Mild Ale Malt

[MARMITE]

If a recipe calls for mild ale malt and you only have pale, what can you add and in what proportion to make up the difference ?

[Whorst]

I wouldn't do anything. I believe Mild Malt is just kilned a tad longer. Maybe someone else can chime in here. I think the color is 3.5-4L? I haven't used it 15 years because it hasn't been available here. Good malt.

[Stonechat]

Other more knowledgable posters may add more, but my understanding of using Mild Ale Malt is that it is more diastatic than Pale Malt and therefore is useful for Mild Ales that can have more adjuncts than other beers.

[prolix]

chuck it your pale malt in a preheated oven at 180 for 20-25 mins, not a prefect solution but close enough leave it a little longer for brown malt

[iowalad]

My understanding is the same as Stonechat.
You get a slightly darker malt than some 2 row and maybe a bit more biscuit/nutty hint.

I would just use pale or if your not as lazy as me use Prolix's suggestion!

[Witchfinder General]

I've used Mild Ale malt in a recipe for Hook Norton Old Hooky. It used half of pale malt and half mild ale malt. You can buy Mild Ale Malt online from Art of Brewing in Chessington Surrey. They've got a website. I know a lot of HB Shops don't seem to stock it even my local shop in Westcliff on sea will only get it in to order and it takes ages.

[Hoppkins]

ITS HOPPKINS!!! My namesake!

(Sorry off topic but..)

My Avatar name comes from Matthew Hopkins

Fabulous!!

[Witchfinder General]

I am giving all my brews names like Witchfinder, Ducking Stool, John Sterne. I don't live far from Mathew Hopkins. He lived in Manningtree Essex.

[Oscar Brewer]

I used to use mild ale malt for all my mild ales, more recently I've just been using pale malt with about 500g of dia-amber or Munich malt to make up the extra colour and flavour. Doesn't seem to have made a great difference to the finished beer.

[Stonechat]

The one thing not mentioned so far is that Mild Ale Malt is cheaper to produce, as it is made from higher yielding barley varieties than the 2row varieties like Maris Otter. This is the attraction for commercial breweries, as well as the already mentioned fact that it allows them to use more adjuncts, which are again cheaper.
You won't notice much difference in price though when buying in 3kg bags from home brew shops, probably due to customer ignorance and slow sales rates "justifying" a higher mark up.

In relation to SS's original post, the answer is just use any Pale Malt in the same quantity and the finished beer will taste better, but the satisfaction of adhering to the recipe will be lost.

The two recipes I bought some Mild Ale Malt for were those in the last BYORAAH for Hook Norton ales.
Ironically I found that the recipes for Hook Norton in GW's earlier book produced ales that were more like the commercial ones.

If GW picks this up on browsing I'd love to know more about the authenticity of the 50/50 split of Mild and Pale in the recipes. I must confess I was a bit disappointed when I saw the Mild Ale Malt used as I always have liked Hook Norton Bitter and it comes to mind when thinking about the typical Southern English pint.

[Stonechat]

As I understand it, Maris Otter and other 2 row varieties of barley do not produce a high yield per acre grown. I believe that Mild Ale Malt is made from 6 row varieties that produce higher yields per acre, making it cheaper per ton, although it does not have the attributes of Maris Otter that are so valued by brewers.

[fivetide]

I am giving all my brews names like Witchfinder, Ducking Stool, John Sterne. I don't live far from Mathew Hopkins. He lived in Manningtree Essex.

If you haven't visited Colchester Castle in a while, take the dungeon audio tour; it's all about Hopkins and suitably spooky! Then afterwards pop up to the Fat Cat or Odd One Out for a pint of mild or six.

[Witchfinder General]

Thanks I'll do that. I last went to Colchester Castle in 1974 on a school trip. I did some reading up about Mr Hopkins and read about Colchester Castle.

[macleanb]

There seems to be some misinformation re Mild Ale malt out there in the ether - some sources say it has reduced diastatic activity, and some say it has increased activity...

[Graham]

There seems to be some misinformation re Mild Ale malt out there in the ether - some sources say it has reduced diastatic activity, and some say it has increased activity...

It will have increased diastatic activity due to its higher nitrogen content, but as a consequence it will have a greater tendency to haze, which shouldn't matter in a dark mild. It isn't used for that reason though. It is used because it is (marginally these days) cheaper to use a higher nitrogen barley than low n. It will still probably be two-row, particularly if it is British barley, because most of the barley grown in Britain is two row; irrespective of its application.