Let's Brew Wednesday - 1963 Lees Mild

It being Mild month once more, it seems a good time for another Mild recipe.

The 1950’s version of Lees Best Mild has been a big hit with home brewers. Mostly, I think, because of its complex malt bill. This time, though, we’re looking at its younger brother: simple Mild. What’s most surprising to me, is that not only wasn’t it  parti-gyled with Best Mild, but it has a totally different grist.

There’s one good reason for that: the two beers were different in colour. The usual convention was Ordinary Mild dark, Best Mild pale. For some reason, Lees did it the other way around. And with all the dark malt and dark sugar in Best Mild, there’s no way they could parti-gyle Ordinary Mild with it.

I sometimes wonder why pubs sell several Bitters of only slightly differing gravities. This case is even crazier – Best Mild, at 1035º, was only 2 gravity points higher than this beer. It does make you wonder why they bothered. Though I suppose, at least, the different grists left beers with distinct characters.

Speaking of grists, Ordinary Mild contained crystal malt, which Best didn’t. While Ordinary lacked the oak smoked and flaked oats that were in Best.

There’s an even bigger difference when it comes to the sugars. Best: Invert, Black Invert, PS Crystals, D.C.S., HX and C.D.M. Ordinary: Invert, C.M.E., Stacons, Laverna, D.C.S, HX and a tiny amount of C.D.M. I won’t even try to guess what all that lot were. I’ve substituted No. 1 and No. 2 invert.

Oddly, Ordinary Mild has a slightly higher hopping rate than Best. I’ve guessed Fuggles, but all I know for sure is that they were English. Around 10% of the hops were Styrian Goldings. But as that would only amount to 0.15 oz. at this scale, I didn’t bother with it. Feel free to throw a few in if you feel like it.

Before I forget, the FG is also a guess. Lees didn’t bother filling it in.

1963 Lees Mild
pale malt	5.25 lb	76.98%
crystal malt 60 L	0.25 lb	3.67%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	4.84%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.33 lb	4.84%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.66 lb	9.68%
Fuggles 90 min	0.75 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.75 oz
OG	1033
FG	1007
ABV	3.44
Apparent attenuation	78.79%
IBU	21
SRM	6.5
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1318 London ale III (Boddingtons)