Bitter and Mild Like Substance

[mashani]

Will be brewing this later.

This should turn out sort of like a Bitter and Mild, except without having to mix the two. Hurray.

For 5 gallons:

Mash of:

1.5# Maris Otter
9oz English Medium Crystal
6oz Belgian Biscuit (to give it more character since I don't have enough Maris Otter)
3oz Special B (don't have any English Extra Dark, but this will do fine)
2oz Roasted Barley
1oz Honey Malt (touch of extra malty sweetness)

Add

4# Light LME

1/4oz Magnum (10%) @60
1/3oz Styrian Goldings and 1/3oz Kent Goldings @30
1/3oz Styrian Goldings and 1/3oz Kent Goldings @15
1/3oz Styrian Goldings and 1/3oz Kent Goldings @5

Notty. It's still kind of chilly for other English yeast. I actually split a pack instead of pitching a whole pack in each since like I often do, as the gravity is lowish and I don't want this to over attenuate. Just have to hope my Brett is still asleep.

OG was 1.040 on the nose. IBUs should be around 24.

[mashani]

I just finished brewing this. I tweaked the recipe a bit and did 3 hop additions of both the Styrians and Kent Goldings simultaneously. I added an extra ounce of English medium, and threw in an ounce of honey malt to give it a touch more sweet maltyness and I don't have any other thing like light crystal (English medium crystal isn't very sweet, it's not the same thing as C40 or C60).

I don't want this to be too hoppy, as it's supposed to turn out like a mild mixed with a bitter (yes you can order this at a real English pub). So I probably won't dry hop it, but maybe I will, it depends on how the sample tastes and if I decide I'd rather make it more like a bitter. Then I'll dry hop it and just leave it sit another day or two. Or maybe I'll dry hop 1 fermenter (it's split between my 2 LBCs). But it is already more like a bitter I think and don't want to go too far in that direction. At least not unless I decide after tasting the sample that the mild gone wild thing isn't working, then I'll just dry hop it all.

[Pudge]

Looks tasty. Kind seems like a cross between a Scottish ale and a bitter which sounds nice. A wee bit of roastiness and honey malt with some English hops weaves in. A British Isles Ale?

[mashani]

Yeah, your right, it might turn out more like a 70 shilling mixed with a bitter then a mild mixed with one.

This is just one of my "educated frankenbrews" that I roll with the ingredients I have on hand. I'm sure it will be easy enough to drink whatever it ends up being like.

[mashani]

Bottled at 1.011

Sample was like well browned (but not burnt) toast with a bit of some kind of slightly pithy, spicy, and floral marmalade being washed down by a sip of tea. Soooo very English.

I'm ok with that.

[mashani]

So, cracked one open, and it tastes like I described, dry toast and tea (not in an astringent/bad way), with slight pithy marmalade.

It might not match any style, but it is still about as UK as it gets, and it's really easy to drink.

[Pudge]

A few years back I entered a competition. It was a franken beer competition where your entry had to have aspects of two different styles. This sounds like a beer that might have done well.