Dark Mild, Critique Please

I'm not sure about the recipe, but 1# of syrup seems a little much for such a small beer, and I wouldn't use a cake for a beer this small, maybe a 1/4 cup slurry, but a cake is drastically overpitching for any beer that's not an imperial.

 

I'd switch out the toasted oats with golden naked oats. Many commercial milds have some sugar in the fermentables, but 12.5% does seem a bit high, maybe knock it down to .5#. I agree that you're going to be way overpitching.

 

The maris otter, toasted oats, caramel 120, chocolate, and the midnight wheat would make a great grist for a mild by themselves, IMO. The D180 and the aromatic might add too much complexity to the malt, flavors that hide the deliciousness of your basemalt. I'm not sure toasting oats really matters much in the finished product, but it does make the kitchen smell good.

I also think 1# of a simple sugar like candi syrup might be too much for a mild. I know I have seen mild recipes from the UK that do call for sugar, so there's probably something worth exploring there; however, I've always brewed milds to keep the gravity low with a high body to compensate, and sugar is counter-productive to that.

I've been intending to use golden naked oats in a pale mild, so that suggestion intrigued me.

 

I usually go with the adage that simpler is better. You have a lot going on in that grainbill. Personally, I'd cut it to maris otter, 1lb-1.25 lb Crystal 60 (lots of crystal helps build body in a low OG beer), oats and chocolate or pale chocolate. Fuggles add a really nice leather/tobacco earthiness that works well in a dark mild. My latest mild was brewed with pumpkin and spice and was straightforward with maris otter, C60, victory and pale chocolate malt.

 

Have you used D180 before? IMO a whole pound of it in a beer this small may overwhelm it with dark fruity flavors. (I get plums from it more than anything else.)

 

SImpler definitely better for a recipe like this. I personally would not use that D180. Will definitely give it some complexity if that's what you are looking for but it would never enter my mind to use it for this style. You can't go far wrong with a simple grain bill of marris otter, mix of light and dark crystal and a touch of chocolate. If you are up for giving it a different spin then by all means experiment, it's your beer

 

I used a pound of this in an RIS a couple years back, and it was very noticeable. So I would also suggest to either cut way back or completely out of the recipe.

I would use about 1/4# if you want to get the character from the syrup. As far as the rest of the recipe, I agree to keep it simple, at least the rest of it. I would also cut out the aromatic, and might choose to go with a lighter crystal malt as the dark crystal seems like it would muddle itself with the syrup and chocolate. I would probably also choose to go with more crystal malt and less oats (which toasting may also muddle the beer).

You can brew what you want, but this recipe seems to have alot going on based on only 5# of base malt.

 

I'm brewing one tomorrow that I've had great success with. I'd drop the toasted oats and syrup and pitch the proper amount of slurry. Everything looks good.

 

I agree with everyone who said to simplify. I also am not a fan of s-04, and a whole cake of it is definitely a huge overpitch for this small of a beer. You could probably just use a tube of WLP013/WLP002 and be ok if the yeast is super fresh.

 

If you want a simple sugar option that might fit the style better you could consider English treacle rather than D180. Just a thought.