Brew Day, Batch 378: Mild Ale

Mrs. C noted that granddaughter Mia's 1st birthday celebration is coming up next month, and that there would be time to come up with a nice firkin-able beer to wash down that cake with. The assembled guests will be of all stripes, and I have found that pretty much everybody likes a nice dark mild. The beer is malty but not sweet, with crystal malt and chocolate malt flavors, balanced as much by a dry roast edge from some black patent as by the minimal hop bitterness. It's visually appealing, as well, with a clear deep brown color with a ruby cast to it. Here's what went in to it:

Mild Ale - 11 gallons

11   lbs. Muntons Maris Otter Pale Ale malt
3/4  lbs. Muntons Crystal 60L
1/4  lbs. Briess Crystal 80L
1/4  lbs. Fawcett Pale Chocolate
1/4  lbs. Black Patent malt

Single infusion mash, 1 qt./lb., mid 150s F. I used 1 tsp. chalk in the mash. At completion, I lautered and sparged until runoff gravity dropped below 1.010, then topped up the kettle to 12 gallons.

Total boil time was 90 minutes; one kettle addition 2.2 oz. Fuggle at 4% alpha for 60 minutes, for a target 18 BUs. Yield was approx. 11 gallons of wort at 1.036, perfect. Wyeast 1084, a decent flocculator, is doing the honors. Looking forward to a few pints of this in a few weeks....