Brewers Gold Mild

I've really started getting into some of the British beer styles lately. It makes me think of tiny public houses in England full of smoke with old dudes having a beer with their dog on the bench next to them.

I see it as a real challenge as a brewer to create low alcohol beers that are still full of flavor.

Mild #1

Fermentables-
Mild Malt- 6 lbs
Crystal 20- 8 oz
Crystal 80- 8 oz
Black Patent- 2 oz

Hops-
Brewers Gold- .5 oz- 60 minutes
Brewers Gold- .5 oz- 13 minutes

Yeast-
Wyeast 1355- British Ale 2- Yeast cake from previous beers.

Gravity- Target/Actual/Final/ABV
1.038/1.039

This a style I've never brewed before, and it was full of ingredients I've never used also. Mild Malt seemed like a no brainer as far as brewing a Mild is concerned. A couple Crystals for some subtlety, and the small Patent addition for color. Brewers Gold isn't a hop I had ever really seen before, and it's pretty sizable in alpha acids, so it was a nice opportunity to showcase this in a British style beer. They smelled great, but I was disappointed that the aroma disappeared almost immediately when I dropped them into the boil. I'm hoping some of that aroma will carry over into the finished beer.

I've got some temperature control issues to work out with my brew house. My mash pot lost about eight degrees over the hour, which is not so hot (literally). I'm going to have to figure out some way to insulate the pot after I heat the water.

Because I did this beer on a yeast cake, I'm going to do a quick turnaround next weekend with a Smoked Porter, partly to get some drinkable beers in the bottle soon, and also to use up some specialty malts I've got sitting around.