[tommymorris]

I am a big fan of session beers that capture a style but have less calories and alcohol. I think more breweries should brew session beers.

I wanted an American Brown Session Ale. So I decided to shrink a recipe and see how it turned out. I am ecstatic. This beer has a lot of brown ale character with 1040 OG, 4.1% ABV, and 130 calories. I love this beer.

Taste: starts with a mild chocolate flavor.  Flavor ends with good dose of citrus and a lingering very mild (pleasant) bitterness. Dry finish.

Here is the recipe.

Batch size: 6 gallons
OG: 1040
SG: 1008
ABV: 4.1%
SRM: 14.9
5.66# Rahr Premium Pilsner malt
2.35# Rahr 2-row malt
0.4# Chocolate malt
0.26# Caramel 40 malt
0.2# Victory malt
0.15# Honey malt

0.75 oz Cascade (6.8%) @ 60
0.25 oz Cascade (6.8%) @ 15
1 whirlfloc tablet @ 15
1 oz Zythos (10.9%) @ flame out
1 pkg. US-05 yeast @ 64F

Mash at 150F for 1 hour.

Potential improvements: this beer might be improved with some Carapils/carafoam or other malt to increase the body. Might also just increase the mash temp. Also, I subbed pilsner malt because I was nearly out of 2-row. Using all 2-row might be better.

[garc_mall]

Increase the mash temperature. A LOT. I mash my Session beers (both hoppy and sweet) at 162, otherwise they end up too dry. IMO, Mash temperature increases don't affect the sweet/bitter ratio very much. Adding crystal type malts (Cara-anything) will increase the sweetness.

[HoosierBrew]

+1 to mashing high for a session beer.  I would go no lower than 158 up to the mentioned 162. That looks pretty solid !

[tommymorris]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I will try a higher mash temp with future milds.

[klickitat jim]

I'm going to do the same with my brown. Get it down around 1.040-45

[guitalele81]

Nice recipe! Will Will definitely try something similar soon.

[cornershot]

American mild is an oxymoron! That's just not how 'merica does things! But it needs to change!
Nice recipe but IMO it needs more hops and a less attenuative, yet still American, yeast. Maybe WLP041?

[The Professor]

American mild is an oxymoron! That's just not how 'merica does things!...

You mean "that's not how 'merica overdoes things."   
Seriously though, I think the recipe looks great (it's actually quite similar to a brew I do once in a while).

I really wouldn't change any of the ingredients or ratios.  I agree that it would probably be better though with a yeast other than S-05.
If you're using dry yeast, I'd be more inclined towards something like S-04. 
It'll still be an "American Mild" because you made it in America. 

[erockrph]

I really wouldn't change any of the ingredients or ratios.  I agree that it would probably be better though with a yeast other than S-05.
If you're using dry yeast, I'd be more inclined towards something like S-04. 
It'll still be an "American Mild" because you made it in America. 

Agreed. Since the gravity is so low you can even get away with using something like WY1968 even if you're not set up to make a starter. I don't know why "American" has come to mean "no yeast character".

[garc_mall]

WY1272 is also a good one for session beers if you want to have an "American" strain. It provides a little more character, and supports the malt.

[tommymorris]

The first thing I will do to decrease attenuation is increase the mash temp. But changing yeast is a good option too.

Re: needing more hops. Beersmith put the IBU at 22.6. I wanted to make sure I didn't over do it with such a small gravity. With more finish gravity I think you could support more hops.

That being said I like the hops where they are.

PS. American Mild is a bit of an oxymoron.

[morticaixavier]

American mild is an oxymoron! That's just not how 'merica does things! But it needs to change!
Nice recipe but IMO it needs more hops and a less attenuative, yet still American, yeast. Maybe WLP041?

let's remember, Mild is the opposite of Old not the opposite of strong. so in that sense, given that we are still a pretty young nation I would say that an American mild is perfectly appropriate.

[The Professor]

let's remember, Mild is the opposite of Old not the opposite of strong. so in that sense, given that we are still a pretty young nation I would say that an American mild is perfectly appropriate.

RIGHT!!  Good point.
Historically, the term "mild" has nothing whatsoever to do with ABV or hopping rate.

[gmac]

Should have read this before posting pretty much the exact same question. But I want to get even lower, 3 to 3.5 ABV.
And I also did mis-use mild as opposed to stale. But I'm sure you know what I meant.

[tommymorris]

I made a second batch of this beer with some changes.

Major change: fermented with Danstar Windsor. OG 1043. SG 1018. ABV 3.3%. Mash temp was 152F.

I thought with those numbers I would have a nice full bodied mild.  But actually, the beer tastes very thin/watery.

I think I will try WLP002 next time.

The other change was using English Chocolate malt. That plus the Windsor yeast give this beer a more English taste than I wanted.

Edit: on rereading the thread there a few other good yeast choices for next time suggested. I want something more attenuative than Windsor (and cleaner) and less attenuative than US-05.