Fullers London Pride AG clone

[EccentricDyslexic]

Has anyone had any luck getting close to this one, it seems there are 2 or 3 published recipies out there and im considering this myself as its currently my fav ale.

Cheers all!

Steve

[Madbrewer]

You could get the 3rd edition Brew Your Own British Real Ale (a Graham Wheeler) as it's in there. I seem to remember it being spot on when I last brewed it. What I brewed though was from a previous edition of the book and a while ago at that. But never the less I would still expect the later one to be v.close to how it tastes now.

FWIW I also remember tailoring that recipe to make my own Chiswick Clone & kept the recipe. I now have a 1.038 version of that tweaked recipe fermenting as I prefer it to Pride. It's a recipe I am likely to do at least once a year. In previous years it's all I ever brewed (for a while at least.)

My 1.038 OG recipe uses Pale Malt 4000g, Flasked Maize 300g and Crystal 300g
And is hopped with 12 IBU's of Target, 15 IBU's of Northern Brewer & 3 IBU's of Northdown (added late) With a handfull of Fuggles steeped for aroma at the end. I call it BEAST. It's not Pride though and GW Uses Target, Challenger & Northdown iirc to get a classic Fullers-like taste iirc.

If you replace the Malt Extract with 3800g of Pale Malt in this recipe. You should be damn close to your objective:- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26128&p=286408&hili ... de#p286408

Consider the book a must for recipes to try though.

Hope that helps

[EccentricDyslexic]

Hi chap, yep got the book, was wondering how you chaps consider that it compares with the real thing. Your moded version sounds interesting, will keep it in mind!

Cheers

steve

[ADDLED]

Its very good, and close to the real deal. I'll tell you what though; the Youngs Special recipe thats also in Wheelers book is magnificent. I brewed it August bank holiday weekend, 2 weeks in primary then straight to cornie with a little gelatine, gassed to 20psi.
A week later it was crystal clear and very,very good. Best brew I've done all year.

[EccentricDyslexic]

Thanks for that mate! D you keep yours in a keg with that kind of pressure? Doesnt it make it too fizzy? Not keen on the fizz meself, but am keen on using cornys with a tad of pressure to keep the oxygen out!
Thanks for the recomendaton for the Youngs! Cant wait to get started!

Steve

[ADDLED]

I dont keep it at that pressure, just for 5 mins or so then disconnect the gas, vent, then re-gas for a few mins, then disconnect. It seems a lot of pressure but then theres a lot of beer and not a lot of headroom, so its absorbed pretty fast and theres barely any pressure in the keg. Besides, i find you need to give a cornie keg a good blast of gas to seal the lid. To serve I push around 2-3 psi through and it comes out crisp and bright, like a good hand-pump pint of a well conditioned barrel.
To be honest it took a little while to get used to the pressures needed and had a lot of accidents from over enthusiastic gassing, and a lot of flat lifeless pints, but with a bit of advice and some trial and error you find the mark eventually. I found stouts needed a bit more gas than ales to get a better head and I've got it just about right; no more wet sticky shoes.

[EccentricDyslexic]

Ta chap! So do you keep the pressure on constantly to enable you to dispense at any time? I was thinking how to achive this, i have a co2 bottle(big one from a pub) so was thinkning i would daisy chain presure all of them just enough to keep oxygen out and push the beer out when i open a tap on any of them. I supose id need an adjustable regulator and experiment. What regulator do you use?

Cheers

Steve

[oblivious]

EccentricDyslexic the yeast is very important in this beer and its worth getting (WLP002), also fullers have dropped the maize recently

[EccentricDyslexic]

Is it possible to ask a freindly landlord for a pint of first cloudy runnings of a cask and make a starter from that?

steve

[Dennis King]

I too have found it very close, used both whitelabs and wyeast with good results

[Spin]

I did this recipe as my first all-grain brew. I was surprised that it tasted nice straight from the primary fermentor after 2 weeks fermentation.
Is that normal for all-grain brews?

Do they taste good without conditioning for so long? Or is it just that being a Porter it is stronger tasting, so off-flavours are less noticeable?

I've now had it in bottles for a week this friday. I will give it a try next friday after 2 weeks in the bottle to see how it tastes.
All of my kit brews needed at least 2 months of conditioning to be enjoyable.

I don't think mine will turn out like the original due to me adding extra chocolate malt. But it seemed good from my first sample none the less.

The Fullers London Porter is also a favourite of mine when I buy beers. I also found a lovely ale called Bateman's Victory Ale. It was cheaper than most of the other beers I bought but was the best of the lot. So keep an eye out for it.

[ADDLED]

Welcome to the dark side Spin, Im glad your first AG went well for you. LP was a good beer to start with. I did it this weekend but put a half kilo of molasses sugar in it and plan to put it away for Chrimbo.

Do they taste good without conditioning for so long? Or is it just that being a Porter it is stronger tasting, so off-flavours are less noticeable?

LOL, the post is about London PRIDE Ale. But to answer your question; not sure really why (someone will tell ya though) but maybe its because its your first AG brew and the difference from kit is startling.

All of my kit brews needed at least 2 months of conditioning to be enjoyable.

Thats kits for ya!

Bateman's Victory Ale. It was cheaper than most of the other beers I bought but was the best of the lot. So keep an eye out for it.

One of the first 'real' ales I ever tasted, happy memories.

[Spin]

London Pride huh... all this homebrew consumption must be damaging my eyesight.
Or maybe there is a more obvious reason for my bad eyesight.

I just received my order of grain etc so I can make my second batch now which is going to be the Gob Hoblin.

I've seen molasses mentioned in a few recipes. I'll have to give it a try sometime. Does it impart lots of flavour? Or does it mellow given time? I'll also be putting some of these beers away somewhere out of reach until crimbo to see how well they age.

[hambrook]

Excuse me dusting off this old thread; but I brewed the Graham Wheeler London Pride Recipe yesterday (I messed up the mash temp so OG ended up being 1035 rather than 1040). My question is the recipe ABV - it's only listed at 4% whereas the commercial London Pride is 4.7%. Me confused? Is there a London Pride recipe closer to what we drink in the pubs?

[basswulf]

I don't know specifically about London Pride but the official recipe could well have gone through a number of changes since Wheeler's recipe was published. Furthermore, capturing the flavour and capturing the alcohol are two different targets. My experience of Wheeler's recipes are that he's great on the flavours so I'm not bothered at all about the ABV.

On a tangent, I did a tour of the Wytchwood Brewery a year or so ago and discovered that they deliberately brew Hobgoblin to two different strengths - one for serving on tap and another, slightly stronger one for bottles. The logic presented was that pubs are keen for you to be able to put away more pints before you struggle to find your wallet or redecorate their floors while, if you start at home with a bottle, it is fine for it to be a bit stronger as you don't have to find your way anywhere once you're done.

Therefore a truely obsessive beer cloner would need to specify year and subtype rather than being content to merely use the name of the beer!

Wulf