Fullers 1845

[Touchstone]

I love this beer , so I’m taking a bash at reproducing it , not much info around on the net so has anyone been successful?

[oz11]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/thre ... 45.205873/

[Touchstone]

Thanks oz

[PeeBee]

The "can you brew it" recipe (80,10,10 recipe linked above) is fine. Simpson's Amber malt is essential, but Crisp's might do whereas Warminster and Fawcett's is miles out. It really is 50IBU of EKG, Fuller's do get a strong hop aroma which evades me (but doesn't matter much). I think they do some heavy handed dry hopping and don't say?

The one quibble is the WLP002 yeast. It's not Fuller's yeast whatever some folk claim. It is way too attenuative (does alright for a London Pride clone, but not even close for 1845). Aim for a FG of about 1.018. I've done best with S-33 dried yeast (does that make me a heretic?).

[Touchstone]

Thanks PB, I plan to harvest yeast fron the bottle.

[PeeBee]

Intrigued by this yeast business I looked back at my recipes and compared with the gravity of a bottled commercial 1845 (which I get to drink ) :

The commercial bottle had a SG of 1.014. To get 6.3% ABV (printed on bottle) that suggests and OG of about 1.062. An (apparent) attenuation of 77.4%.

My last 1845 clone fermented with WLP002 had a FG of 1.013 and an OG of 1.058 (fell short of the 1.063 expectation). An attenuation of 77.5%.

So in reality not far out from an attenuation angle? But it didn't taste that way! Might also be to do with how I served. The commercial 1845 out of bottle is horrendously fizzy, whereas I serve from draught at circa 10-12 PSI (I have tried these clones on handpump with 1-2 PSI and they don't work!). I have to go back to 2015 to find a successful clone, I seem to have spent a while figuring out the specific amber malt really matters and S-33 makes for a better clone. My notes also say leaving it for the "100 days" makes a positive difference; at 80 days I wasn't so wild about it.

If slaved to "styles" this clone comes under "British Strong Ale" or "Burton Ale" (BJCP 2015 17A). It's not an "old ale".

[CestrIan]

I did a very similar recipe a few years ago. From my notes and from memory it was quite harsh at first and took a long time for the amber malt to mellow out enough to be drinkable. I mean 4 or 5 months. It definitely got better with age.

[Touchstone]

Brewed this and now drinking, so close to original that difficult to tell the difference, only thing mine is a bit darker but not too bothered about colour. A very nice brew .