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From the files of beer historian Ron Pattinson, here’s a recipe from mid-19th-century Scotland that makes a point: British milds weren’t always dark and low strength. This one calls for cramming your mash tun full—note the low efficiency, and consider brewing more beer from the second runnings—and it has plenty of hops, too.
“For William Younger at the time, this wasn’t all that strong,” Pattinson says. “They had half a dozen stronger beers.”
For many more recipes like this one—more than 350, in fact—plus more numbers, facts, and context, be sure to check out Pattinson’s self-published two-volume set, Scotland!, found via his blog, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. And for more on brewing a great mild, see Why We’re Wild for Mild.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 58%
OG: 1.093
FG: 1.032
IBUs: 100
ABV: 8%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
21.5 lb (9.8 kg) Maris Otter
HOPS SCHEDULE
4 oz (113 g) East Kent Goldings at 80 minutes [51 IBUs]
3 oz (85 g) East Kent Goldings at 50 minutes [34 IBUs]
2 oz (57 g) East Kent Goldings at 20 minutes [15 IBUs]
YEAST
Scottish ale, such as White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 153°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 80 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, chill to about 56°F (13°C), aerate the wort, and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 65–67°F (18–19°C) until complete and gravity has stabilized. Rack and condition at cellar temperatures for several weeks before packaging, carbonating to about 2 volumes of CO2.
BREWER’S NOTES
Though they had stronger beers, this was Younger’s strongest mild. Their weakest, X, had an OG of just 1.075. The XX was a little more impressive at 1.081. This was a draft beer that went into barrels and half-barrels for service, rather than into hogsheads (from which it would have been bottled).