BJCP Style: 13A - Dark Mild
I originally lumped this in with Scottish Light and Heavy for a 3-fer but knew I would eventually give it its own entry.
This version got 450g of old carastan malt from 2014 I had purchased for a recipe and forgotten about in the bottom of the Specialty Grain Bin.
I am fortunate enough to live near a brewery that specializes in classic English style ales and serves many of them on cask. Recently I dropped by Hogshead for research purposes and had a pour of their mild.
Update 2022-10-11 (+34); Final Thoughts: This continues to be a solid addition to the tap lineup. Having it on nitro "cask" is a special bonus. The malt character is unique - possibly from the extra aged carastan, but not really a bad thing. I will be interested to try this same recipe again with the original c60/120 combo I had originally planned.
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| Hogshead's Dark Mild - delicious! |
The Hogshead version was rather tasty. Malty but clean and easy drinking with a brilliant, clear, dark color.
Full recipe is on BrewersFriend but here's the TL;DR
- 2022-9-8: brew day
- Malts: Maris Otter, carastan, pale chocolate
- Hops: [Nugget] (EKG)
- Yeast: Lallemand Verdant (Boddington's)
- OG: 9°P, FG: 2.5°P, ABV: 3.4%
- 2022-9-14 (+6): keg secondary
- 2022-9-21 (+13): Tapped
Grains in: Maris Otter, Carastan, Pale Chocolate
Milled and in the brew bag
Mash complete, bag out
Boil, hops, yada-yada, OG: 9°P
Added a little too much pre-boil liquid... was going for 24L
Fresh pitch of Verdant. This yeast started as London III or Wyeast 1318 which is allegedly the Boddington's strain. Verdant brewery was using it for hazies and noticed a slight fruity change that was producing more apricot character in their beers. They had it analyzed and it turned out to be a new strain. They teamed up with Lallemand and here we are. I have found this strain to be just as good as London III at producing delicious and clean English styles. I use it for just about everything ale from bitters and milds to IPA.
2022-9-14 (+6): Transferred to keg secondary and checking the FG
2022-9-22 (+14): tapped yesterday and it's not as carbonated as I would like. Typically if I put cask-style ales in the keg 3-4 days after brewing they will self carbonate. This one being 6 days old and a smaller beer anyway it didn't produce much CO2.
Enter the carbonation stone: After about 30 minutes of raising the nitrogen pressure by 5psi every 5 min this is looking like it should.
Settles out with just the right amount of head. Taste is malty and clean much like the Hogshead version. There is a slight nuttiness which I expect in a good mild. Overall a successful brew and I don't even notice any musty old flavors from the old carastan!
