JW Lees best Mild -- lets brew Wednesday

[Otters]

Hello,

JW Lees Best Mild reputedly brewed in 1952 - I'd like to use this recipe and some unexpected surplus stock, to dip my toe in the water, with a 'Let's Brew Wednesday' recipe from Ron's blog which i've been itching to do for some while now.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... -mild.html

Has anyone brewed this beer and if so what was the outcome - it looks like it should give malt complexity - I've got some surplus grain and therefore this will be set to use, hopefully, working this recipe up.

I've been toying with this recipe for a while and have changed it slightly,to suit; - however - I'd like some help from the Mild aficionado's out there! am I on the right track or barking up the wrong tree?

JW Lees Best Mild

Mild (11 A)

Aiming for O.G. 1038 and S.G. 1009 giving an ABV of roughly 3.7%
EBC = 47 and IBU = 24

Mash Ingredients

2808.50 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 77.8 %
148.69 g Chocolate (Crisp) (1241.1 EBC) Grain 2 4.1 %
148.69 g Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118.2 EBC) Grain 3 4.1 %
76.82 g Brown Malt (Crisp) (128.1 EBC) Grain 4 2.1 % (is this enough to get flavour from it?)
65.49 g Black (Crisp) (1339.6 EBC) Grain 5 1.8 %

Boil Ingredients

284.80 g Candi Syrup, Golden (9.8 EBC) Extract 6 7.9 %
75.95 g Treacle (197.0 EBC) Extract 7 2.1 %
35.06 g Fuggle [4.50 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 8 19.4 IBUs
13.41 g Fuggle [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 5.3 IBUs
Estimated Post Boil Vol: 23.40 l and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.037 SG

I'm probably not the only person to come across this recipe on the Shut up about Barclay Perkins blog - my alterations follow:

1) I've lowered the amount of sugar additions slightly and will use a mixture of Golden syrup and Treacle mainly for flavour around 10%
2) I've ditched the caramel as I haven't any and not interested in colouring for colouring's sake?
3) OG is higher at around 1038 giving and ABV of around 3.7% if I mash at 67C and use NBS ale yeast
4) I'll make enough liquor using GW's water calc set for the; 'Mild profile'...,

So comments please; If you think I'm in the right ball park with the recipe and assumptions above, I'll brew it next Sunday...' Of course, I'll report back on the Brewday with some photo's etc..., and eventually what ot tastes like...'

All the best Otters...'

[barney]

OG is High All lees MIld was og 1035, colour is 100.

Are you trying to recreate a Lees brew or use it as a guide to make good mild?

You look like you are near to the 10th March recipe from 1952, pale 66.6% the choc and crystal are 4.76% and the brown and black at 2.38 the rest sugars.

I have not brewed the recipe but it looks like the black and brown will replace the fruitiness missing through not using mild ale malt, it should turn out very nice.

Water I reckon will be crucial, where are you and whats the water like.

[Otters]

Hi,

Initially I wanted to recreate this beer as authentically as I could,

However, with no caramel colourant, the 100 EBC was unobtainable. So in keeping with the original, I thought I'd get the grist proportions as close as I could, lower the amount of sugar slightly to offset dryness and up the gravity to 1038 in an attempt to avoid a watery beer.

The objective is to brew an vintage original mild out of curiosity and to aid my self learning of all things beer... And brew something flavoursome and authentic.

My water by the way is full of temporary hardness from Calcium Carbonate, living on the south coast (sunny Bognor Regis) - I always boil, to precipitate this out, then add additions of salts as required by Mr Wheelers excellent Liquor Calculator (using his style profile) and use his procedure for water treatment closely.

I now understand why the Black malt and Brown malt are used and thank you for this advice.

Now, I had originally factored 10% addition of black treacle 197 EBC as opposed to golden syrup which helped with pushing the colour nearer to the original but I did not want to drastically alter the taste of the beer (suggestions please)

Thanks for the response this help.

All the best otters...

