Dark Mild to Dark mAIld
Early in 2025, I tried Timothy Taylor’s Dark Mild on cask. It was fantastic, I had to brew one once the weather got colder.
Interestingly enough, I believe Taylor’s Dark Mild is actually Golden Best with caramel put into the cask — it’s the same ABV (3.4%) too.
Upfront, this ended up as a double brewday.
The original recipe was an adaptation from David Heath’s Dark Mild.
Recipe 1
21L in the fermenter.
Grain
- 2.6kg - Munton’s Maris Otter
- 260g - Weyermann Caramunich II
- 260g - Thomas Fawcett Pale Crystal Malt
- 130g - Weyermann Carafa Special II
- 80g- Crisp Black Malt
Hops
- 42g East Kent Goldings (EKG)
Hop Allocation
- 23g - Boil (30min)
- 19g - Boil (15min)
Water
Tesco Ashbeck:
- 13.16L Mash
- 14.33L Sparge
Yeast
- 1.5pkg SafAle Fermentis S-04
Hot Side
- Strike Temp: 71c
- Mash: 67c for 60min
- Mash Out: 75c for 10min
Cold Side
- Primary: 7 days @ 18c
- Diacetyl rest: 4 days @ 21c - 3 day ramp
Gravity
- OG: 1.038 (target)
- FG: 1.010 (target)
- ABV: 3.7%
- IBU: 20
Notes
Brew Day
This brew day started out great, I was well prepared and everything ran smoothly.
However, due to scaling the recipe down and having odd amounts of water, I ended up over sparging, diluting the wort substantially.
The fermentation went very smoothly, I didn’t cold crash in an effort to keep the beer as fresh/traditional as possible. However, I only hit an OG of 1.033, finishing at 1.010, resulting in a 3.2% beer. This wasn’t necessarily bad news, Timothy Taylor’s Dark Mild is 3.4% and very sessionable.
Fermentation
This was the first time I’d used S-04, it took a while to get going but then flew through the wort, minimal krausen.
Closed transfer.
Tasting
After conditioning and force carbing for a week, I pulled my first glass and my first impressions were great. The aroma was spot on, the taste, while being a bit thin as I’d anticipated, was solid too. My problem though, was head retention.
I tried a different tap and used a KegLand Stout Spout with creamer disks, but still the head would dissipate rapidly.
Enter Claude. After reviewing the grist and accounting for the over-sparge, it flagged the obvious thing I’d missed: no wheat, no oats, nothing to build a stable foam head. That night we rebuilt the recipe — the Dark mAIld.
Recipe 2
Grain
- 2.75kg - Crisp Maris Otter (No.19 Floor Malted)
- 200g - Crisp Torrified Wheat
- 200g - Thomas Fawcett Flaked Oats
- 200g - Thomas Fawcett Pale Crystal Malt
- 100g - Weyermann Carafa Special II
- 50g - Crisp Black Malt
Hops
- 45g East Kent Goldings (EKG)
Hop Allocation
- 25g - Boil (30min)
- 20g - Boil (15min)
Water
Spotless / RO
- 15L Mash
- 10L Sparge
Water Treatment
- 3g Calcium Chloride
- 1.5g Gypsum
- 1.5g Baking Soda
- 1g Epsom Salt
Yeast
- 1 pkg SafAle Fermentis S-04
Nutrients
- 1 pkg ProMix - Boil (10min)
Hot Side
- Mash: 69c for 60min
- Mash Out: 75c for 10min
Cold Side
- Primary: 7 days @ 18c
- Diacetyl rest: 4 days @ 21c - 3 day ramp
Gravity
- OG: 1.039-1.040
- FG: 1.013-1.015
- ABV: ~3.5%
- IBU: ~20
Notes
To summarise the changes:
1) The recipe was scaled for ease of measurements - clean/rounded numbers.
2) I’ve moved from Tesco Ashbeck to Spotless Water. I had come across a thread on Reddit that Ashbeck had changed, and as I’ve never got round to replacing the RO system, I decided to give it a go. 46L for £2.35!
3) Mash ran at 69c rather than 67c
Brew Day
Another really smooth brew day. For next time, I will add a handful of rice hulls as the mash was a bit sticky and I had to turn the recirculation pump down. I also ran a new drill-powered mash stirrer for the first time. Immediate impact on efficiency — pre-boil reading hit 1.039 against an expected ~1.034 across five refractometer checks. I’m now consistently hitting 75–80%.
Fermentation
Exactly as before, bit of a slow start and then like a rocket.
Closed transfer as always.
Tasting
What a difference. Miles better. Much more mouthfeel, aroma broadly similar. Both batches were single infusion — darker malts straight in, not added late. Worth noting for next time. The head retention, though: fantastic.
Closing notes
Unfortunately I don’t have the fermentation graphs for either brewday — the move to the new RAPT Brew app meant I lost the data older than 30 days. I’ll work out a nicer way to pull the data and keep it long term.
Cheers.