, but I think it peaks after 2-3 months. I've recently switched my packaging method to push beer into fully purged kegs with CO2, instead of racking into partially purged kegs and then just purging the headspace. So I'm curious to brew it again and see if some oxygen isn't actually desirable in this style.
I've been working on a pseudo-lager over a few iterations and I think the brew I did last weekend has finally hit the nail on the head for it. So . . I've been trying to decide what to brew next and this might actually be it. It's been years since I've had a good dark mild as it's not really something you tend to find here in Australia.
Great video as always, I have a beer engine from UK. Pint365. How long to cold crash and at what temp? And how much priming sugar do you use and for how long once I keg in my corny keg? Thank you!!!!
Dang Steve! That looks tasty! Cask is the way to go with this one. With the low ABV, you and four fun friends could firk a full firkin on a Friday. Did you try it without the sparkler?
Haha it is certainly a beer that would go quickly! I did take the sparkler off a few times but I just prefer the visual effect and the head with the sparkler on!
Same in most places. But it's also a matter of horses for courses. Sometimes you want to be able to sit and talk for 6 hours without things getting 'too stupid' :)
Excellent! I love a dark mild but I brew mine quite a bit stronger, around 6%. Maybe ill try this one for something a bit lighter. Your recipe captions for your roasted malts are incorrect by the way. 3oz isnt a quarter pound. Or maybe it is in the US?
A 2.3-2.8% Dark Mild is one of the best table beers out there in terms of depth and lack of compromise. My secret ingredient is DRC - I'm talking Democratic Republic of Crystal Malt.
Awesome. Thanks for making this beer and this video. Looks like an amazing version of the style. Love this style and would love to see more of these in the wild. Cheers!
It’s starting to get cold here in Melbourne and I always like to have a different dark beer on tap each winter. I was leaning towards a Czech dark larger this year but after seeing this vid I’m now not sure. Any advice?
What was your level of carbonation on this beer? I can see the recipe says 2 volumes of co2, is that correct? I can't seem to get that level of carbonation on my beer engine and still have it pour correctly.
I'm drinking a dark mild I brewed (Hydes Owd Oak from the CAMRA'S brew your own British real ale book). The flavour and aroma is delightful, but it's way too dry.
My ESB's always end up real bready and heavy, I think i'll be using 2n'd runnings for bitters. Does anyone know what English yeast gives that dirty ashtray\fruity flavers ?
You’re probably picking up those notes from hops, most likely Fuggles. They tend to give off earthy-woody-fruity, or at least that’s what I typically pick up when they’re used.
@@patmatheson4679 Yea I just did a bunch of 2nd running batches and used fuggles and challenger and pitched Mangrove Jacks Liberty Bell yeast. just sprinklrd it in. so far it's tasting like what I was going for.
Ive only had one dark mild, the one I brewed. It was hands down the worst beer Ive ever made. Definitely my fault though as the beer picked up ton of nasty phenolic off flavors (burnt rubber and burnt peanuts). I plan to give the style a chance at redemption this coming fall/winter. Sounds like an amazing cold weather session beer.
mild was traditionally not a style of beer. It was just young beer. In a time where they didnt have control of yeasts and brettanomysis was common, All beer would go stale after some time. The pubs would then sell mild or stale beer. Mild was often not completely fermented.
Hey Steve, looks like you're really enjoying your beer engine setup. I put together a full caskerator recently, and I'm loving it as well. Mostly bitters on tap so far, but I think I better get a mild on tap soon after watching you enjoy this one. Cheers! My first pour off the caskerator: th-cam.com/users/shortskKchbdIGg9o?si=lENhGio1a_WIj97z
That blues song towards the end made me feel like I was about to make love to the beer. Also, Fox Farm in Salem, CT brews an excellent Dark Mild (as well as an equally as great Bitter)!
Haha I had some fun with the music on this one. I'll have to check them out!
And they do the dark mild (Tiddly) in nitro cans too!
This Style of Ale I would drink on the daily in my local pub in East Anglia England...,
Norfolk and Suffolk counties Kingslynn, Ely, Burry St. Edmonds had some amazing versions of Dark Mild when I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall England.
Amazing Style of Ale.
I make 2 different versions of this amazing Ale.
Ashburne Mild Malt with a small amount of Brown malt...
This has become one of my wife's and I staples on Tap most of the time.
