I’ve finally got round to another batch of beer. Yesterday I did the mash and boil and today I got it fermenting away. This one is based on Batemans Dark Mild and I last brewed it in 2016 under the moniker Dark Biscuit (because I used biscuit malt rather than crystal malt). This one I have christened Lenten Mild as we’re just over a week into the season of Lent.

I still had a few minor tweaks on Graham Wheeler’s recipe, as I didn’t have everything in my store cupboard. The main twist though was an increased brewing volume. Normally I start with 10l of water, which typically results in about 6l of beer. This time, I spotted that, if I used up all of my remaining pale malt, I could push the water content to 14l. I still mashed with 10l but used the rest to sparge the grains (boiling in 1l batches, pouring over the grains bit by bit and adding the result to the kettle).

I think 14l is about as far as I can push it with my current equipment and about 13 or 13.5l would feel safer but, if it turns out well, I might use a similar approach again. The main factor which may influence things is that 14l (or whatever was left after the boil stage) is too much to fit in the plastic jerry can I normally use to store the wort overnight. Instead I left it in the kettle with a clean tea towel over the top to help limit particles getting in. So, a few question marks but I’ll know more about whether the experiment worked in a week or two.