Fuller's London Porter Clone

**bradsul** · 12-20-2006, 02:11 AM

Seasons Greetings!

This is my first time trying to clone a commercial beer I really like. With the help of my LHBS I came up with the following which seems to be bang on in terms of the brown porter style (at least as reported by promash). Since I'm trying to get close to an actual beer I thought I'd solicit some opinions.

Estimated OG: 1.051
Estimated IBU: 32.5

2.00 kg. Generic DME - Light
0.90 kg. Pale Malt(2-row)
0.45 kg. Victory Malt
0.22 kg. Chocolate Malt
0.22 kg. Crystal 60L
0.11 kg. Black Patent Malt

1.50 oz. Fuggle 60 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle 30 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle 15 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle 0 min.

1.00 Unit(s)Irish Moss 15 Min.(boil)

White Labs WLP002 English Ale

I had wondered about adding a small amount of roasted barley but my LHBS guy didn't seem to think it was necessary. I'm also not sure about the victory malt - but only because I've never used it and I don't know what it adds.

Thanks a bunch and I look forward to any comments!

Brad

Torchiest · 12-20-2006, 08:17 PM

I dunno about the Victory malt either. If it were me, I'd lose that and increase the crystal and chocolate a little. Also, any particular reason you're only using Fuggles? Why not finish with a little Willamette? Also, I used #WLP013 on my oatmeal stout and it came out pretty good, although I've heard great things about #WLP002 too.

**Orfy** · 12-20-2006, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradsul

I'm also not sure about the victory malt - but only because I've never used it and I don't know what it adds.
Brad

Toasted malt that adds a "Biscuit" or toasted flavor to English ales.
Use for: Nut brown ales, porters

Blender · 12-21-2006, 01:13 AM

Victory malt is pretty good so leave it there, I don't think you will be dissapointed. If it was mine I think I would exclude the Black patent. I think the hop choice is good for a Bristish Ale.

**RichBrewer** · 12-21-2006, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blender

If it was mine I think I would exclude the Black patent.

I would tend to agree with this for a brown porter. Read the guidlines in the link below and I believe that the dry, burnt roastyness if the black patent would not be in a brown porter. It would however be in a robust porter.
Your gravity is at the high end for a brown and low end for a robust so you could go either way.
Bottom line is to make a porter that you like. You are trying to clone a commercial version so if it has the black patent charactor then leave it in.

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category12.html

**bradsul** · 12-21-2006, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torchiest

Also, any particular reason you're only using Fuggles? Why not finish with a little Willamette?

Fuggles just happened to be something I had a lot of in stock.

I don't have immediate access to Willamette for my planned brew day but I may try that in future attempts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blender

If it was mine I think I would exclude the Black patent.

After doing further 'research' I agree, if there is black patent in this porter it's an extremely small amount. As was suggested I think I will take it out and up the chocolate malt to 450G.

Great feedback guys, thanks! I plan to purchase my ingredients tomorrow and brew on boxing day (hopefully with a nice new brew pot

).

Brad

Engelramm · 12-22-2006, 05:01 AM

There is a clone recipe for Fullers Porter is in Beer Captured and also in the BYO Recipe Edition. Oddly enough, they are rather different. The Beer Captured version uses Crystal Malt, Chocolate, and Brown Malt with Fuggles all the way.
And again, oddly enough, I'm brewing this tomorrow. Oh yeah, and the BC version uses wyeast ESB.

**bradsul** · 12-27-2006, 04:45 AM

Here is the recipe I ended up brewing today. My initial impression on the wort flavour is it may not end up tasting much like Fuller's; but it tastes excellent in its own right. I'm looking forward to tasting the sample without all the sweetness on first racking.

This was my first partial mash using my cooler mash/lauter tun so I think I did a pretty good job on the efficiency. Promash estimated an OG of 1.051 and I got 1.050 when all was said and done.

Batch: 23L
OG: 1.050

2.00 kg. Generic DME - Light
0.90 kg. Pale Malt(2-row)
0.45 kg. Victory Malt
0.22 kg. Chocolate Malt
0.45 kg. Crystal 60L

1.50 oz. Fuggle 60 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle 30 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle 15 min.
0.25 oz. Willamette 0 min.

1.00 Unit(s)Irish Moss 15 Min.

Munton's Premium Gold Brewing Yeast

**RichBrewer** · 12-27-2006, 04:51 AM

Your final recipe looks darn good. Let us know how it turns out.

**bradsul** · 02-15-2007, 03:35 AM

This recipe ended up barely qualifying as a brown porter but all in all I think it's still a nice beer. It has a really deep ruby colour when held up to the light and a nice tan(ish) coloured head. The roasted flavour is very slight, which is disappointing but it is still a nice subtle flavour.

I think version 2 of this recipe will have double the chocolate and maybe 110G or so of black patent. I've also switched to AG now so no more DME for me! I picked up the BYO issue with the Fullers clone and will be giving it a shot. It's definitely a different recipe than mine.

I had an attenuation problem with this beer and one other I made at the same time. They both stuck at exactly 1.030 (similar OG's as well). After 3 weeks of swirling a couple times per day (3.5 weeks total in primary) I ended up ordering some amylase enzyme to finish them up. I'm wondering if this had something to do with the less than strong flavours. My understanding is the enzyme converts the more complex sugars that are usually left for flavouring into fermentable sugars. I imagine this would have an adverse affect on the flavour.

Subsequent talks with my LHBS indicated that a lot of guys had problems with his current batch of DME. It ended up finishing pretty dry at 1.008 but is still quite good.

Has anyone had experience with amylase reducing the flavour of their beer or am I way off base here?