Begin Brewing!

From the first time I tried one at The Winking Lizard Tavern many years ago, I've been a fan of the English Dark Mild Ale style. It's a nice mix of roasty malt flavors without the heaviness of a porter or stout, which makes it easy to drink year-round. The recipe below is adapted from the Hey Man Dark Mild recipe by Nic Pestel of Missoula, MT.  Nic won a gold at the 2018 NHC in Portland, OR, with the original version.  This variant changes the original recipe in the following ways: Swapped Maris Otter for the original's Montana 2-row Pale Malt Swapped Munich DME for the original's Munich 10L Malt Replaced the original's Dextrin Malt with some Pilsner (since I had no Dextrin or similar on hand) Swapped Lallemand CBC-1 dry ale yeast for the original's Wyeast 2112 California Lager Yeast, mostly because I didn't want to deal with a lager and the CBC-1 should be fairly neutral yeast Adjusted IBUs based on my hops' Alpha Acid levels Changed the first hops add...

Although I was pretty happy with my original Dark Mild recipe , it unfortunately picked up a bacterial infection and had to be dumped.  A second Dark Mild suffered the same fate. In my notes on the original version, I mentioned that I wanted a little more crystal malt and more body.  Toward that end, I've shifted the mash temp upward for most of the mash and added another ounce of Medium English Crystal malt. I've also added some flaked corn, which the BJCP notes is a common ingredient in the style. Ingredients 3 pounds Munton's Pale Ale Malt 6 ounces Medium English Crystal Malt 4 ounces Flaked Corn 4 ounces Crystal 120L Malt 2 ounces English Pale Chocolate Malt 1 ounce English Black Malt 1 ounce Acid Malt 0.35 ounces East Kent Goldings hops @ 6.1% AA (60 min.) 1 large pellet East Kent Goldings hops @ 6.1% AA (15 min.) 1/8 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash 1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer in the mash 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil (20 min.) 1/4 tsp. Irish Moss (15...

The finished beer, one week after bottling The English Dark Mild Ale is a style I first encountered several years ago at The Winking Lizard location on Bethel Road, a location that sadly is no longer open. The one I tried back then was Cain's Dark Mild, and I found it a very enjoyable beer. In 2018, I made my first attempt to brew the style. I thought it turned out well, but wanted to try again. Jamil Zainasheff's book Brewing Classic Styles  contained a recipe for a Dark Mild Ale named "Through a Mild Darkly" that was similar to my 2018 recipe but different enough that I decided to try brewing it. My first attempt was a failure, caused by an oversight on my part that resulted in the wort being ruined and discarded. Today's attempt was more successful. Ingredients 3 pounds, 14 ounces of a mix of Simpsons Golden Promise, Swaen Pale Ale, and Rahr 2-row malts 4 ounces British Medium Crystal Malt 3 ounces Crystal 120L 2 ounces Pale Chocolate Malt 1 ounc...

The Finished British Dark Mild Ale Where Have I Been? If you're noticing that it's been a while since I brewed a batch of beer (July 29, 2018 was the last one), that's primarily because I'd been having issues with the PicoBrew Zymatic. Specifically, any time it had to heat water or wort more than about 30 degrees Fahrenheit, it would shut down with an error. The PicoBrew support folks were responsive and nice, but it was a time-consuming process. They would email me to request photos or to suggest a course of action. I would have to wait until I got home to try the action or get the photos, and send a response. Sometimes I couldn't answer right away. Other times I'd contacted them outside their normal work hours or on a weekend. In the end, we think we've got the issue sorted out. (It basically took several intense soaking, cleaning, and rinsing cycles to clear residue from the heat exchanger.) My wife and I have also been doing a bit of "beer...