What an awesome story! Ashburne mild malt is excellent, and is what I would have used if not for the Admiral malts being on hand.
I can assure you the beer as good here as when you were stationed. Great area for this ale. 🫡🇺🇸🇬🇧
Mild never really became too uncommon in the UK and it's having a bit of a resurgence now! My local city has a mild trail each year. Great video once again
It's definitely coming back a bit I think! As it should!
The autofocus really perfectly captured that ending, cheers!
Looks fabulous Steve. Dark mild is one of our underrated gems. When I was cycling around Oxfordshire in the Cotswolds on holiday, I stopped at a Hook Norton pub and wanted a low alcohol pint as I still had some big hills to climb. Hook Norton's Dark Mild was just the job and absolutely delicious at just 2.8% ABV. Hook Norton's other beautiful traditional cask ales are excellent as well, from a proper old Victorian tower brewery. Your tasting notes sound spot on for this style.
The Hook Norton brewery is an amazing thing, I remember seeing it on the craft beer channel and it is amazing that they are still brewing the exact same way they did 100+ years ago. Glad this got the seal of approval, its one of my favorite beers I've made as of late!
I'm new to British beers, but I absolutely love them. Way different than all the hazys and IPA's I'm used to. I have an ESB on nitro, and I highly recommend nitro for all bitters
Absolutely.
I've sort of become tired of the modern IPA craze. Here in Australia, most places that claim to have a good selection of beer basically stock 20-40 IPAs and the standard lagers. As styles go, we're talking 'Pale or paler' which just gets dull. And in addition to that, while some IPAs can be 'fun' in what they're trying to do, most of them are just what we would have referred to as 'poorly balanced' 30 years ago.
I feel like there's so much more out there to get into. :)
Nitro is as close as you can get to the cask pour, it is absolutely worth it. And I agree, English beers are hidden gems
Loved the variety of milds there used to be - Robinsons Best Mild and Sarsh Hughes Dark Ruby Mild are (were) favourites, but nor necessarily weak beers.
This so reminds me of the beer we drank in East Anglia for five years! I just fell in love with that sexy brew. Now THAT’S a beer!
Awesome! Its really amazing the way it works!
I made the David Heath 3.5% version a couple of months ago, it's a great beer that shouldn't be forgotten.
Outstanding work. There is really nothing quite like a fresh, hand-pulled mug of mild. And kudos to you for resisting going over 4% ABV with the beer. My personal rule is that I immediately order two pints whenever I see dark mild on a taproom menu. I want the brewers to know someone will spend money on Milds, even if it’s just me. But they are commonly 4.2-4.5% ABV. That a sizable delta, when I tend to want milds more in the 3.4-3.7% range. I do know that it’s probably tough to sell beer (especially to us Americans) that doesn’t have at least a 4 as its leading strength number, so I try to be understanding.
If you’re enjoying brewing and drinking very low-ABV (as I have been recently), you may want to try your hand at Leichtbier, table-strength saison (I’ve got what I think is a pretty good recipe for a 2.2% saison with some added hoppiness. You know how to reach me.), or the sort of so-called IPA you often find on cask in England. That last one is often just a hoppy ordinary bitter. They can be wonderful beers with loads of great character, but should really be called what they are.
I’m glad you enjoyed the Admiral malt. I’ve got two sacks of it (maiden voyage and hearth, their dark-Munich style malt) waiting for some upcoming brew days.
Thanks again!! I think this beer is really at its best in the 3% range, but its absolutely true that its tough to sell anything lower than 4% here in the US
Steve, you are credited for keeping my interest in brewing alive! Over a year strong now! I can’t tell you if I would still be brewing or not if all I had was the instructions on “craft-a-brew’s” 1 gallon kit. Thank you!!!
That is awesome! Keep brewing and enjoying the hobby!
A great style. Low alcohol and loads of flavour. I now have decided on using Lallemand Windsor (OG 1.045 FG 1.015 FOR ~ 3.8% ABV).
I think Windsor would definitely be very nice for this style!
Boxcar made a great one, along with Double and Triple Dark Mild
I really appreciate you championing English beer styles here! The level of detail here is really impressive. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I lived in Edinburgh for 2 years and fondly remember the pull taps/beer engines. Currently looking to buy one myself (living back in New Zealand) and will probably get one from the UK and get a friend to send it over due to being 1/8 the cost. Keep up the great videos, brewing is awesome!