[barney]

Hey Otters,

You have thought it through well, The stuff about brown and black malt is an assumption on my part, dont take it as gospel and a way to recreate mild ale malt.

[Otters]

Thanks for the assistance Barney, I'll let you know how it comes out!

[barney]

Look forward too it. I may even brew it Myself.

IT looks a great brew.

Good Luck on the day.

[Otters]

Hi All Im still brewing this beer

Have tweaked the recipe slightly which follows.... It uses more brown malt to emphasise the oreo 'can't think of a better descriptive' flavour that this mild bring's out.

here's the recipe:



Otters Best Mild

Dark Mild (13 A)



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 24.00 l
Boil Size: 28.84 l
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 26.00 l
Final Bottling Vol: 22.00 l
Fermentation: Otters NBS yeast profile


Date: 26 Apr 2014
Brewer: Otters
Asst Brewer: Roman
Equipment: Otters Craft Brewery
Efficiency: 73.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.1 %
Taste Rating: 45.0


Taste Notes: Tastes notes:

2622.59 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 71.9 %
172.39 g Chocolate (Crisp) (1241.1 EBC) Grain 2 4.7 %
172.39 g Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118.2 EBC) Grain 3 4.7 %
167.85 g Brown Malt (Crisp) (128.1 EBC) Grain 4 4.6 %
77.85 g Black (Crisp) (1339.6 EBC) Grain 5 2.1 %
16.27 g Fuggles [5.40 %] - First Wort 90.0 min Hop 6 10.7 IBUs
336.62 g Candi Syrup, Golden (9.8 EBC) Extract 7 9.2 %
100.10 g Treacle (197.0 EBC) Extract 8 2.7 %
11.93 g Fuggle [6.40 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 9 8.5 IBUs
10.23 g Fuggle [6.40 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 10 5.2 IBUs
1.1 pkg NBS Ale yeast I (The Malt Miller #NBS Ale Yeast I) Yeast 11 -


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.035 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.4 %
Bitterness: 24.5 IBUs
Est Color: 51.5 EBC

Measured Original Gravity: 1.040 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 3.8 %
Calories: 371.7 kcal/l


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Sparge Water: 23.68 l
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE


Total Grain Weight: 3649.79 g
Grain Temperature: 10.0 C
Tun Temperature: 10.0 C
Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps

Mash In Add 11.38 l of water at 78.7 C 68.5 C 60 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 23.68 l water at 75.6 C
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).



Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Bottle
Pressure/Weight: 117.75 g
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 21.1 C
Fermentation: Otters NBS yeast profile


Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle with 117.75 g Table Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 18.0 C


Notes
A Fourth outing of this brew broadly based on a beer last brewed in 1952. from the great JW Lees brewery in Manchester. Brewed with pride from one of Roy Patterson's Lets Brew Wednesday series... It's an excellent mild. What more can I say...!

Specifics:

Upped brown malt by 60g to 150g everything else stays the same

Mash higher at 68c for more mouth feel and up OG to 1038 to compensate for thin tasting beer. The original brew had the luck of being mashed at 68c instead of 67c so g with this mash temp. although the strike heat of the hlt has been lowered by 1c to reflect August conditions....

Add an amount of treacle as well as golden syrup for colour and complexity - this worked flawlessly and goes to show how carefully added sugar. even in large amounts, can produce beer for the gods...'

use 25% of the bittering hops as a 1st wort hop addition,

Use a fresh sachet of NBS ale I yeast this time

Look like mash eff' is around 80%

[laithclark]

I haven't brewed the JW Lees Best Mild but from the same Barclay Perkins blog I have brewed the Boddingtons Mild recipe, which you can find here:http://www.thehomebrewdiaries.co.uk/recipe-mild-cow/

I have to say it was excellent and I really enjoyed it and am going to brew it again soon. The only thing I might do is split the wort and double to hops to make it more of a Malty Bitter instead, I may also tweak the ABV up a little too. But the original recipe is highly recommended!