7 year old Fullers 1845

[Cestrian]

I found half a dozen dusty bottles of an unknown beer at the back of a cupboard in the garage today. Checking back through my brewing records it was a Fullers 1845 attempt that I brewed in January 2013. I took a bottle out in to the back garden in case it exploded and hit the ceiling, but it decapped with a pleasant pop and poured a crystal clear ruby red. Nose is liquorice and black treacle. Flavour is initially smooth, sweet malt, with a spicey, black pepper finish and warmth of alcohol. Suprisingly, still has a firm bitterness. It has a rich vinous quality, a bit like Rodenbach. A beautiful beer.

 

[Cestrian]

This was the recipe

AG#55 Fullers 1845
Volume 23L
Brewed 05-Jan-13

4.93Kg MO pale malt
0.62Kg Amber malt
0.35Kg Dark crystal
0.27Kg Special B
0.10Kg Caramunich
0.15Kg Wheat

50IBU target

50g Delta 90 min
10g EKG 60 min
50g EKG 15 min

Mashed 65C
Pitch at 17C - Raise to 20C after 12 hours
Then reduce to 18C after half the ferment is complete

Yeast : 3rd gen WLP002

1063 OG
1012 FG
6.70% ABV

 

[Cestrian]

These were my notes at the time
Kegged this and left in the garage to mellow. The amber is harsh!!!
27/05/2013 After 18 weeks in the keg this is drinkable - not bad at all, still very roasty but ok
01/12/2013 11 months old and this is a nice pint - I always have a sneaky half of this while brewing. The amber is still there but has mellowed and become slightly peppery. If I brewed this again I would back off on the amber.

Turned out alright though! Just needed time to mature!

 

[Barley Rubble]

I don't think I could wait 7 years to drink a home brew beer.

No, in fact I know I couldn't wait 7 tears to drink a home brew beer!

 

[TheOsprey]

That's incredible after 7 years. I've found cans of Carling after a year that you could squeeze

Out of interest, how do you know when half the fermentation is complete?

 

[Cestrian]

I didn't do this on purpose. I just forgot they were there. I think most of this brew went in a cornie keg, which only holds 19L so the other half dozen pints got bottled and shoved in a cupboard.

@TheOsprey I used to listen to a lot of Jamil Zainasheff podcasts and I think he did an interview with the head brewer at Fullers. Might be wrong but I think he advised the temperature changes. I guess I took hydrometer readings to see when it reached half way through fermentation 1037 ish.

 

[JonBrew]

I didn't do this on purpose. I just forgot they were there. I think most of this brew went in a cornie keg, which only holds 19L so the other half dozen pints got bottled and shoved in a cupboard.

@TheOsprey I used to listen to a lot of Jamil Zainasheff podcasts and I think he did an interview with the head brewer at Fullers. Might be wrong but I think he advised the temperature changes. I guess I took hydrometer readings to see when it reached half way through fermentation 1037 ish.

Yeah I listened to that podcast too. It was part of a series of clone attempts in the brewing with style series. It was a great episode and as you say the temperature schedule they adopted at fullers was flipping nuts. If I recall rightly the guys on the show couldn't clone the beer without doing the same schedule.

 

[Dulwich North]

‎The Brewing Network Presents | Brew Strong: Brew Strong: Questions With Fuller's 1 09-05-17 on Apple Podcasts seems to be the one.

 

[Cestrian]

Yep used to love brew strong! Really inspired me to try new styles when I was first starting all grain. I still refer back to Jamil's book "Brewing Classic Styles" quite often.

 

[JonBrew]

That interview with fullers was great but it's much more recent. This is the one I was thinking of:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/post1631/
They also did a re-brew episode:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/post1633/
They actually adopted the fullers parti gyle method to do the three beers, pride, esb and 1845 (I think). Both are well worth a listen.

 

[Dulwich North]

Thanks. Much may be over my head right now but 1845 , ESB and Golden Pride are on my (long) list of styles that I'll try, one day.

 

[foxbat]

I think someone on this forum had the actual Fullers recipe sheets. Might have been @Northern_Brewer ?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Yep, they've been tweeting the odd one and I've been collecting them over at HBT. On page 2 of that thread is a homebrew version of ESB that's claimed to be close.

the temperature schedule they adopted at fullers was flipping nuts. If I recall rightly the guys on the show couldn't clone the beer without doing the same schedule.

That kind of temperature profile is pretty common in British brewing, see this discussion over on HBT. Failing to do that kind of profile is more nuts....