Try pint 365. they make hand pumps for
homebrewers as well as commercial ones. I bought one and had it shipped from uk to usa
They are expensive, and a bit of a pain to maintain but with the right beer it is totally worth it!
First time I had a Dark Mild was a Great Orme Brewery Welsh Black in a cafe at the bottom of Snowdon as a reward for climbing the mountain that day. Brilliant style.
That sounds like an amazing experience!
Mild didn't ever really disappear, but it did get hard to find. You're more likely to find it in old traditional pubs & freehouses or places with a good real ale selection, and thanks to CAMRA there's quite a few craft breweries making great examples of the style. Great to see it getting some appreciation!
FYI I recently brewed a Munich dunkel using your recipe - its still lagering but tasted it yesterday and it tastes frickin awesome. Don't think it's going to last very long 😋 so I'd best get another batch on the go 😂
Don't think I said it disappeared, but it is very hard to find at least here in the US. I'm glad its coming back more though, its an amazing beer style and something that is a lot of fun to brew. Glad the dunkel is working out so well for you!
My all time favorite style!!! I have my own recipe and brew it 3 or 4 times a year. Between this and a common bitter I'm a happy camper.
Great beer styles!
Had a dark mild earlier this year from Brightside brewery in greater Manchester, it’s a perfect rainy day beer
Agreed!
Been making the past three beers with golden promise, love it so far. Very distinct, robust and malty
It is a fantastic malt!
Microball by Elusive Brewing was an eye opener for me and considering its made with lots of steeping grains its a very easy recipe to get great results with minimal equipment. And also still get that heavy hand with the hops fix going. Best of both worlds.
Even in the UK it's quite rare, popular at one time though. You can mix it with bitter to get a pint of 'mixed'.
In Brum it was known as a pint of Mickey Mouse
I didn't know that but I'll have to try it some time!
Love a dark mild. They remind me of an English brown light, but as you noted very light fruit esters. Definitely going to look into an engine
Thanks for producing videos on less common styles. If you published a beer recipe book, I think it would be very successful. I would buy it, especially in a PDF format.
Funny as I'm brewing my own version I checked your channel to see what you were up to and BEHOLD! You just posted this video 2 hrs ago!😂
Fortuitous!
Great looking beer! Love those dimples mugs!!! Cheers 🍻
They're awesome, thanks for watching Brian!
I stayed till the end and the MBC was on point
Love em!
Currently have one on tap as we speak. Really like that style as a compliment to bigger or more "beer flavored beers" on my tap rotation.
I have to make die with the "stout" adapter for Intertap faucets rather than an engine, but it does a good job too.
Cheers!
I brewed a dark mild about 8 weeks ago. One of my favourite beers I've brewed. Really nice. I used a London yeast and barbe rouge, worked great
Nice! Barbe rouge is an interesting choice!
Again great video Steve. I’ll have to give it a try. I may make that beer engine too. Great job!
It's worth it! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Love the older styles and Nottingham been my house yeast for years now.
Cask beers are super chuggable!
I love the tasting notes... going to brew this.
FYI the glass you drank the beer out of is not called a mug in the UK, we call it a barrel, I can only assume it's because of the slight barrel shape. Another great video and I will be making this beer, thanks for the recipe 😁
I may be biased but... English beer is so good! I love drinking nine pints and not waking up with a hang over.
That looks fantastic! Well done! It looks like it could have been pulled in my local. 🍻
Absolutely true! Thank you!
Nice to get know more about this new style for me.
Keep up the good work.
Regular non-dark milk on tap now is tasting mighty nice. Along with that english IPA. Polarizing when handed to a couple. One likes one and the other likes the other. Cheers
Make quirky styles and older folks love them. I'm 40 and considered old in beer land. Brewed a hazy NZ pale. Can't wait to try it. wai iti hopes smell like galaxy and sabro combined. Well see how it comes out. 2.1% alpha super low. Love your content. Jamils dark mild, made it once was fire. black tea and woody earth.
Absolutely love Mild and London Brown Ale. Both great low abv beers that i don't feel bad drinking more than one of. Fun to brew too. Can be tricky to make a low gravity, low ABV beer that isn't thin and has the body and mouth feel of a higher beer
Absolutely! I'm glad I got that balance to work out!
