Jeg besøkte Fullers i August og fikk en hyggelig omvisning i bryggeriet. På slutten av turen var det smaksprøver og det ble ikke spart på noe.
Hele rekken av Fullers øl var klar til smaking og jeg fikk beskjed at jeg hadde 45 minutter til å smake så mange jeg klarte. Etter at jeg hadde smakt på det meste av de som var fra fat brakte turguiden Sue frem 4 flasker hvor en av dem var 1845. Denne var bare "Outstanding!" så jeg bestemte meg for å kopiere den denne høsten. Jeg tok utgangspunkt i tråden som Finn gjengir ovenfor og oppskriften i Boken "For the love of hops". Siden disse to oppskriftene er såpass forskjellige mht maltsammensetningen tok jeg kontakt med Fullers for å få klarhet. Her er mailutvekslingen:
I am a homebrewer in Norway.
In August I had an enjoyable tour of your brewery with your host Sue.
In your tasting room I especially liked your Fullers 1845. Unfortunately this beer is not sold in Norway so I want to try to make a copy of it. I have looked at various sources, especially an interview with John Keeling in the Podcast "Can You Brew It" from 2010 and an article in the book "For the love of Hops" (2012).
In the podcast Keeling gives a recipe as follows:
OG: 1063.5
FK: 1013/1014
EBC: 40
IBU: 50
Grist:
- Pale malt 80%
- Amber malt 10% (Must be Simpsons)
- Crystal malt 10%
Single infusion at 64C-65C - 60 min with Burtonised water. Sparge temp 76C.
! hour boil with 7-10 % evaporation
Hops:
- All Golding 80% bitterness at 60 min addition, 20% bitterness at 15 min addition
Fermentation temp
- Start at 17C and let rise naturally to 20C. Lover to 18C at half way through the fermentation cycle.
In the article in the book "For the Love of Hops" the recipe is different
The amount of Amber malt is increased to 19%, Crystal is decreased to 1% and 1% chocolate malt is added.
All bitterness is gained from the 60 min Goldings addition. Last hop addition with a short boil to mix.
There is no mention of the reduction of fermentation temperature half-way through the fermentation cycle.
I am especially curious about the change in grist. An almost doubling of Amber malt and reducing the amount of Crystal malt to 1% would have a major impact on the beer so I assume the book is incorrect. Please clarify.
According to Keeling the Amber malt should be from Simpsons because it is much lighter than other producers (EBC=65). This is available here in Norway.
What type of Pale malt do you use? Maris Otter, Golden Promise and Planet are available in Norway.
Which suppliers do you use for the Pale malt and Crystal malt?
Is the temperature drop to 18C half-way through the fermentation essential?
A lot of questions which I hope you will answer so I can try to make a good copy of this excellent beer.
Cheers,
Reinhard Mjaatvedt
Reinhard,
Thank you for your email about 1845, the recipe details are below. This is the recipe we have used for some time I have been back though some of the old brewing books and found a brew from 1999 and it is the same as below.
Grist % | Malt | Supplier |
77% | Pale ale | Boort |
3% | Crystal light | Simpsons |
19% | Amber | Simpsons |
1% | Chocolate | Simpsons |
Hops – we use 100% Goldings, for bittering and at end of boil
Single infusion at 65C-66C - 60 min with Burtonised water. Sparge temp 76C.
1 hour boil with 7-10 % evaporation
FV – collect at 17C and let rise to 20C, we reduce temp to 18C once the gravity has dropped by 50% but we do this because of the Fullers yeast and how it removes diac. If you are using a generic ale yeast then you don’t have to do this.
We do not end ferment but stop it to get a PG of 15.5. This is because it is a bottle conditioned beer so we want to leave some extract behind for the yeast to work on once packaged. We do not use priming sugar
Spec;
OG 64.5
PG 15.5
Col 57
BU 52
The pale ale malt we are using currently is a blend of Planet and Laureate, so Planet on its own will be fine.
Hopefully this has been useful, anymore questions please drop me an email,
Regards,
Guy Stewart
Brewing manager
Asahi UK Holdings Ltd A subsidiary of Asahi Europe Ltd
Fuller’s Griffin Brewery, Chiswick Lane South, London W4 2QB
020 8996 2434 | 07867 142953
Email:
Guy.Stewart@fullersbrewery.co.uk