Dark English Mild - First All Grain Beer

After 3 batches of extract beer I decided it was time to take the next step and try an all grain recipe. For this first beer I selected a Dark English Mild recipe I found on homebrewtalk.com - Reaper's Mild. This seemed like a good first all grain beer as it is low alcohol and lightly hopped which made it cheap to brew.  It also called for a high mash temperature to get a higher final gravity which is control one would not necessarily have brewing an extract beer.

I like to have a beer or two in the evening after work and with lunch on the weekends. I typically drink Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA which is 7.2% ABV. After a couple of these I feel somewhat impaired and sometimes wake up the next morning a bit hung over. This English Mild will, in theory, come in at around 3% ABV but still have a lot of flavor and body. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good session beer to keep in stock for weeknights and for doing work around the house on the weekends. If this goes well I plan on trying my hand at some low ABV pale ales, IPAs, and maybe a Berliner Weisse.

My AG Setup

Recipe Details:

• Grain: 
• 5 lb 8 oz Maris Otter 
• 1 lb 8 oz Crystal 60L 
• 6 oz Chocolate Malt 
• Hops: 
• 1 oz UK Fuggle at 45 min 
• 1 oz UK Fuggle at 15 min 
• Yeast: 
• Nottingham 
• Water: 
• 9.0 gal RO and Carbon Filtered Water 
• 1.5 tsp 5.2 ph Buffer 
• 2 tsp Burton Water Salts 

Process Details:

• Batch Size: 
• 5.0 gal (Target: 5.5 gal) 
• Mash: 
• 158 F 
• Boil: 
• 60 min 
• Fermentation Temp: 
• 65 F 

Results:

• OG: 
• 1.031* (Target: 1.035) 
• Efficiency:
• ~57% (Target: 71%)
• FG: 
• 1.010 (Target: 1.012) 
• ABV: 
• 2.63% (Target: 3.02%) 

* Unfortunately my reading of the hydrometer was likely incorrect - at 80 F, which I likely took this sample at, the hydrometer is under measuring by ~0.005 points.  So, this could actually be an OG of 1.036.

Brewing Notes:

• 3/30/14 - Brew day - Lasted from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM 
• Brought 3 gal up to 185 F in small pot - took about 15 min 
• Added pH buffer to mash tun 
• Added 10 qt of 185 F strike water to mash tun for a ~1.25 to 1 ratio of qts of water to lbs of grain 
• Waited 10 min for temp to settle - shooting for 172 F - Came in at about 174 F 
• Added grain to mash tun 
• After 5 min the mash temp was 159 F (Close enough to the 158 F I was shooting for). After 30 min the mash was at 158 F 
• Added cleaner/sanitizer to fermentation bucket 
• 60 min mash - ended at 157 F 
• Drained the first runnings 
• Added 2.5 gal batch sparge at 170 F - let sit for 10 min - drained 
• Added second 2.5 gal batch sparge at 170 F - let sit for 5 min - drained 
• Brought brew kettle up to a boil - took about 25 min 
• Added Burton water salts to kettle 
• At 45 min added 1 oz of hops 
• Re-hydrated yeast 
• Sanitized racking equipment 
• At 15 min added 1 oz of hops 
• At 10 min put in wort chiller to sanitize 
• Chilled down to 80 F (ground water temp) - took about 20 min 
• Transferred to fermentation bucket (manage to avoid transferring most of the hops, no clear cold break was formed). Pitched the yeast at the start of the transfer 
• Short by 1.5 gal - topped off with RO and carbon filtered water 
• Shook to aerate 
• Moved to 65 degree fermentation chamber 
• 3/31/14 - 18 hrs later active fermentation underway 
• 4/2/14 - Increased temp to 68 to finish out fermentation 
• 4/6/14 - After 7 days the gravity is down to 1.007 F - no off flavors in the sample - I think it needs a bit more time to mellow (the main flavor was alcohol burn) - I will check on it next week
• 4/10/14 - Moved into the 80 degree house while cold crashing my previous batch
• 4/11/14 - Moved back into fermentation chamber at 64 F
• 4/24/14 - Cold crashed to 33 F
• 4/25/14 - Added gelatin for fining (I did not use Irish Moss for this batch and didn't really see the cold break - not sure if the gelatin is going to help clarity at this point)
• 4/26/14 - Bottled with 3 oz of priming sugar.  Ended up with 45 12 oz bottles.  Could have had a bit more but I left a half gallon at the bottom of the fermentor in an attempt to avoid disturbing the yeast bed.  Measured final gravity as 1.006 at 68 F.  Per my hydrometer calibration this is actually 4 point off so my actual FG is 1.010.
• 5/7/14 - Tasting Notes - I am very relieved to find no off-flavors in this batch.  I think this was a good recipe and that the final product is probably very close to what was intended - it certainly meets my expectations for what this beer should have been.  I'm encouraged that my current process is capable of creating beer of acceptable quality.
• 5/23/14 - I have noticed some variability between bottles in the amount of alcohol flavor that was present.  In some of the bottles the alcohol flavor seems very balanced where in others it is the dominant flavor.  Those alcohol dominated ones are quite unpleasant to drink.  It doesn't seem to be based on how I've stored them at this point as not all the ones that conditioned together have the same flavor.  It could be that the alcohol isn't being distributed evenly between bottles.  Need to try to sort this out.  I suspect that maybe pitching into 80 F wort contributed to this.
• 7/9/14 - Drank the last of the Dark English Mild.  It stayed pretty consistent over time.  I am very happy with my choice of this as a first beer - I wish I had made more of this.

Lessons Learned:

1. Water loss during mash and boil was higher than expected - planned on 0.5 gal loss from mash and 2 from boil. I ended up using 9 gal. Not sure where the loss came from - I'm pretty sure the 2 gal of boil off was correct. There is some loss at the bottom of the mash tun where the manifold doesn't reach. For the next batch I will tilt the mash tun and plan for more loss. 
2. My efficiency was a bit off - the original recipe got 5.5 gal of 1.035 wort (at 75% efficiency) and I got 5.0 gal of 1.031 wort. I don't think I had any dough balls. All I can think of is that maybe my mash pH wasn't within the optimal range and that the enzymes weren't allowed to do their job as well. For the next batch I will have pH test strips so I'll know if I need to add more or less pH buffer (or if the pH buffer is ineffective). 
3. I had some problems with green rust on the mash tun's copper manifold that came off during my first attempt adding the strike water. I dumped the water and started over. It turned out I didn't have enough RO water to top off the last 1.5 gal so I had to scramble for some carbon filtered water. I think my 5 hr brew day could be shortened a bit (probably to about 4 hrs) if things go smoother next time.
4. A 10 gal batch of this would be a good idea next time.