Thanks for this video! This style is one of my favorite. I think you are quite right when you say that Dark mild is a style you now only find at homebrew level.
However, I discovered this style from microbrasserie Albion based in Joliette, Quebec. This microbrewery is english oriented style, with casks.
If you ever come by Quebec in Canada, tell the MontreAlers brew club, which im a member. We could organise something very nice!!! Just a visit to the Albion microbrewery would be nice!
Thank you!
Seems like a pretty good party style beer! First runnings go into the main kettle with any pale beer - pilsner, ipa, whatever. Then use grains for a batch sparge with all the specialty grains in it. Dilute second runnings to whatever OG you want.
Whoops partigyle
Boddingtons and Robinsons Breweries used to dark mild in the 80s
John Palmers' Elevenses is a cool recipe (kit) for this style. I think the oak-smoked wheat makes it especially unique.
That is a very good recipe as well, it's a classic
Mild was a popular drink after work, mildly bitter and hopped so it was refreshing and easy to drink (so you could have a few before travelling home).
Makes sense!
English mild/dark mild and ESB are such sleeper styles of beer IMO. Easy’ish to brew and tons of flavor. I agree with your thoughts on S-04. I’ve been underwhelmed lately. That and S-05 were my go-to’s about 10 years ago but something has happened with both of those strains lately. Lallemand has been crushing it as of late though. Diamond is my house lager strain every one I try from them knocks it out of the park.
Agreed!
Fantastic to see …. Grew up on this style and will try your recipe.
I hope you enjoy it!
You've inspired me to give this a try!!! As always, Awesome video!
Awesome! Its a great style
awesome vid and recipe as always! i had some hot weather and made something similar with voss and its pretty awesome!
I feel like breweries here in Boston, and the Bay State, are starting to get hip to this style of beer, which I'm all for right now. I know places like Deep Ellum in Waltham, Aeronaut in Somerville, and the NERAX festival (sad to be missing it this year) are keeping Cask alive, but I'm really waiting for the trend to catch on so we can have cask everywhere
I think it may be having a bit of a resurgence! Lets hope it keeps up!
Another one I’m going to have to try
Its worth brewing!
I like the look of your recipe and approach.
I’ve made 3 dark milds over the last 2 years. Tried Lallemand London, and White Labs 007. Preferred 007.
Service from the hand pump looks great. Think it wouldn’t be practical for my situation but I’m jealous. My bottle conditioned efforts have all been a little too gassy IMHO. I think the style is not especially well suited to bottling, although there are a couple of bottled macro beers in Australia ie Carlton Black and Toohey’s Old which fit the description quite well. Both a little stronger than a cask-style mild; 4.5 and 4.4% ABV respectively.
Will try again. The lower alcohol level appeals to me. I think I’d rather aim for closer to 3% than 4%.
You’ve pushed the hops a bit harder than I have tried. I might try that next time.
Cheers!
I think 007 is the same strain as Nottingham. I agree on the bottle conditioning, its really so well suited for the cask since you get that extra fullness from that style of serving, still though a bit more ABV and it could help fill it out a bit for the bottle. Either way its a fun beer and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I brewed one! The mouthfeel wasn't as full as it sounds yours is, and I'm sure it's the water profile I used. Also used S04 but next time would use something else to try to push the malt character more
Looks like a nice quaffer.
Good to see you starting to venture out of your comfort zone and changing from an American to a more Brittish approach to liqour treatment, but I'd suggest my reversing cl and so4 to 200/100 and upping Na to ~80mg/L.
A flavourful base and slightly cloride focused water is key to a mild, Crisp Vienna is a good sub for mild malt.
Have you tried making any invert cane sugar for brewing yet? There's an English Ale thread over at Homebrewtalk filler with loads of knowledgeable Brits giving insight to authentic practises and modus operandi regarding Brittish/English brewing, but looking at this recipe compared to some earlier ones you might have been lurking around a bit there already😂.
One of my priorities for this year was to focus more on English beers, and I'm glad I did! Not sure if I will be making my own invert sugar though.
Mild is a nice beer, I occasionally see it in the pubs and will normally get a pint, but as a homebrewer I rarely go to the pub now.
That looks a great beer. Would have to invest in a beer engine though before trying this as I really don't like kegged English beers. In the UK we're spoiled for cask beers of course but I brew beer more suited to keg. So maybe I need to find room for that beer engine... And thanks for another great video!
