BeerBorg

For this beer, I took a page out of Jamil's book. Literally, pages 146-147... lol. For my version, I backed off the Maris Otter, normally use De-bittered black in place of Black Patent, and use Northern Brewer instead of Kent Golding. I also bitter with that Northern Brewer with whatever gives me 17-18 calculated IBUs and pitch the remainder of the 1 oz of hops in at flame out. That adds just a pinch of depth and/or character that you can't really single out. Late hopping an English Mild isn't the norm.

For this particular brew session, I'm subbing Carafa II for the De-bittered black since the idiot that placed the latest MoreBeer order hosed it all up... me. I have the Carafa II on hand and it is basically a wash. I've brewed this for a comps both with and without the late hop and both did well. I also "dry nibbed" this a couple of times with cocoa nibs and it was freaking awesome.

BTW, this recipe can easily be brewed one day and drinkable from the tap on one week. It is a tad watery at one week (very drinkable still) and spot on after two.

And, nice to have a low abv on tap. You simply can't get buzzed on a 2.5% or lower beer. You'll pee yourself silly, but will still be able to handle household "to do" lists.


Pudge Mild
Mild

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (G): 6.0
Total Grain (lb): 7.750
Total Hops (oz): 0.75
Original Gravity (OG): 1.037 (°P): 9.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 3.15 %
Colour (SRM): 16.7 (EBC): 32.9
Bitterness (IBU): 18.3 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 76
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
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6.500 lb Maris Otter Malt (83.87%)
0.500 lb Crystal 60 (6.45%)
0.375 lb Crystal 120 (4.84%)
0.250 lb Chocolate, Pale (3.23%)
0.125 lb Carafa II malt (1.61%)

Hop Bill
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0.75 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)



Misc Bill
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Single step Infusion at 160°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 68°F with Wyeast 1968 - London ESB Ale

Notes
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--Scored a 35 and a 43.5 in two BJCP comps.
--One smack pack of Wyeast 1968... no starter, but aerate well.
--Hop with whatever amount of Northern Brewer it takes to get to roughly 17 IBUs. For a non-competition version (yet still tasty), throw the remainder of that oz in at 1 minute. It'll add a bit of hop character that isn't really "to style".
--Also dry hopped this with some cocoa nibs once which is also a nice twist.

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Ahh yes, Pudge Mild.

One thing you might notice with the Carafa is a bit more roasted edge. Might even border on small Porter but probably not with such a small amount. The Carafa Special is the one that is dehusked. I made a Southern English Brown last year and recipe called for Carafa II Special and I used plain Carafa II. It was still a good beer, but in that case it was like a small Porter. Something I'll be interested in hearing back on...it may or may not be that much of an impact.

Makes me think about doing another Scottish 60 or a 3.5% Ordinary Bitter.

Mmm...session beer. I have a Bitter on now that crept up to 4.5%. And a Scotch 60 kegged and ready.

I think the lowest I've gone is 3.2%. 2.5 would be an interesting challenge. Seems like one of the Brew dog recipes was like 2%.

My bad. This is the Carafa II Special (De-Husked).

I haven't had dough balls in the mash in forever. Can't say that now. I buy my grains already crushed and the 5 lb bag of Maris Otter did look a bit powdery. Munched up a few dough balls while stirring and had two stuck sparges a bit later. Nothing bad, but unexpected. I haven't had one of those in forever either. Then, I used .75 oz of a 1 oz bag of hops as a 60 min addition with the intention of throwing the rest in at flameout. It wasn't until clean up that I noticed that last .25 ounce sitting there. Oh well...

OG 1.034
FG (hopefully) 1.012-1.013

I mashed at 160 so that should keep it reasonably high. It'll be done by Saturday, but I'll let it sit until mid week. My next day off is next Friday and I plan on using this yeast cake of Wyeast 1968 for a batch of Janet's Brown that morning. Instead of picking out each grain myself, I picked up the AG kit from Morebeer. That keeps me from having any more leftover baggies of grains.

If you've never tasted Janet's Brown, you don't know what you're missing...

This sounds great. Pacific Gem hops might be good in this too if you want an alternative to keep things interesting.

If you wanted to bump the body up a bit you could add some carapils or carafoam (or just plain maltodextrin) and not increase the ABV much.

OG 1.034
FG 1.014
2.67% abv

Usually tasted a bit watery young, but not at this point. OG was a bit lower than anticipated and the FG was higher. Maybe that made the difference to this point. Hydro sample was tasty.

On tap

It's better at two weeks, but very drinkable even a one.