It is so worth having! You could lower the carbonation on the keg if you want a smoother character but you'd sacrifice the head.
I had never heard of this style (despite living in the UK), now I definitely want to brew and drink tons of it. Thank you so much for this video!
That sir, is a sensual pour :D
HA! That's the style I brewed this weekend. However, because my challenge this year is to brew with 3 malts or less, I got the "caramel" and "toast" flavor by baking the mashed grains just like they do in Lithuania. Pitched S-04 though, so we will see how the flavor develops. Cheers, Steve 🍺
Great timing! I'm sure you can get some good character that way, excited to see how it goes for you!
This is the most common style ale here in NZ funnily enough. English ale punches above it's ABV for flavour. I reckon it shames the high alcohol fare most craft brewers favour these days. Nottingham is a very clean yeast, boisterous too I couldn't believe how active it was.
Really? I would guess Hazy IPAs with all the amazing NZ hops would be king there. I agree, English beer is the sweet spot for flavor and low ABV
Dark Milds are great session beers for the winter months in particular.
I wouldn't be surprised if your hint of fruitiness was the Notty yeast; it can get a bit fruity (especially green apple) though generally that's once you start pushing fermentation temperatures into the 20s rather than 18ish. My own version of this is quite similar in terms of grist, but I used a 50/50 blend of Warminster Floor Malted MO and Warminster Maltings Gold (which is basically Munich II on steroids) as base to really push that roasted hazelnut character.
Professional beer sommelier here!! The green apple character in a beer IS actually acetaldehyde, not an ester. The chemical compound is different... cheers mate!!
@@eduardoorvananosarcher4053 My understanding (albeit one very much not of a beer sommelier) was that there were multiple different ways that green apple esque compounds could be thrown. Yes, acetaldehyde is a common one, but many British yeasts also produce ethyl caprylate as part of fermentation.
I'm pretty sure it was a little acetaldehyde. The natural carbonation process on the keg took a while because after I cold crashed the beer prior to kegging a lot of that yeast was gone, and that made it tough on the yeast!
vou fazer... obrigado
muito bom.. Portugal..
Awesome beer style, and love the video! Nottingham to me has some yeasty flavors that can help or hurt and might be an individual palate thing. I tend not to use for judged beers as it might be polarizing and thus might not fare well overall. At a low level, Notty comes across to me similar to champagne yeast flavors (bready/toasty/nutty) which is nice in some styles. When stronger it gets too far into marmite or vegemite territory, giving beer a 'homebrewy' flavor that is too savory, like meaty, brothy, bouillon, soy sauce. I'm wondering if that nutty/hazelnut thing is coming partly from the Notty. The yeast flavor definitely stands out if tasting in a lineup with other similar or same beers but different yeast. Even tasting next to something clean and 'mild' like a Guiness ive picked it up in my beer. I am bottle conditioning so that might be part of it. I don't get the same nutty thing with most liquid yeasts or clean dry yeasts like 34 70.
Definitely depends on how well you take care of the yeast, but it is still the cleanest English strain I know of. Soy sauce/vegemite sounds to me like classic autolysis flavor. The nutty flavor for my beer I think comes from the malts (pale chocolate plus crystal dark), its far more prominent than a yeast contribution.
I don't think I've seen you do a Scottish Shilling yet on your channel. It's one of my favorite styles and one that I've brewed nearly 30 times to date. I got the recipe from "Brewing Classic Styles" and have tweaked it over the years to my liking. But it's an amazing beer to have on tap, 3.5%, without being thin or watery and it has flavor for days. It even ages well; it's good out the gate, but I think it peaks after 2-3 months. I've recently switched my packaging method to push beer into fully purged kegs with CO2, instead of racking into partially purged kegs and then just purging the headspace. So I'm curious to brew it again and see if some oxygen isn't actually desirable in this style.
It is a beer that I really want to brew! Very similar to this one as well, would be great for later!
I've been working on a pseudo-lager over a few iterations and I think the brew I did last weekend has finally hit the nail on the head for it.
So . . I've been trying to decide what to brew next and this might actually be it. It's been years since I've had a good dark mild as it's not really something you tend to find here in Australia.
I hope you do brew this and enjoy it!
Great video as always, I have a beer engine from UK. Pint365. How long to cold crash and at what temp? And how much priming sugar do you use and for how long once I keg in my corny keg? Thank you!!!!
Dang Steve! That looks tasty! Cask is the way to go with this one. With the low ABV, you and four fun friends could firk a full firkin on a Friday. Did you try it without the sparkler?
Haha it is certainly a beer that would go quickly! I did take the sparkler off a few times but I just prefer the visual effect and the head with the sparkler on!
If I recall correctly, they made low ABV beers because high ABV beers were taxed quite a bit more.
Same in most places. But it's also a matter of horses for courses.
Sometimes you want to be able to sit and talk for 6 hours without things getting 'too stupid' :)
One of a few reasons, but the alcohol tax is still alive and well in the UK!
yeah😁
Those oats sure did their job😁
That they did!
I find it funny that you call this a low alcohol beer and at the same time I have heard some people describe a 5% beer as a strong beer :p
Everything is relative depending on where you are!
Excellent! I love a dark mild but I brew mine quite a bit stronger, around 6%. Maybe ill try this one for something a bit lighter.
Your recipe captions for your roasted malts are incorrect by the way. 3oz isnt a quarter pound. Or maybe it is in the US?
Sounds a bit less "mild" but sounds great nonetheless! I realize I made an error in the video text, but the correct amount is 3 oz for the recipe.
A 2.3-2.8% Dark Mild is one of the best table beers out there in terms of depth and lack of compromise. My secret ingredient is DRC - I'm talking Democratic Republic of Crystal Malt.
BTW that hand drawn pour is to die for!
Totally agree! I actually tried really hard to find DRC, but it was out of stock where I get my ingredients unfortunately. Next time!
Question, you say Carafa II in the video but the recipe says Carafa III just want to make clear it´s Carafa III as in the recipe?
Good catch. Carafa II is correct, recipe updated
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thx, the beer looks amazing, just beautiful.
Thank you!
Sounds like a beer I will make soon so it's ready for summer
Awesome. Thanks for making this beer and this video. Looks like an amazing version of the style. Love this style and would love to see more of these in the wild. Cheers!
It’s starting to get cold here in Melbourne and I always like to have a different dark beer on tap each winter. I was leaning towards a Czech dark larger this year but after seeing this vid I’m now not sure.
Any advice?
Both are great options, this might be ready faster
What was your level of carbonation on this beer? I can see the recipe says 2 volumes of co2, is that correct? I can't seem to get that level of carbonation on my beer engine and still have it pour correctly.
It should be lower than a standard beer, you may need to reduce it for your own serving setup
I'm drinking a dark mild I brewed (Hydes Owd Oak from the CAMRA'S brew your own British real ale book). The flavour and aroma is delightful, but it's way too dry.
My ESB's always end up real bready and heavy, I think i'll be using 2n'd runnings for bitters. Does anyone know what English yeast gives that dirty ashtray\fruity flavers ?
You’re probably picking up those notes from hops, most likely Fuggles. They tend to give off earthy-woody-fruity, or at least that’s what I typically pick up when they’re used.
@@patmatheson4679 Yea I just did a bunch of 2nd running batches and used fuggles and challenger and pitched Mangrove Jacks Liberty Bell yeast. just sprinklrd it in. so far it's tasting like what I was going for.
Ive only had one dark mild, the one I brewed. It was hands down the worst beer Ive ever made. Definitely my fault though as the beer picked up ton of nasty phenolic off flavors (burnt rubber and burnt peanuts). I plan to give the style a chance at redemption this coming fall/winter. Sounds like an amazing cold weather session beer.
Sounds like you should give it another shot!
Do you ever use nitrogen when you take a beer?
Nope, not yet
mild was traditionally not a style of beer. It was just young beer. In a time where they didnt have control of yeasts and brettanomysis was common, All beer would go stale after some time. The pubs would then sell mild or stale beer. Mild was often not completely fermented.
Thanks for the info!
Mityai
Hey Steve, looks like you're really enjoying your beer engine setup. I put together a full caskerator recently, and I'm loving it as well. Mostly bitters on tap so far, but I think I better get a mild on tap soon after watching you enjoy this one. Cheers! My first pour off the caskerator: th-cam.com/users/shortskKchbdIGg9o?si=lENhGio1a_WIj97z
That is awesome!!
FIRST
B roll NSFW
Hahaha